In a U15 game, the score was 5-0. The team winning rushed the puck down the ice with 6:29 remaining and took a shot on goal that was smothered by the goalie. A player from the winning team poked the goalie with minimal force to try to get the puck that was not seen. The referee did not call the poke on the goalie. A scrum then occurred that resulted in multiple head contact and roughing after the whistle penalties.

The referee needs to call the penalty that starts the issues after the whistles. Therefore, the poke on the goalie needs to be called as a slash with the guilty team killing a powerplay. This also applies to roughing after the whislte …the team that starts the pushing should kill a penalty. Do not call coincidentals, make the team that starts the problem kill a penalty. Why? If you make the first thing go away then the rest never happens. Coincidentals are easy to forget but killing a penalty creates a memory...which should stop future issues.

The second important part of this situation is protecting the goalie. The question is not "how bad was the poke?"...which is what the ref said to the mentor after the game..."the poke wasn't that bad". The rule book doesn't say "you can poke the goalie a little but not a lot".  Rather the question is "was the puck loose?" If the puck is not visibly loose then a forward may not try to poke the puck. REMEMBER "NO PUCK NO POKE".