Inadvertant Whistle on shot

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally posted by Hawks Coach
Back in saddle
Are you counting the goal, or just awarding the ball? It seems to me to be two separate questions. 7.5.4 c) does not clearly address it, although I lean toward not counting the goal based on this reading of c and that is an unfortunate and decidely distasteful outcome. It seems to be inconsistent with all other rulings in similar situations, and not justified by the actual facts of the matter (i.e., once a ball is released, what is going to happen will happen, regardless of the accidental whistle).

My conclusion from reading (c) is that the basket is not counted. If it were supposed to be counted, you'd award the ball to team B and not go with the arrow.

I agree with your feeling about this outcome entirely. It just feels wrong. However, trying to see what the other side of the argument might be, you could argue that the accidental whistle MAY have also prevented a goaltending or BI from occurring and that the matter is not necessarily decided once the ball is released. It's not a great argument, but it acknowledges that an accidental whistle could potentially impact any play, including this one. And once you acknowledge that, I think you have to go with the "lowest common denominator" approach, which is call it dead and go with the arrow.