Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 2.39

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While controversial stories wear thinner as this season winds down, we were at a loss last night as we attempted to nail down a topic for rigamarole. Then Daniel Alfredsson kicked in a goal and it counted. Topic search over. At least he’s good for something. Fear not though people from Ottawa, there won’t be any whining about how the Ducks got cheated and that Alfredsson’s goal being allowed was a bogus call. We’ve had enough hate mail from Ottawa throughout the playoffs. Instead we will work from the inspiration given to us by the alleged Golden God and generalize the argument to whether or not goals in future should be allowed if they are kicked into the net.

The answer: definitely not! Allowing kicked goals is not a prudent way to increasing scoring. It diminishes the need for tremendous skill and is bound to result in some serious injuries. Would you want to be a netminder searching for the puck in a goal mouth scramble when you have to worry about not just being hit by sticks but by skate blades too? I certainly wouldn’t.

In soccer, you are forbidden from contacting the ball with your hands. In basketball, you cannot kick a pass to a teammate. Why? Because these are not actions that these respective sports attempt to exhibit. The same goes for hockey. Hand eye coordination with a hockey stick, not kicking is the skill on display here. And if we allowing kicking the puck in, why not batting it or throwing it in with your hand? Really how is one any different than the other?

If it’s in an effort to help avoid any further debate, I’d rather see this decision go the other way. Instead of allowing all kicked in goals, disallow any goal that goes off a skate, whether there is a kicking motion or not. That will eliminate all the confusion. Brett and Bobby Hull, the last two players who had the word Golden included in their nicknames never had to use their skate to score, a stick worked just fine for them. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.