Liam Ohgren scored what looked like the go-ahead goal late in the first period Tuesday night. Instead of a 2-1 Canucks lead, he got a hooking minor – and eight seconds later the Ducks scored on the power play. Vancouver never led again in a 5-4 loss to Anaheim at Rogers Arena.

With the game tied 1–1, Ohgren chased down Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe from behind inside the Anaheim zone at 16:59 of the first period. Ohgren lifted LaCombe’s stick, picked off the puck, and swept a shot past Laurent Brossoit.

Referee Graedy Hamilton’s arm was up before the puck crossed the line. He waved off the goal immediately. The ref ruled that Ohgren’s stickwork on LaCombe was a hook, not a clean lift, and sent Ohgren to the box for two minutes. Cutter Gauthier scored on the ensuing power play at 17:07 – eight seconds after the faceoff – putting Anaheim up 2-1 instead of trailing by one.

 

 

There was no review, no coach’s challenge, and no Situation Room involvement – and there couldn’t have been. The hook was an on-ice penalty call on the scoring player himself, made in real time, and those calls are not reviewable. Challenges under Rule 38 cover offside, goaltender interference, and missed stoppages – a hooking penalty isn’t on the list.

Ohgren’s stat sheet went from one goal to two minutes for hooking. 

Hooking (Rule 55.1) is “the act of using the stick in a manner that enables a player to restrain an opponent”  but the same section is clear that “when a player is checking another in such a way that there is only stick-to-stick contact, such action is not to be penalized as hooking.” A pure stick lift is legal. The league’s enforcement standard for the past several seasons is that the moment the checking stick rides up into the puck carrier’s hands or gloves, it’s a hook (55.2: a minor “shall be imposed on a player who impedes the progress of an opponent by ‘hooking’ with his stick”).

“I haven’t looked at it closely, but from what I’ve seen, I don’t agree with the call,” Ohgren said. “Feel like I got the stick pretty good, and I score right after, and [it] got called back. And I got a penalty and they scored on the power play. So, I mean, obviously a tough one. But gotta trust the referee that he sees the right thing and made the right call.”

The Athletic’s Wyatt Arndt summed up the standard debate: “I absolutely LOATHE how the NHL is weirdly militant about calling stick lifts that touch or breeze near a player’s hands, but that is how they’ve consistently called it for a couple seasons now.”

The wiped-out goal was the pivotal moment of the night. Anaheim’s power play went 3-for-3 – Mikael Granlund at 4:04 of the first, then Gauthier at 17:07 and again at 18:25 of the second – and Gauthier completed his second straight hat trick early in the third to make it 5-2. Vancouver rallied on two Jake DeBrusk goals to get within one, but the comeback stalled at 5-4. 

Ohgren still finished with a goal that counted – a power-play marker at 6:04 of the first, the first power-play goal of his career and his fifth goal of the season, giving him three goals in his last four games.

Officials for the game were referees Graedy Hamilton (#41) and Jean Hebert (#15), with linespersons Bevan Mills (#53) and Trent Knorr (#74).