Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn. Luguentz Dort Jersey .ca. Hi Kerry! In the first and second period of the Ottawa-St. Louis game last night, there were two disallowed goals against Ottawa, one on Erik Condra and one on Chris Neil. Im just wondering if you agreed with the referees call on the ice. First disallowed goal: Condra is on the rush and gets a squeaker through Brian Elliott. The puck was never covered, nor frozen, but the play is called dead by the referee behind the net, where he can see the puck at all times. I think that this is a make-up call because of the disallowed goal against St. Louis not long before. Second disallowed goal: A shot is taken, there is a scramble in front of the net. Chris Butler on St. Louis knocks over Elliott and the puck is loose. An Ottawa player then gets a shot off and the puck is near the goal line. It is at this point where Butler kicks the puck into his own net. The puck is already half way to the back of the net before the whistle was blown. Incidental contact with the goalie. The only person that made direct contact with the goalie was Butler. Just wondering. Andrew S. from Renfrew, ON ----- Hey Kerry, Id love to get your expert opinion on all the disallowed goals in the Ottawa-St. Louis game and overall absolute inconsistent officiating in this game in general! The first Ottawa goal was clearly a case of a loose puck - where Brian Elliott was still searching up until it was in the back of the net - both Erik Condra and Ian Cole were still looking for the puck - I was in disbelief that the whistle went. The second goal - clearly a case where a loose puck is pushed to the side of the net vacant to Elliott as Chris Butler cross-checked Condra to the opposite side as well, while catching the right leg of Elliott. It is very clear as well on this play that Condra stopped up and both he and Neil were looking for the loose puck while colliding with the Butler and the several back checking Blues forwards. You can pull the rule book and say the goalie has to be able to make the save and play within his crease and the official blows his whistle when he decides to. But theres has been such a distraught and overwhelming response to the inconsistency of the no-goal and goalie interference/unable to do his job by fans this season, because every single time in every different game, on any given night, the rule seems to change or have a different outcome. I would love to hear your take on these calls. I have asked for your opinion many times, especially concerning the craziness around goalie related calls! Cory Bicker Hi Andrew and Cory: There was also a Blues disallowed goal scored by Jaden Schwartz just 2:42 in before a quick whistle negated a legitimate shorthanded goal scored by Erik Condra. Fair is fair gentlemen, so we must credit referee Dan ORourke for making an excellent, decisive judgment to disallow the Schwartz goal following the incidental contact initiated by Jori Lehtera of the Blues. Whats important to note is how the referee positioned himself in such a manner ahead of the goal line halfway between the side boards and the near goal post. From this prime real estate the ref had a face-on view through the goal crease where Lehtera made himself bigger with his right elbow to turn Ottawa goalkeeper Robin Lehner, in addition to what was taking place on the opposite side of the net. In the instant goalie interference resulted, the puck was travelling to the opposite side of the net onto the stick of Schwartz for a gimme-redirect off a nifty pass from Kevin Shattenkirk. Far too often we see referees become puck watchers! This play demonstrates a textbook case of how a referee set himself to take in the entire play from the first pass to goalie interference to the puck entering the net. Referee ORourke followed the No. 1 rule of real estate - location, location, location and his keen awareness paid dividends. A couple of minutes later we saw a different result when referee Frederick LEceyer saw the initial shot by Condra, on a shorthanded rush, appear to be gobbled up and covered by Brian Elliott in the butterfly position. Elliott remained statuesque and the referee assumed that the puck was covered as he looked through the left pad of the goalkeeper from a distant position gliding below the goal line. Condra had the lead lane close to the top of the goal crease and ahead of Blues defender Ian Cole. A probable concern was created in the mind of the referee that Condra might crash into Elliottt thereby knocking the puck and the goalkeeper into the net. The still picture shows the whistle being blow by the referee with an obstructed view of the loose puck located between Elliotts open pads. Hindsight is 20-20, but the young referee should have demonstrated more patience with his whistle while moving his skates quickly toward the back of the net to make sure the puck was not exposed and available to be played. If Condra happened to dig at Elliotts equipment or initiate contact with the goalie the referee still had the option to blow his whistle at that point and/or disallow any resulting goal. There is no sugar-coating that the whistle was blown prematurely and in error by the referee. If he could have sucked the wind out of his whistle Im quick certain he would have done so. The expanded and broader discretion granted to video review could not be utilized in this case to allow the goal since it was not one continuous play. The whistle was blown prematurely following Condras initial shot. Condra then made a second play on the loose puck to put it into the net. Rule 38.4 (viii) allows video review to assist the Referees in determining the legitimacy of all potential goals (to ensure they are good hockey goals). This would also include situations whereby the Referee stops play or is in the process of stopping the play because he has lost sight of the puck and it is subsequently determined by video review that the puck crosses (or has crossed) the goal line and enters the net as the culmination of a continuous play where the result was unaffected by the whistle (i.e., the timing of the whistle was irrelevant to the puck entering the net at the end of a continuous play). Im still waiting for a quick whistle situation to be determined by video review that a good hockey goal will result. The disallowed Ottawa goal with 6:02 remaining in the second period was also a good hockey goal and should have been credited to Chris Neil after Chris Butler kicked the puck across the goal line. There was way too much going on in the goal crease on this play for any referee to have even less than 50-50 chance at getting the call right. While the still photo demonstrates that referee ORourke didnt have the best position and attack angle to make an accurate judgment on this crease scrum it does highlight the need for either a referees video review of potential crease violations or a Coachs Challenge. Any incidental contact and subsequent injury that Blues goalkeeper Elliott suffered was as a result of his own player, Butler, shoving Condra from behind and onto the goalies right leg. Condra was outside the blue paint when he was pushed from behind by Butler and launched into the crease. You dont want me to pull the rule book out Cory, but Rule 69 supports your claim that a legal goal resulted where it states: If an attacking player has been pushed, shoved, or fouled by a defending player so as to cause him to come into contact with the goalkeeper, such contact will not be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for the purposes of this rule, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact. Condra was clearly pushed by Butler onto Elliott. Condra had no option to avoid contact with the Blues goalkeeper, reasonable or otherwise. For the past three years I have recommended that the referees need the opportunity to review these types of plays from a monitor in the penalty box. Brian Burke and Brian Murray recommended the implementation of this very process at a meeting during the summer. It would appear studies are ongoing? The very best real estate from which the refs could get this call right was from a secure location inside the penalty box looking at a review monitor. Mark Radford Jersey .Y. -- Dwane Casey admitted hed been concerned about his young Raptors team who had zero experience playing in close-out games -- what awaited them with the vastly-experienced Brooklyn Nets, and how theyd react. Desmond Mason Jersey . He made another correct read. The Browns, who have been shuttling quarterbacks on and off the field all season, finally got some good news on that front: Campbells ribs are only bruised. https://www.cheapthunder.com/661h-john-johnson-jersey-thunder.html . But San Diego had even more trouble against right-hander Tanner Roark, who pitched a three-hitter for the first complete game of his career as the Nationals shut out the Padres 4-0. The 27-year-old set down the first 16 batters before San Diego catcher Rene Rivera, an .LONDON -- Andy Murray won his first match since adding Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach, beating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the Queens Club grass-court tournament on Wednesday. "I was looking forward to getting back on the court," Murray said. "I enjoy playing here. I love being back on the grass. "I thought I was quite disciplined with my movement today. I moved pretty well. I wasnt sliding about too much. Yeah, it was a good start." Top seed and Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka also advanced into the third round when Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus retired with a right shoulder injury as the Swiss led 3-2. There was victory too for 2011 finalist and fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who weathered a close first set before overwhelming Belgiums David Goffin 7-6 (5), 6-2. Since his loss to Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final, Murray has won 19 consecutive matches on grass and captured three titles, including the 2012 London Olympic gold at the All England Club, and Wimbledon and Queens last year. Murray hired former top-ranked player and two-time major winner Mauresmo as his coach on Sunday, initially for the grass-court season. He has been without a coach since he parted ways with Ivan Lendl in March. Hiring a female coach has generated a great deal of attention, and although he previously worked with his mother, Judy, for a long period, he admits that such a move at his level of the game was unusual. "At first when I thought about it, it was obviously a consideration, because for a few years I havent worked with a woman," he said. "Now the decision has been made, its not something that Im thinking about. Its more about the qualities that she can bring that will help me and my tennis and my team as well. I hope it works out long term because I like her. Shes a good person. I hope it works out well." Murray was impressed with Mauresmo when they met, and saw the qualities she could bring. "t;After I spoke to her the first time I just really liked her. Slick Watts Jersey. She was calm. She asked a lot of questions. She listened. She listened a lot. I liked chatting to her, so then I decided to sit down and speak to her and had a good chat with her about tennis. "This week, theres not going to be any big changes in my game. I also wouldnt expect any before Wimbledon. But well definitely work on some things after the tournament is finished here." Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver lost 6-4, 6-4 to Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine while Torontos Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia defeated Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-6 (4), 7-5. Pospisil also lost in mens doubles. Ernests Gulbis, who reached his maiden Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open last week, fell to Kenny De Schepper of France 7-6 (3), 7-5. "I like the grass," Gulbis, the sixth seed from Latvia said. "But I never played well the first tournament. I always played decent in Wimbledon if I practiced well. So now Im going to stay here, practice two weeks on grass. Im going to be fully fine for Wimbledon." Lleyton Hewitt remains one victory short of Roger Federers record of 122 match wins on grass after being beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Feliciano Lopez. Hewitt, a four-time champion at Queens, was broken once in each set and failed to earn a single break point against the Spaniard. Its the first time the Australian has lost to Lopez in five meetings. Hewitt had been bidding to become the first player to win Queens five times. He shares the record of four titles with Andy Roddick. "I played a bit of a loose game the second game of the match," he said. "Then, yeah, he served really well the whole match. He had a lot better rhythm today than he did yesterday in his first-round match. He hit his spots really well." Dmitry Tursunov of Russia and Nicolas Mahut of France were beaten, but there were wins for eighth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine and Radek Stepanek. ' ' '