Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn. Brandon Spikes Bills Jersey .ca. Hi Kerry, Bruins fan here, so probably biased. In the game on Wednesday against Detroit, there was a definite loss of sight of the puck on the Wings second goal. After what I believe was at least five seconds, it dropped out of Andrej Meszaros uniform and was kicked over to a Tomas Jurco for a goal. No one seemed to have any idea where the puck was. Maybe the official was guessing it was hung up in a uniform, but is that a valid reason for not blowing the whistle? Im thinking there is no definitive amount of time in the rules before blowing the whistle, so its subjective, but would you have blown that play dead? Thanks, Joe Joe: Presented with the same set of circumstance and perspective that the referee had on the play, I would most likely have delayed blowing the whistle as well. Let me explain how the hot spots in front of the net required the refs immediate focus of attention and ultimately delayed any action he might have taken to blow the play dead. Niklas Kronwall fired the puck from the point and it was immediately swallowed up in a tightly knit maze of eight players engaged in hand to hand combat directly in front of Bruins goalkeeper Tuukka Rask. The referee was in very good position just ahead of the goal line, approximately 15 feet from the action but looking through the backs of the majority of the players. From this location, the referee was intent on looking for the presence of a foul committed in the pack of players as much as he was trying to locate the puck. Brad Marchand grabbed Tomas Tatar around the head and ripped his helmet off then proceeded to clamp down on the Red Wing players stick that was located in Marchands midsection. Other players battled and pushed for position. In the next couple to few seconds, that I am sure seemed like minutes to you and the other Bruins fans Joe, the referee can be seen moving the whistle to his lips to kill the play. Player separation began to take place in this moment and the puck dropped from its concealed location in the equipment of Andrej Meszaros and visible for the referee. The ref immediately withdrew the whistle from his lips prior and allowed play to continue. Tomas Tatar could not extricate his stick from the clutches of Brad Marchand so instead he kicked the puck to open ice and onto the stick of teammate Tomas Jurco. The referee raised his arm to call a penalty for the hooking restraint that was being applied to Jurco by both Meszaros and Patrice Bergeron when the puck entered the net. While the puck was concealed in Andrej Meszaros equipment for approximately three seconds (my unofficial count) I cant fault the referee for not blowing the whistle given the action in front of the net that required his more immediate focus and attention. I have noted that the whistle was moving to the refs lips until the puck became visible which demonstrates his shift in visual and mental focus during the action. Given the circumstance surrounding this play, I cant think of many referees that would have ruled upon this any differently and delayed blowing the whistle; present company included. Joe, your Boston Bruins are playing incredible hockey. It is going to take more than a slow whistle for any team to beat them most nights if they continue to maintain this playoff form! Brian Moorman Jersey . Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Buddy Robinson scored 43 seconds apart in the second period to lead the Binghamton Senators to a 4-1 victory over the Bulldogs in American Hockey League action Friday night at the Bell Centre. Erik Pears Bills Jersey . While the spotlight has been on potential first overall draft pick Jadeveon Clowney and his 40-yard time, and top quarterback prospect Blake Bortles during the throwing drills, top prospects Greg Robinson and Sammy Watkins have impressed scouts enough to solidify or even boost their spots on draft boards.NEW YORK -- Years before Michael Sam was born, gay-rights activists Kate Kendell and Paul Guequierre were already die-hard National Football League fans. Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, grew up in Ogden, Utah, far from any NFL city, and became a fan of the Los Angeles Rams because shes an Aries and liked their uniforms. For Guequierre, raised in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and now a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, it was a family affair. Treasured season tickets for the Green Bay Packers were acquired by his grandfather, passed on to his father, and now are his. The cover photo of his Facebook page shows the towering statue of a Packers wide receiver. For Kendell, Guequierre and other gay fans of the NFL, their passion for pro football was rewarded May 10 with a moment they describe as thrilling: the decision by the Rams -- now of St. Louis -- to make Sam the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team. "I feel like my support for the NFL now doesnt have an asterisk come with it," Kendell said. "Its now truly Americas game." The milestone has made gay fans more enthusiastic and already is drawing newcomers into the fold. Many may become Rams fans or -- like Guequierre -- henceforth consider St. Louis "my second favourite team." The NFL says it hasnt done any marketing research to gauge the size of its gay and lesbian fan base. Gay sports fans surveyed by Outsports said pro football was their favourite sport by far. Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler said that Sam -- if he makes the Rams roster -- will further boost the NFLs popularity among gays. "People who have never liked football are buying Michael Sam jerseys," he said. "People who have never watched a game watched the draft." As of midweek, Sams Rams jersey was the No. 2 seller among rookies at NFLShop.com, trailing only Johnny Manziel, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback drafted by the Cleveland Browns. Sam -- although drafted 249th out of 256 players -- also was among just 10 draftees selected by the league to be featured on special bronze and silver commemorative coins, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. Howard Bragman, a public relations expert who has been working with Sam, expects the NFL and advertisers to capitalize on fans excitement over Sams debut. "The first time he plays, youre going to have huge numbers watching," said Bragman, the vice chairman of Reputation.com. "The NFL is a business," Bragman added. "It understands very well that LGBT fans are passionate, they have good incomes, theyre concentrated in NFL cities." Sam already has done a nationally televised ad for Visa. "The tide has turned," Bragman said. "Martina Navratillova said she lost endorsements after she came out. Kevin Kolb Bills Jersey. Youll find that Michael will do very well." That doesnt mean the NFLs advertisers will shift their focus away from heterosexual young males, nor are sexy female cheerleader squads likely to disappear. But gay fans may be all the more at peace with such things. "We know who theyre marketing to with those ads," said Guequierre. "Most (gay) people I know are OK with that. We dont feel like were being left out." Now based in Washington, D.C., Guequierre, 36, tries to attend at least one Packers home game per year, and makes his tickets for the other games available to relatives and friends, including a lesbian couple who are devoted fans. Guequierre said gay fans, like gay athletes, increasingly feel less pressure to conceal their sexual orientation while at games. He recalled an incident at a Packers game a few years ago, when he stood up and vocally scolded a fan behind him who had called a Chicago Bears player a homophobic slur. "No one else gave me a hard time," Guequierre said. "The guy looked embarrassed. ... He came across as the bad guy." Guequierres passion for football extends to the playing field -- hes an avid competitor in the D.C. Gay Flag Football League, which has 20 teams and about 275 players. One of the main sponsors is Nellies Sports Bar, one of a wave of gay sports bars that have opened up in cities nationwide. Doug Schantz, co-owner of Nellies, says there are now 25 TVs in the bar, all tuned to sports, with pro baseball and the NFL neck-and-neck as the most popular. "With the Redskins, it doesnt matter if theyre bad or good," Schantz said. On the other side of the country, Kate Kendell has settled into San Francisco, and is a zealous 49ers fan -- though her girlhood love of the Rams is now rekindled. She has raised her 17-year-old son to share her football passions. "On Monday nights, we break with tradition of sitting around the table as family," Kendell said. "We all watch the game. I leave office early to make sure were there for kickoff." Kendell expressed delight that gay youths would now be able to grow up with openly gay sports stars as role models. "Many of my gay male friends are not sports fans -- not because of lack of interest, but because their earliest introduction to sports made them feel stigmatized and shamed," she said, evoking epithets such as "You throw like a girl." 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