Some questions came up in another post that I can't find about where the shot distance is calculated from. I thought I'd do a bit of research on the topic, and see what I could come up with.

*Distance from the Boards to the Goal Line*

Per the 2009-2010 NHL rulebook, the distance from the boards to the center of the goal line as 11'.

The goal line itself is 2" wide.

Here's a diagram, taken directly from the rulebook:

*Looking at a Recent Goal*

*Nicklas Backstrom*'s goal in the recent Caps-Lightning game is categorized in the Play-by-Play as "GOAL WSH #19 BACKSTROM(23), *Wrist, Off. Zone, 15 ft.* Assists: #8 OVECHKIN(41); #14 FLEISCHMANN(21)"

Here's a picture:

In this image, Backstrom looks to be about 5' in front of the goal mouth (given the 4' distance from the goal line to where the crease begins its curve), and the 6' distance from the goal line to the top of the curve. That, plus the 12' to the boards behind the net, is about 18' distance. However, the image is not precise, given I don't have frame-by-frame access to the sequence, so Backstrom shifting closer to the goal mouth before he actually puts the puck into the net is entirely possible.

So it appears, at least to me, that the distance is measured off the boards behind the goal, and not from the goal line. An enquiry to the NHLOA BBoard produced only a, "we aren't sure on that one" response, so I am enquiring further, and will repost here if any change to this is required.