The Daily Dose/April 16, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Sports officiating is in the news again, this time at the Women’s World Ice Hockey Championships in Helsinki. The United States won their fifth consecutive title this past Sunday, defeating Finland 2-1 in one of those infernal shootouts, though earlier Finland was celebrating, thinking they had won in overtime. They actually scored a goal, on a rebound, and celebrated like they had won, though ten minutes later everyone was back on the ice playing hockey after the goal, on review, was disallowed. Here’s what happened:
The original shot was saved by the American goaltender and went off to her right. She sprawled on the ice and was bumped by a Finnish player while another Finnish player put the puck in the net. The covering referee, a fraulein from Germany, was in perfect position and ruled a goal. After the game, the International Ice Hockey Federation cited Rule 150(iv), which is very clear on the matter, stating:
An opponent who prevents or blocks a goaltender from returning to his goal crease or bumps him unduly while the goaltender plays the puck behind his goal net will be assessed a minor penalty.
The goalie was sprawled on the ice and was making no attempt to get back in front of the net. As they teach in Officiating 101, there is the letter of the rule and the spirit of the rule and as we saw it neither was violated in this play. Sure, some contact was made, but it didn’t prevent the goalie from doing anything. Had it, had she been attempting to play the puck or trying to get back in front of the goal, then yes, good call and the covering official no doubt would have banged it.
A Finland win would have been historic. The tournament has been held in non-Olympic years since 1990 and Finland was the first country other than the US and Canada to even appear in the finals, much less win it. But technology giveth and, sometimes, technology taketh away. Or, rather, the same humans that officiate on the court, field or ice and work the replay booths, giveth and taketh away.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has the latest on his jury duty summons plus, at the VSO, Phil from IT comes by to say hi. It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
I told Brandon about my jury duty summons today…I would have told him sooner but I had completely forgotten about it…It’s for the coming Monday and I call in Sunday to see if I’m needed and a quick check of the court docket shows there a couple of jury trials starting that date and being on a jury will cause multiple hassles but we will jump off those bridges when we get to them…There is no reason to start anticipating problems that may not happen and besides, I love jury duty and haven’t been on one for ten years and it would be fun to do it again.
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On This Date
In 1990 – Dr Jack Kevorkian performs his first assisted suicide, for a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s. Kevorkian would assist 130 people in dying in the 1990’s and went to trial five times. The first three times he was acquitted, the fourth resulted in a mistrial and he was convicted of second-degree murder the fifth time, serving eight years of a 25-year sentence before being paroled. He died in 2011.
In 1949 – The Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, winning the series four games to none, becoming the first NHL team to win the Stanley Cup in three consecutive seasons. The Maple Leafs would again win three consecutive Stanley Cup from 1962-64 and, along with the Montreal Canadiens, are the only NHL teams to win three consecutive Stanley Cups more than once.
In 1977 – Don’t Give Up On Us by David Soul is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for its only week. The song would also go to #1 in Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and was a particularly big hit in Great Britain, where it spent four weeks at #1 and was the second biggest song of the year there. Soul would follow Don’t Give Up On Us with two other Hot 100 entries, but the song remains his only Top 40 hit.
Quotebook
Too often, the way taken is the wrong way, with too much emphasis on what we want to have rather than what we wish to become.
Louis L’Amour
Education of a Wandering Man
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Seals Stadium was the home of the San Francisco Giants for the 1958 and 1959 seasons. Candlestick Park opened in 1960.
