A Case of 2 Halves Not Equaling a Goal

Red Storey, former National Hockey League referee, told Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Evening Sun this one about a game between the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens in the 1950s.

Montreal took a shot that hit the goalpost and appeared to bounce into the corner.

“I headed for the boards for a better look because there were three or four guys battling for the puck when I looked up and saw the light go on over the net with some guys jumping up and down,” Storey said.

“Turns out that the puck split in half, with a piece going into the goal and the other portion ricocheting away.”

Storey saw the potential for the situation to get out of hand, so he immediately and with great authority, waved off the goal. “The rule states that ‘the whole puck has to be over the line to be a goal,’ ” he said without fear of contradiction.

It worked.

“Toe Blake was the coach of Montreal then and he argued every call I ever made,” Storey said. “But he didn’t say a word this time, and I asked him why he didn’t raise a ruckus afterward. He said, ‘I didn’t have the slightest idea if you were right or not.’ ”

Add Storey: The Hall of Fame referee was at the Capital Centre to watch a game between the Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers.

A Washington player hit the ice and the sellout crowd of 18,130 screamed for a penalty call from referee Andy van Hellemond.

“Beside the fact that what happened didn’t call for a penalty,” Storey said, “I don’t like to see crowds give it to the officials like that. Hell, the NHL has the best refereeing in the world. But they ref the type of game the owners want.

“There’s a couple of new ones breaking in, but they’re all capable of doing any type of game the league wants. If you want change, don’t ask the referees to change the game, that has to come from the owners.”

Last add Storey: “The big change from years ago is players no longer want control of the puck. I call it ‘religious hockey’--shoot it into the zone, and pray you get in back.”

Now it can be told dept.: Former Coach Frank Kush claims Arizona State had won the 1967 recruiting battle for a running back named O.J. Simpson and would have signed the eventual Heisman Trophy winner were it not for a trip to the bathroom in the Oakland International Airport.

Kush and assistant Jack Stovall had a commitment from Simpson to attend Arizona State and were en route to Tempe with their prized recruit when O.J. went to the bathroom. Coming out, he ran into Mike Giddings, coach at Utah.

Unable to convince Simpson to attend Utah, Giddings made a pitch on behalf of USC, where he had been an assistant under John McKay.

“(Giddings) talked O.J. into waiting another day,” Kush told Bob Hurt of the Arizona Republic. “And he changed his mind. If we hadn’t let him go to the john, we’d have had him on an airplane and Mike wouldn’t have seen him. Every time I see O.J., we kid about it.”

Patrick Leahy, a senior at Eisenhower High School in Yakima, Wash., has continued a family tradition by accepting a scholarship to Notre Dame.

Leahy is the grandson of legendary Notre Dame football Coach Frank Leahy, and his father, Jim Leahy, played for the Irish in the 1960s.

However, there’s a twist to the story. The 6-7, 220-pound Leahy, a hard-throwing right-hander, is going to Notre Dame on a baseball scholarship.

Add Leahy: He chose Notre Dame, which plays a decent brand of baseball, over Stanford, which has won the College World Series the last two years.

Quotebook

Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers, who played only 20 minutes in the National Basketball Assn. All-Star game, on next year’s game at Miami: “We’re going to be on the beach next year. If I don’t get to play, at least I’ll have a tan.”