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There is one specific rule that addresses contacting the goaltender while diving into the crease. Rule 69 in the NLL rule book is called Contact While Shooting on Net. At the referee's dicretion can make any of these infractions depending on the severity into minor, major (5 minutes), game misconduct or a match penalty.
Essentially a player can't dive into the crease and hit the goalie, that can be penalized on the attacker, and depending on the severity, it can be a major. When the defender, illegally makes contact on the attacker to alter his plane so that he ultimately contacts the goaltender, the penalty should be assessed to the defender.
This is an extremely difficult call for the officials, it has to be made in the blink of an eye and the decision is something we have to live with. I truly believe that with the benefit of looking at game tape and a replay in slow motion the official might have seen it differently. My belief is that the defender pushed the player in the back and altered his direction pushing him into the goal. I thought the result looked worse than it was, Smitty missed Richards and didn't make direct contact.
Either way, these are things that happen in a game that we have to be able to battle though and not let it affect us. Clearly two goals on that infraction hurt us and we must overcome those setbacks.
SG
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