Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry Fraser wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn. Cheap Evan Dietrich-Smith Jersey .ca! Hi Kerry, In the Bruins-Caps game, there was a penalty called against the Bruins and when Holtby came off the ice for the extra attacker, it appeared that the Caps had too many men before the Bruins touched the puck. There was an audible yell of "too many men," and the announcers thought that there was a penalty for seven Caps on the ice, yet the Caps had a power play instead of a 4-on-4. Can you explain what happened? Were the announcers just incorrect that the refs blew the whistle for too many men, or did the refs get together after the whistle and change their minds? Thanks,Tim (Boston, MA) Tim: With a delayed penalty signaled against Patrice Bergeron of the Bruins for high-sticking Alexander Semin the announcers correctly reported that play was stopped when the linesman identified too many men on the ice following a Caps illegal two man change at their bench. The linesman got the call right at that time and the whistle was blown to stop play with Washington in possession of the puck. You can watch the play here with a count of the seven players at the 7:25 mark of the video. After the whistle blew and prior to the referee assessing the penalty a conference was held by the officials and the too many men call was changed in error. There is only one possible situation in which this could have been deemed a legal line change; even with seven skaters on the ice. Some member(s) of the crew obviously convinced the linesman who stopped the play that this situation applied. They were wrong. Let me explain. With the play deep in the Washington end zone Bergeron clipped Semin in the head with his stick near the faceoff circle hash marks. The back referee identified the infraction and Washingtons sensational young goalie Braden Holtby raced to the bench in favour of an extra attacker as the Caps pushed the puck up ice. Following along behind Holtby for a line change was defenceman Roman Hamrlik. Holtby arrived at the Capitals bench in advance of Hamrlik and was within the legal five-foot change limit when his replacement jumped onto the ice from the middle of the players bench. (I believe it was Mike Knuble.) Holtby took his place on the Capitals bench. It is important to note that if Holtbys replacement (Knuble?) left the bench prior to the five-foot change limit being achieved then Rule 71—premature substitution would have resulted. The linesman would have blown the whistle, the face-off would result at centre ice but no time penalty to the Caps would be assessed. (This would constitute a premature substitution for goalkeeper versus too many men on the ice.) Holtby was on the bench and his replacement on the ice when Roman Hamrlik arrived near the back door of the Washington players bench for a change. With Hamrlik still physically on the ice but reasonably within the five-foot change limit, Alex Ovechkin jumped off the end of the bench closest to their attacking zone. All systems were good at this point even with seven players on the ice; legal change for Holtby had been executed and Hamrlik was within five feet of the bench as was Ovi. The too many men on the ice violation occurred when Alex Semin saw Ovechkin open on the left side and fired a perfect cross-ice pass onto Ovis tape prior to Hamrlik physically leaving the ice. At this point Rule 74 is applied: "If in the course of making a substitution, either the player entering the game or the player retiring from the ice surface player the puck with his stick, skates or hands or who checks or makes any physical contact with an opposing player while either the player entering the game or the retiring player is actually on the ice, then the infraction "too many men on the ice" will be called." The linesman stopped play to correctly apply Rule 74 when Ovechkin played the puck with Hamrlik still physically on the ice. The only thing that I can think of is that someone determined that the second man over the boards (Ovi) was intended and deemed to replace Holtby and was able to convince the linesman of it. No matter what the reason the officials came up with through their on-ice conference, the final call was made incorrectly. Washington was clearly guilty of too many men on the ice and the teams should have played 4-on-4. The announcers got it right — the officials did not. Get ready for Game 7. All the guns should be firing for both teams in Boston on Wednesday night. It will come down to Thomas versus Holtby with just five other guys legally on the ice for each team at any one time! For a personally autographed copy of Final Call from TSN hockey analyst and former NHL referee Kerry Fraser, visit The Book Keeper website. For a regular copy of Final Call from TSN hockey analyst and former NHL referee Kerry Fraser, visit here. Major Wright Buccaneers Jersey . -- An accomplished veteran in open-wheel racing, Alex Tagliani probably could find a full-time ride in the IndyCar series if he wanted it badly enough. Cheap Eric Wright Jersey . The judges scored it 49-46, 49-46, 50-45 for Kennedy. Wrestling proved to be the difference with Kennedy taking Bisping down in the first, third and fifth rounds and keeping him there. The crowd at the Colisee Pepsi didnt like it and neither did Bisping, whose game is built on movement and technical striking.BUFFALO, N.Y. -- In a span of three days, Shabazz Napier and Connecticut knocked out both Philadelphia schools in the NCAA tournament. Now, the seventh-seeded Huskies are off to the East Regional semifinals in New York City to see how much more bracket busting they can do a year after being barred from the post-season because of academic sanctions. Second-seeded Villanova became the highest seed to fall so far after Napier scored 25 points in leading UConn to a 77-65 victory Saturday night. The win came on the heels of another upset in Buffalo, where Dayton, the 11th seed in the South, beat third-seeded Syracuse 55-53. "I guess it means something to you guys but at the end of the day, just because theyre No. 2 and were No. 7, they dont get extra points to start the game off," Napier said. "Everybodys the same." UConn was better thanks to Napier, who scored 24 points two days earlier in an 89-81 overtime win against Philadelphias other tournament entry, Saint Josephs. Napier had 21 points in the second half and helped put the game away by hitting three consecutive 3-pointers to give the Huskies a 54-45 lead with 6:08 remaining. The star guard was limited to 8 minutes in the first half by foul trouble, and he avoided a major scare when he briefly left the game after hurting his right shin with 4:01 left. "The pain was excruciating. I couldnt put any pressure on it," Napier said. "Our trainer told me to mentally stay strong. ... He put that Bio-freeze on it, and I was ready to go." The freeze didnt cool him down once Napier returned after missing only about 40 seconds of action. Holding the ball atop the 3-point arc, he blew past a defender while driving into the paint and flipped in an underhanded reverse high off the backboard to put UConn ahead 60-51 with 2:19 remaining. Lasan Kromah scored 12 points for the Huskies, while DeAndre Daniels, Ryan Boatright and Terrence Samuel each had 11. Connecticut (28-8) advanced to face the winner of Sundays game between third-seeded Iowa State and No. 6 seed North Carolina. "Its unbelievable," UConn athletic director Warde Manuel said. "Its extra special, given what this team went through last year. Extra special." Manuel was referring to the academic sanctions that essentially rendered the Huskies 20-10 finish meaningless last year inn Kevin Ollies first season as coach. Austin Seferian-Jenkins Buccaneers Jersey. . Ollie has improved to 2-0 in his tournament debut, two years since taking over after Jim Calhoun stepped down because of health issues. Ryan Arcidiacono scored 18 points for Villanova (29-5) in a matchup of former Big East rivals. James Bell had 14 and Darrun Hilliard added 13. "Certainly a tough way to end the season," Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. "I didnt want to let this put a damper on what this group has done all year." Villanova fell one win short of matching the school record set in 2009, when the Wildcats lost to North Carolina in the national semifinals. Napiers performance played a significant role. "He was just awesome," Wright said. "There was a period where he hit three 3s, and it just created a separation." Wright was referring to a surge during which UConn took control in a span of 1:32 as Napier made three consecutive 3-pointers to build a 51-40 advantage. Kromah started it and Napier struck a pose for the cameras after hitting the second 3 with 8:59 left. "He led us to victory," Ollie said. "He was just unbelievable in that second half: 21 points, crucial 3s, dagger 3s. He was 30 feet out and he was making them." The Huskies are marching on to Madison Square Garden in their first season as members of the American Athletic Conference after the Big East was realigned following a series of defections. Villanova remained a Big East holdover, but wound up being bounced by a familiar foe. The teams traded leads four times in the opening 5:25 of the second half, with Daniels putting UConn ahead for good, 37-36, with a layup. Poor shooting continued to haunt the Wildcats, who were coming off a 75-53 win over Milwaukee on Thursday. After hitting five of their first eight attempts through the first 6:11, the Wildcats closed the half going 2 of 15. Their offence went stone cold after Hilliard hit a 3 to put them up 19-9 with 11:30 left. Villanova went 11:24 without a field goal, missing 10 straight shots before Arcidiacono hit a 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds left in the first half that cut the Huskies lead to 25-24. Villanova was down 42-36 with 11:48 left when Hilliard drove into an opening on the right wing and, as he went up to shoot, the ball slipped out of his hands and bounced out of bounds. ' ' '
