Checking the Laundry: Goaltender Interference

Tyler: Andy!...Andy!

Andy: What, what is it?!

Tyler: You forgot, didn’t you?

Andy: Forgot? Forgot what?

Tyler: We have to....

Andy: CHECK THE LAUNDRY!!!

Andy: Oh boy, good ol’ Eddie Belfour. I miss the Belfour days. Good thing you can still have him on your team on NHL 08 (no, they don’t sell NHL 09 in Chile...yet). Well, as much as I hate to say this, Ovechkin was kind of forced into goalie interference. To start with, McCabe cross checked Ovechkin into Belfour, and then when Ovechkin tried to get off of Belfour, McCabe wouldn’t allow him to.

It was reasonable the way Eddie reacted because he didn’t see what was happening. All he saw, or felt, was some guy jumping on to his back, and kind of jumping on him. This was interference, but not intentionally.

Tyler: I see what you’re talking about, but you are completely wrong. You seem to be only talking about what happened after the initial contact. Before that all happened, Ovechkin was skating a completely different direction, then decided to turn towards Belfour and run right into him, thus the preceding cross check done by McCabe.

Andy: No, no, and no! He was pushed into Belfour; Ovechkin is not that type of player! It’s just not Ovie style! I understand that maybe you, as a hockey player, get all excited when you’re in the crease and cause some trouble, but Alexander Ovechkin is not that type of player.

Tyler: Typical Dominik Hasek, Flopping all over the place to draw a penalty. I won’t deny the fact that Hasek is one of the best goaltenders in NHL history, but that doesn’t stop me from saying that Hasek had an ego the size of Quebec. For example: Do you remember his 12 shot shut-out and his comments after the game?

“I think, maybe, when it’s only 12 shots, it maybe shouldn’t count. You know?” 

It was clear that Scott Hannan did put his hands on Hasek, but come on! He barely touched him, I can’t even describe what happened in this video, all I can say is, Hannan hardly grazed Hasek and he fell over like he had been shot. It was ridiculous and this is one of the reasons I have absolutely no respect for him.

Andy: Dominik Hasek’s style? No way! Scott Hannan was pushed into Hasek. He could have either gone head first into Hasek or stopped the fall with his hands. He grabbed on to Hasek, and then tried to get back on his feet. Remember Tyler, this is ice hockey. It’s not as easy to get back on your feet as it would be if you were playing soccer. Despite the fact that this was accidental, and not on purpose. He took Hasek down and it was goalie interference, but definitely accidental. Hasek did not flop over.

Tyler: Yes, it was an accident that Hannan “hit” him, but Hasek was flopping over like a fish out of water, as he always does. Hannan barely put a finger on Hasek, but as soon he feels something touch him he drops and starts to whine more than Sid Crosby.

Andy: That was obviously interference! No doubt about it. Marleau clearly pushed Price down and it resulted in a goal. Maybe the hit didn’t cause the goal right there, but you could see how right after Price got up, he was shaky. He was trying to get his interior pads back to the right place and tried to regain a firm hold on his stick. Carey Price was not ready for the shot that resulted in a goal, and that can be blamed on the Marleau interference.

Tyler: Like you tried to say about Ovechkin, Marleau was pushed into Price by Roman Hamrlik. Hamrlik knocked him off balance and he stumbled over price and fell. Unlike the Ovechkin clip where he made no attempt to avoid Belfour, Marleau tried to grab something and avoid toppling over Price. I can’t argue that this was not Interference, but at least Marleau did do it on purpose which is what this is really all about.

Andy: This is different; Marleau wasn’t pushed into the net. He threw himself into the net! Unlike the Belfour one which might’ve been okay because no goal was scored, there was one scored on this one! If no goal had been scored, then it wouldn’t really have mattered, but Marleau did not get pushed, and even if he did, it must’ve been a small tap and not a big cross check like McCabe’s on Ovechkin.

Tyler: Threw himself into the net! Are we talking about the same thing here? The only way you can say he “threw” himself at the net is if you were on crack (which, by the way, I am beginning to think may be the case).

Tyler: Good old Sean Avery, his most recent work has gotten him suspended for six games, but let’s not get into that.

In my opinion, this was totally clean, even though I’m sure many people will disagree. However, I hope to change their minds. At the time this was clean, now of course we have the “Avery Rule,” but if you understand what hockey is and the rules of the game you should know Avery broke none of them. First of all, he wasn’t in the crease, secondly he never touched Brodeur, and thirdly, there is no rule that says a player screening the Goalie must face the play. Therefore, Avery did nothing wrong and shouldn't have to be penalized.

Andy: That time of the month, eh, Tyler? Just because something isn’t written down doesn’t mean you should do it. Avery’s lucky Marty didn’t knock him out. Avery has had incidents with Brodeur in the past, and he’s lucky Brodeur didn’t have them building up inside of him. Seriously, if I had been Marty Brodeur, I would’ve grabbed his head with my glove and shoved my blocker up his...well you guys get the point. Sean Avery’s  lucky he hasn’t been killed on the ice yet, but I can see it happening pretty soon.

Tyler: So, you’re saying just because he has not written the rule book, it doesn’t mean it’s not illegal? Come on! If it doesn’t say anywhere that he can’t do why wouldn’t he? Avery is (despite the recent evidence) sometimes a smart guy. He knew there was nothing the Refs could do to give him a penalty and this had to be the most genius move I’ve ever seen.  

If you have something you want Andy and I to debate on Checking the Laundry, please leave your suggestion in the comment box, on our Leafs This Week site, or e-mail us at [e-mail].

All topics are welcome; we will put the ideas to a vote on next week’s edition of Checking the Laundry. The topic with the most votes will be the feature topic on the next edition of CTL, and, of course, the name of the person that suggested the winning topic will have their name linked at the top of the article.