I thought I knew the rules

Not sure what exactly transpired in the game Friday night in the shoot out. I thought it was clear that our goalie knocked off the net prior to the Spartan making his attempt on goal. Why was the goal waved off?

Interesting that no one has responded as to the correct rule. I was not alone wondering why the Spartans were denied an opportunity to either score or get a reshot due to the net coming off the post. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

I believe the refs can count the shot as a goal if they rule that the net was dislodged intentionally by the goaltender. However, both in normal play and during penalty shots/shootouts, refs seem unwilling to rule the net intentionally dislodged unless it is very egregious (it sometimes seems like the goalie would almost have to reach and grab the post with is hand and then throw it off its pegs). In the absence of such a finding of intent, I don't think there is any remedy. If the net is dislodged when the puck crosses the line, its a no-goal, regardless of who pushed it off (the exception being the intentional dislodging I described earlier I described earlier). If the net is knocked off by the goalie while trying to play the puck, even if it was entirely knocked off by the goalie and he made no effort to prevent it, unless the ref is willing to rule it intentional, I'm pretty sure the call is no-goal.

If thats the case, with a little creativity the goalie could easily knock the net off with his skates during a scramble and the whistle would stop play. In this case, you knock it off like Wilcox did and the goal won't count in a shoot out and he doesn't get another shot at it. Doesn't seem fair particularly in a shoot out situation for the person making the shot.

#2Gopher said:

If thats the case, with a little creativity the goalie could easily knock the net off with his skates during a scramble and the whistle would stop play. In this case, you knock it off like Wilcox did and the goal won't count in a shoot out and he doesn't get another shot at it. Doesn't seem fair particularly in a shoot out situation for the person making the shot.

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That has been a criticism of the way the rule is enforced. Relatedly, I've seen (at the NHL level) a lot of plays where the goalie is down, there is a scramble around the net, the puck kicks to one side, and a defender slides feet first straight to the post knowing full well they will knock it off, but they get away with it so long as they are facing the puck and can make a colorable argument that they are attempting to block a potential shot.