Redundancy is Rampant among NHL Refs: "It's A Good Goal!"??

Just last week I was at the the Nashville Predators vs. Buffalo Sabres game. There was a great play when, on the power play, Shea Weber who was positioned along the half wall, fired a shot pass that was strategically directed into the corner of the net by the foot of Nick Spaling. The ref signaled “goal” and from my vantage point (13 rows off the ice in the same corner) the play looked like a clean re-direction and not a kicking motion. If the puck is put into the net by a distinct kicking motion it is ruled “no goal.” The fans in my section, mostly Buffalonians, thought that it should be reversed and waived off because of a kicking motion. I said right away out loud that I thought it would stand. Sure enough…“good goal”

Now maybe I’m being a little difficult but I would like to know when this language made its way into the hockey vernacular. To say that a Goal is a “good goal”, there would then have to be a “bad goal”. Having played 25+ years of hockey, I have never seen such a unique scoring play that would warrant the confusing term of a “bad goal”. If the puck goes in the net, the correct terminology is he/she scored a goal. Not he/she scored a good goal. Unless the player dives forward to make a one handed pass to his teammate who then does a spin-o-rama and scores on the backhand. That is a good goal. Okay, it’s an amazing goal. I guess a “good goal” would be choosing to shoot on a 2-1 and going #ihavenofivehole.

I’m just waiting for the time when the ref comes out of the meeting with the upstairs crew and says, “There was no kicking motion and therefore it is an ‘amazing goal!’.” Or just tell the people what it is- goal or no goal. Let’s get rid of the redundancy or change the description to meet the actual play. Let’s let the fans decide on what adjective correctly describes the play they just witnessed. Or give refs the opportunity to show off some of their vocabulary skill sets.

“The puck was directed in, therefore it is considered in my humble opinion to be a decent goal, but a goal none the less.”