avery screening the goalie

[happygobrokey]

what do you guys think?

personally, i think it's in poor taste what he did. i can understand a few seconds of deliberate screening when you happen to be right there, but hanging out all day there and raising your hands/stick in the goalie's face is unsportsmanlike.

and i don't feel the league needed to write up an amendment to the rules, because "unsportsmanlike conduct" is a catch-all, an f-u clause if you like. getting in the goalie's face all game, ignoring the actual play of the game to deliberately irritate and deteriorate the play of one of your opponents, is not sporting. and at the same time players doing this would be provoking a fight or intentional penalty from the team being screened to "teach" the screener to back off. this falls outside the spirit of the game imo.

anyone care to contribute?

[1819]

as a former centerman it was my job to screen the goalie. back in my time the crease was not off limits like today. i would get as close to him as possible but always with my back to him. it was a cat and mouse game. i would do all in my power to block his vision, butt end his stomach, interfere with his glove, generally just pi*s him off. in turn he would stick me in the legs, between the legs, under the arms, slew foot me. all hard play in the name of the game. what happened the other night was bush league. i have seen it before. the ref should have called unsportsmanlike but more important a defenceman should have put some lumber across the back of avery's legs or, at the very least, beat his a*s. as a pro i cannot believe he would be dumb enough to turn his back to the play anyway. no protection on your spinal area. a heavy shot, comin in at 100+ mph, can put you in a wheelchair if not kill you. he should know better.

[dietcola]

Good point 1819, if he had been hit in the back he could of been seriously injured. I play football, or soccer, and am a goalie, we often get screening on corners and set pieces but it can't happen at other times because of the offside rule which prevents an opposition player standing near me all game. It is not just screening that i face though, opposition players often grab me anywhere they can, stand on my feet and try trips all the time, in saying all this though i enjoy it, it is a duel that goes on all game between attacker and defender and each players sees what they can get away with without been caught by the ref. Is there no actual rule against screening in hockey or is it just seen as bad sportsmanship if you do it?