Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Breaking Down The First Coach's Challenge

10/08/2015 at 10:43am EDT

from Tim Wharnsby at NHL.com,

O'Rourke was the official down low and signaled a goal, but Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock decided to challenge the call on the ice after his assistant in the press box, Andrew Brewer, notified the bench there was goaltender interference on the play.

"I didn't challenge nothing," Babcock said. "[Brewer] yelled in [assistant coach] Jim Hiller's ear and Jim said, 'We're challenging.' Then they were good enough to put it up on the screen, so I knew by time the ref got over there we'd win it."

The Maple Leafs won the challenge but lost Babcock's debut as Maple Leafs coach, 3-1 at Air Canada Centre.

A team is allowed to challenge only if it hasn't used its timeout. If the challenge is unsuccessful, the team is charged its timeout.

O'Rourke said after the game he knew there was contact with Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier but thought the skate of Toronto defenseman Matt Hunwick ran into the goalie, not the stick of Montreal forward Tomas Plekanec as the replay showed.

So after the goal was scored, O'Rourke skated to the penalty box to report the scoring play to the official scorer. Referee Frederick L'Ecuyer stopped in front of the benches to supervise the next line change.

That's when the Maple Leafs made their decision to challenge. L'Ecuyer informed O'Rourke, and L'Ecuyer made an announcement to the fans.

O'Rourke then was handed the 4-G video monitor and was put in touch on a headset with the NHL Situation Room in Toronto. He viewed "two or three" replays and overturned his call.

"We had what we thought we saw on the ice," O'Rourke said. "[The situation room] said, 'Here's the replay, take a look at it.' Once you saw the overhead replay, it was pretty cut and dry.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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