I was always thinking in my head … what if there was a way that a camera could go just inderneath the ice under the goal line facing up to see if a puck crossed the line …. or some sort of sensor underneath the goal line that senses when the rubber puck fully crosses the line

Man. I thought I was reading something I wrote. I wrote an e-mail to Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy on yahoo, in response to an article he wrote a while ago about the state of NHL replays and missed calls. I had this idea:

What if we… re-do the goal line? I mean, have a small, long rectangular space in the ice, stretching from goal post to goal post, that has little camera’s inside which, provide an, “under the ice” view pointing directly upward to the “line” of the goal line, which would provide clear evidence of the puck passing over the line or not. The camera’s would need to be able to see the crossbar kind of angle is where I’m looking at. However, we need “clear ice” to be overtop of this dug in rectangle. The camera’s will be able to turn and zoom and all you’d expect. My view, the camera’s should only be played back, if there is already no clear shot of the puck going in. I.E. for example, if there is a huge pile up in the crease and the goaltender is “inside the net”. OR, remember Daniel Briere’s “no goal” against the Rangers in the playoffs (Buffalo vs. NY) with no time on the clock, because the puck disappeared under Lundqvist’s pads on the goal line? Imagine looking up from under the ice to see for sure if the puck crosses the line or not.

However, our idea really doesn’t work. A while after I sent the message I thought to myself that the idea relies too much on technology. The game isn’t about technology and replays. Then refs would have no function. The game needs the refs to make a call on the ice, and in the case there is a controversial call, camera angles in the stadium should be used to best determine a call. But cameras shouldn’t be used all the time. They shouldn’t be needed for everything. It’s similar to the controversy in baseball about instant replay.