Just got the comments from Pizazz. See below:

2 things need to be considered:
1) Fins off the bottom: It can be considered that this player is leaving his fins in the way and even though they are not on the bottom it could be said that he is leaving his fins in the way if play
2)Obstruction: As with turning and going for the puck, when a player turns and goes directly for the puck it would not be considered a foul however if a player turns (or in this case proceeds) and does not go directly for the puck but infringes the side in possession this should be considered a foul.


Both videos are similar, second one less clear, in both instances I would have expected the referee on this side to be closer and have a better view but on the first video much would depend on the game situation i.e. if the player with the puck was just breaking away from his own goal probably just an advantage puck, if it was close to the defenders goal and no other players were close to help defending advantage puck plus time penalty.


Regards Pizazz

And, as an optional extra, Pizazz had forwarded it to some other refs, and got the following comments from SimonT (please note though that since Pizazz is world chief ref, I would consider his interpretation to be leading if there are any disparities):

I thought the first one was probably a foul, but it was pretty marginal in the sense that the defender has to be SOMEWHERE, but in this case it looked like they were a bit more in the way than they had to be.

Second one was definitely trying to keep the attacker off with his legs - and I would have given 2 min for the first offence if I saw it in a game, as it's definitely deliberate.
When I'm making this sort of call I will usually try and decide whether the defender's body/legs are simply in the position they had to be to best defend, or if they've set themselves up in a 'suboptimal' defensive position to maximise how much of their body they can get in the way. It's usually pretty obvious!

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