He was only trying to help. New Jersey Devils center Erik Haula tossed his stick to a teammate while shorthanded and ended up putting his team down two men.
Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler snapped his stick blocking a shot while shorthanded. Haula attempted to help out his blueliner by offering up his stick. He’s allowed to hand it to him. He’s not allowed to throw it… which he did.
Referee Chris Schlenker caught this one immediately. His arm went up as the Philadelphia Flyers maintained possession. Haula went off for two minutes for throwing his stick.
Rule 10.3 handles broken sticks:
A player who has lost or broken his stick may receive a replacement stick by having one handed to him from his own players’ bench, by having one handed to him by a teammate on the ice or by picking up his own unbroken stick or that of a teammate from the ice.
A player will be penalized if he throws or shoots a stick to a teammate on the ice, or if he picks up and plays with an opponent’s stick.
Rule 53 covers Throwing Equipment:
A player shall not throw a stick or any other object in any zone. A player who has lost or broken his stick may only receive a stick at his own players’ bench or be handed one from a teammate on the ice.
A minor penalty shall be imposed: (i) For throwing a stick on any player on the ice who throws his stick or any part thereof or any other object in the direction of the puck or an opponent in any zone, except when such act has been penalized by the assessment of a penalty shot (53.7) or the awarding of a goal (53.8).
Instead of helping kill the penalty, Haula made it worse. The Devils survived a 5-on-3 for 1:02 and killed off the remainder of Haula’s penalty.
They say no good deed goes unpunished. Well, this good deed certainly resulted in some punishment — and a lesson learned for Erik Haula.
The Flyers went on to win the game 2-1. Referees were Chris Schlenker (#3) and Justin St. Pierre (#12), with linesmen Dan Kelly (#98) and Steve Barton (#59).
