Federation Ruling on Second USC/Equipment Check

[eme]

From Ron Belinko, Chair of Federation Boys Rules Committee.

On an equipment check. Player B1 adjusts his stick before handing it to the official. Flag down. USC. One-minute NR. Continue on with equipment check. However, if this is his SECOND USC, then it's flag down, USC. 3-min. NR and he is ejected.
Since he is now an ejected player, the equipment check on B1 stops at this point.

This issue and the questions it raises will be discussed at this summer's Federation rules meeting.

[tjslax]

At this point if B1 was selected by an official between periods (not at a coaches request)we would then select another player to check correct? Or would that have counted as a stick check despite the fact that no measurements were taken?

[eme]

These are excellent questions that were not addressed specifically by Mr. Belinko. I am sure they will be raised from now until the meeting.

LaxRef and I disagree, I believe.I say the equipment check is ended. You now have enough commotion going on getting the ejected player off the field and in the presence of a team adult and assessing the penalty and telling the table area...that to go and secure another stick from the team who is now man-down for 3 minutes seems to be inviting more trouble than it is worth.

[LaxRef]

These are excellent questions that were not addressed specifically by Mr. Belinko. I am sure they will be raised from now until the meeting.

LaxRef and I disagree, I believe.I say the equipment check is ended. You now have enough commotion going on getting the ejected player off the field and in the presence of a team adult and assessing the penalty and telling the table area...that to go and secure another stick from the team who is now man-down for 3 minutes seems to be inviting more trouble than it is worth.

Well, the rules say we're supposed to check the equipment of at least one player per team per half, but you make a good point. Maybe a good compromise is to check a player from the ejected player's team later in the period during a timeout.

Fortunately, I don't anticipate this coming up frequently, since I've never seen a player try to adjust his stick. The closest I've had happen in a game is when A1 was asked for his stick by my partner he said "This isn't my stick," and he tried to trade sticks with A2. My partner insisted that he get the stick A1 was actually using in the game and had no trouble (and the stick was legal).

[eme]

Let me clarify and I think this a fair resolution. When I said above that "the equipment check has ended" this means that it has ended for both teams. You may have A's stick...but don't check it. In this way, neither team's equipment was checked. Team B is penalized for the Second USC, as it should be. But by not checking A's stuff right then you avoid the risk of finding something wrong with A and NOT finding something wrong with B's because he is on his way to the bus.

I should work for the UN.

[rilax]

The way that I read this is that the player who jammed it and got his second USC gets ejected and his stick check stops. Now there are two possibilities: one it was the random stick check most likely between quarters. I don’t see how one could justify stopping A1’s stick check when the ruling says “the equipment check on B1 stops at this point.”. Now you still need to do a stick check on team B that half. Why not just do it then and there? It is team B’s player who all ready gotten an USC during the coarse of the game, it was the same B’s player that then acted like an idiot and rammed the stick in the ground. Why should team A then be penalized if team B then has a second player you randomly pick out and also has an illegal stick. We should not be acting soft just because the team is acting like a bunch of idiots. Now the second possibility is that this was due to a head coach request. This is more simple since the check could not be preformed he does not accumulate a “fail” and that if he then fails a second check there is no penalty (since that is technically the first check)