When the clock hit zero at the end of the Public B state hockey final Monday, not everyone was focused on the Middletown North celebration.

Ramsey's Alex Whelan took a pass and fired the puck into the Lions' net. Few noticed this during the commotion. Whelan briefly spoke with the referees as the celebration continued, then went to commiserate with his teammates.

The referees ruled that the goal had been scored after the game ended. But questions lingered for some, and the issue gained momentum on social media. So Jersey Sports Now decided to take an in-depth look at our video to see if we could answer those questions.

Click on play in the box at left to see the analysis of the video, which clearly shows that the green light behind the goal was on before the puck entered the net. The green light indicates that the time has expired in the period.

In fact, the green light is already on by the time our camera pans over to that part of the Prudential Center rink. The puck does not cross the goal line until five-tenths of a second later, meaning the goal was at least half a second too late.

For an unknown reason, the red lights that normally indicate a goal did flash briefly after the puck entered the net. But the green light was on prior to that happening.

It does appear that Middletown North started celebrating a couple of seconds too early. And Whelan and his Ram teammates deserve credit for not giving up until the game was truly over. But it appears quite clear that the call was correct.

View the video breakdown of the sequence by clicking play in the box at left.