Youth hockey team’s goalie stunt: Illegal or impressive?

Wild guess: You've never heard of the Blessed Sacrament Bruins, a team of 11- and 12-year-old players, or the North York Knights of Columbus Hockey Association in Toronto. But their debate over an unorthodox coaching tactic in a playoff game is a memorable, and controversial, one.

The situation, according to Robert Cribbs of the Toronto Star: When the Blessed Sacrament Bruins, with a losing record, faced the Blessed Trinity Hawks in a March 6 playoff game, the Bruins coaches decided to pull a stunt. Goalie Julia McDonald, 12 and one of the team's best skaters, played the entire game in regular skater gear rather than goalie gear.

She was the sixth skater, and a roving goalie that wasn't dressed the part. The result: An upset win for the Bruins and Coach Grant McDonald, Julia's father.

Well, at least until the league ruled on the stunt and deemed it a forfeiture for the Bruins. From the Toronto Star:

Michael Wren, a Toronto lawyer and association executive member, provided the Star with a copy of the decision which states McDonald "played the entire game with an illegal stick and without the minimum required goalie equipment."

The decision cited two specific association rules: one deals with illegal player substitutions and the other states a goaltender "may be removed for an additional skater only during the last three minutes of the play in a game."

Team coaches Wayne Wilbur and McDonald filed a written protest saying the rule about player substitutions is intended to target "ringers" brought in for a few games.

"There was no one on our bench that wasn't there from day one," said coach McDonald. And he argues removing a goaltender for a skater was never penalized by officials, and even if it had been only warrants a two-minute minor penalty, not a forfeit.

The coaches said the game referee gave them the green light to play McDoanld without goalie gear. Ironically, the Bruins won their next game with a goalie in gear, but since the forfeiture is officially a 5-0 loss they were eliminated based on goal differential in the series.

The best argument against this tactic would be one of safety; McDonald was still tending goal during the game, without "the minimum required goalie equipment" as the League said. But the team certainly has a point that a forfeiture -- for what should have been, at most, a minor penalty during the game -- is complete overkill.

Give the Star story a look, and tell us: Illegal or impressive?

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