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F A I L E D    M I S S I O N S - January 9, 2007 The Devil Is In the Details Here’s an excerpt from an NHL fan forum on HF Boards: Stupid Rule This just happened in the Wings - Ducks game and it's a pretty dumb rule imo: Ref was calling a penalty on Anaheim. On the delayed call, Wings had it in the Ducks zone and the puck went into the corner where the ref was. Datsyuk grabs it but in the scramble to get out of the way, Koharski accidentally blows the play dead. Face-off in the offensive zone right? Nope. Because Koharski screwed up, the Ducks essentially get a free clear with a face-off at the center ice dot. I know this isn't exactly a game-changing thing, but what kind of stupid rule is that? You'd think the face off would be in the zone the blunder occurred in, or at least apply common sense. Imagine this happening to a team with their goalie pulled and 10 seconds left in the game.....face-off at center, sorry guys I screwed up and you just lost all chance at realistically winning. (end of excerpt) Take this potential nightmare one step further. Imagine this happening to a team with their goalie pulled and 10 seconds left in game seven of the Stanley Cup finals. Can you say controversy? If you think the whining about the Brett Hull toe in the crease goal was loud just wait until this scenario happens one day. The NHL is also exposing their officials to accusations of fixing a game. Can you imagine how easy it would be for a crooked official to secure the result of his choice by taking advantage of this rule? It’s not likely to happen but why not close that loophole anyway. Why not remove doubt by making a simple rule change? Murphy’s Law seems to follow the NHL around anyway. So what can go wrong will go wrong. Fix this before the fact. Not after the fact. All sports have quirky rules. I wonder what else is in the NHL rule book that has potential to create a huge fiasco? It’s time for our agents to get busy. Stay tuned.

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