St. Louis Blues center Brayden Schenn took out his frustrations on the penalty box camera after getting a penalty for one of the lowest high-sticks onBlues’ Schenn Penalized for Low High Stick, Trashes Camera record.

Schenn’s penalty came with 1:19 remaining in the third period, with the score tied 2-2.   The Blues forward got entangled with Colorado Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson at center ice.  Both players lost their balance, with Manson going down and Schenn staying on his skates as his stick swung out and caught the Avs’ blueliner in the face.

 


Referee Steve Kozari called Schenn for high-sticking — on a high stick that was shin height.

Schenn protested the call, pleading his case that Manson was low, resulting in the contact.

“He draws some interference to me, chasing down [Toews]. I probably wasn’t going to get the puck anyways and he falls and I hit him in the face. It’s interference but it’s also high-stick. It is what it is, Steve [Kozari] made the call,” Schenn said after the game, per The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford.

“The boys killed the penalty off. Obviously I was not happy at the time. It’s just one of those things, guys get hit in the face, the ref puts the arm up and nothing you can do about it.”

The high-sticking rule focuses on where the stick makes contact, which is defined as ‘above shoulder height’.  Of course, that depends greatly on where the player’s shoulders are at the time.

A “high stick” is one which is carried above the height of the opponent’s shoulders. Players must be in control and responsible for their stick.

However, a player is permitted accidental contact on an opponent if the act is committed as a normal windup or follow through of a shooting motion, or accidental contact on the opposing center who is bent over during the course of a face-off. A wild swing at a bouncing puck would not be considered a normal windup or follow through and any contact to an opponent above the height of the shoulders shall be penalized accordingly.

The rule calls for a minor penalty for “any contact made by a stick on an opponent above the shoulders.”

The faceoff caveat makes things interesting, since it permits a stick up high on a player ‘bent over during the course of a faceoff’ but does not offer a similar provision for players whose bodies are down low for other reasons.  By the book, the faceoff is the only exception.

Schenn does make a good point. If not for the contact from Manson, perhaps the high stick never happens. In this case, it appears that referee Steve Kozari felt the contact was incidental and that it came as a result of two players battling in pursuit of the puck.

Of course, Schenn wasn’t done with his stickwork.  When he got to the penalty box, the frustrated forward focused his fury on the penalty box camera.

 

 

No penalty for that, which clearly wasn’t incidental.