back to the mail bag

I don't intend to make this a regular feature, but I feel compelled to write about this. According to my statcounter details, a reader in Hancock, Michigan queried "NHL rule 78j" to get to this site.

The rulebook is rewritten every year, and this year they did away with the alpha sub rules. Now they're numerical. They've also been renumbered.

At any rate, I think this, from the 2005-06 rulebook, is what the reader was looking for:

78j -- In the event that a goalkeeper has been pushed into the net together with the puck after making a stop, the goal will be disallowed. If applicable, appropriate penalties will be assessed.

In the event that the puck is under a player in or around the crease area (deliberately or otherwise), a goal cannot be scored by pushing this player together with the puck into the goal. If applicable, the appropriate penalties will be assessed, including a penalty shot if deemed to be covered in the crease deliberately

I think they were specifically looking for the part about the puck being under a player in the crease. There have been suggestions that this happened in game two of the Sabres-Sens series and that the Sabres should have been awarded a penalty shot. Forgive me, but I can't remember the specific players involved in the play, but the Sens player on all fours in the crease looked like he wanted to smother the puck. To the left of the goal was another Sens player who used his stick to clear the puck out of the zone. The player wanted to cover the puck, but he didn't actually do it.

This is now rule 67.4 and reads thusly:

If a player, except a goalkeeper, while play is in progress, falls on the puck, holds the puck, picks up the puck, or gathers the puck into his body or hands from the ice in the goal crease area, the play shall be stopped immediately and a penalty shot be awarded to the non-offending team. See also Rule 63 - Delaying the Game

I hope this helps.

Also, an undefined reader queried "jared staal draft eligible"
No. Jared Staal will turn 17 this summer. In order for a North American skater to become eligible for the NHL draft, he must turn 18 before September 15 and he remains eligible until he turns 20. After that, he is a free agent. Non-North American skaters are eligible for the draft even after they turn 20.
To answer the question properly, he won't become eligible until the 2008 draft.

Also, a reader in Jamestown, New York asked "has anyone ever met Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres". I'm sure that someone, somewhere has. I used to work with a guy who went to school with him at Michigan State and knew him, so there's at least one.