Hockey question-penalty shot criteria

[BrendanP]

For anybody on this site who officiated/knows hockey: how blatant does it have to be to award a penalty shot? For example, last night's "Duel In The D" saw Michigan State score a goal in a penalty shot for a very questionable tripping call. Another instance was in an OHL game I was watching that I didn't get a clear view of the play (as I was on the glass in the other end), but it turned into a rugby scrum in front of the goal, and for some reason, the attacking team was awarded a penalty shot (and scored on said penalty shot)

[Welpe]

Oh hey, another post indirectly criticizing officials. Super!

[scrounge]

For anybody on this site who officiated/knows hockey: how blatant does it have to be to award a penalty shot? For example, last night's "Duel In The D" saw Michigan State score a goal in a penalty shot for a very questionable tripping call. Another instance was in an OHL game I was watching that I didn't get a clear view of the play (as I was on the glass in the other end), but it turned into a rugby scrum in front of the goal, and for some reason, the attacking team was awarded a penalty shot (and scored on said penalty shot)

Translation:

*Hmm, it's a football officiating forum, so no one's gonna care about my hockey whining, so I'll ask it as if I'm asking about hockey officiating.*

For anybody on this site who officiated/knows hockey: why are the refs so biased and horrible that they called a penalty on my beloved Meatchicken team, who we all know never does anything wrong? For example, last night's "Duel in the D" Michigan State scored a goal in a penalty shot and it's just not fair that Little Brother ever beats us in anything, so it had to be very questionable. Another instance was in an OHL game I was watching that I had no idea what happened (as I was on ice level on the glass in the other end) but something did happen and I saw a lot of people doing stuff and for some reason - I don't know what since I didn't really see a damn thing - a team got a penalty shot. What's up with that?

[ncwingman]

First off, I agree with scrounge that you're whining on the internet. It's not becoming and I suggest you find yourself a better hobby.

Secondly, I'm not touching your "very questionable" call because a) I didn't see it and b) you're probably just whining on the internet because the call went against your team -- as what scrounge said.

Thirdly, penalty shots can be awarded for things other than a breakaway. If a defender other than the goaltender closes his hand on the puck in the goal crease, it is an automatic penalty shot. If you were ice level at the other end of the rink, you probably didn't see what happened in that scrum in the crease.