A Girl's Guide to Interference

N & I had the pleasure of sitting next to an interesting hockey fan Saturday (sarcasm).  You know those guys that feel the need for EVERYONE in a 20 ft radius to hear them? Try to start cheers that fail? Almost hit you in the head with their modified windmill goal celebration? Make you feel embarrassed for their kids because of the stupid things they yell? 


We started this blog to try to combat some of the stupid comments we hear at hockey games. This man's stupidity sparked the idea for a new post. There's a lot of ambiguity with this penalty, but there's a pattern to how it's called in the NHL.


Interference
The act of impeding the motion of another player when they're not in possession of the puck.  


Simple right? Not so much.
NHL refs look at 5 things when determining these penalties

• Body Position
• Players are not supposed to use their stick, body or free hand in order to restrain his opponent when they behind them.
• A player is allowed to “block” the path of an opponent provided he is in front of his opponent and moving in the same direction. 
• Puck Possession
• The last player to touch the puck (other than the Goalie) has possession. Legal checks are made on players with possession. 
• Pick
• A “pick” is when a player or goalkeeper checks an opponent who doesn't have possession and the opponent is unaware of the impending check/hit. Inference is called when the "hitter" moves into their opponent's path without initially having body position and keeps the opponent out of the play. 
• Free Hand 
• Essentially, a free hand is used to hold, pull, tug, grab or physically restrain a freely-moving opponent.  This is called a Holding, a type of interference. 
• Stick
• When a player doesn't have body position on their opponent, they use their stick to keep the opponent from moving. This is a type of interference call known as Hooking. 

This happens a lot in hockey. Sometimes you just can't reach an opponent skating so you try something else to catch them. That being said, you can do a lot of things that look like this penalty, but isn't necessarily the right call for the situation. 


Here's an example of Brett Sutter getting an interference for this nasty tie-up with ex-Hurricane now Bruin Joe Corvo.

Neither player has has possession of the puck, as they are both skating for the puck.  Brett checks an unaware and puck-less Corvo into the board (a pick) to warrant the Interference call.  


Goalie Interference 
This occurs when a player is in the goal crease when a goalie is also establishing his position in the same area. 


A lot of times, like the other night, this call is made when an illegal goal is scored.  The referees (and only the refs, this can't be judged by video) can disallow a goal when an opponent is in the crease and scores.  If they disallow the goal, it will likely not be a player penalty.  


Opponents in the crease are allowed when they are pushed or fouled into the crease by a defending player. 

Okay I think that's all I need to say for now on this issue.  Hopefully I'll find the time around all these finals to write again soon.


Until Next Time,
L