[rommel22]

STEVED21,

I agree some what. Under some circumstances you have to take into account if the player is actually gaining an advantage from playing with a bent crosse. Take the goalie, for example. Most goalies bang the pipes with their crosse all game to find out where they are in the crease without actually taking their eyes off the ball. A would say most goaltenders crosses are bend beyond legality. However, we don't penalize them for this because it is not giving them an unfair advantage.

When it comes to a stick check on a player who has scored 5 goals in the first half, and his crosse is bent in a manner that allows him to gain an unfair advantage, and the cambered shaft is more then is allowed by rule, then yes, you would penalize this player. We don't just penalize every bend stick. As officials we have to use common sense. Some bends are intentional and other are not. If a player who hasn’t touched the ball all game has a crosse that is bent sideways, as referees, we should tell this player to bend it back, not give a penalty. The rule clearly states: "A crosse that has been altered in such a way as to give an advantage to an individual is illegal."

If we as officials don't know how the crosse got this way, then yes, we may have to penalize this player. But if I did an equipment check on player A at the end of the 1st quarter after he had scored 4 goals, and his stick was legal, and a coach from team B requests a check of player A in the 3 quarter after 2 more goals, and his stick is now bent, I'm going to do the following: 1) Did he do this deliberately to gain an advantage, 2) Did something else cause this (i.e. - defenders crashing down on him all day because he's scoring all the time.) We as officials shouldn't blindly enforce the rules; this is where judgment and experience come into play. You may disagree, and I don't have a problem with that, but this is just my opinion on the subject.