Why did you leave out the part before the one you quoted? Namely:
Is the reason you didn't quote this because it hurts your narrative? I wonder what "moving in the same direction" means?
This clearly is referring to cases where one player is ahead of the other while heading to the puck. That's very different from one player stopping and reversing to hit against the player behind him. At that point, they're no longer moving in the same direction.
I wonder what your excuse is to not quote this part.
Because I was specifically talking about the only part of the interference rule that refers to delivering a check? Which specifies that a check is allowed if it's not illegal? In the part you quoted where I was talking about delivering a check? In the post where I was responding to a person who claimed that laying a hit on a player who doesn't have possession of the puck is interference?
I dunno, I thought it was evident why I highlighted the part about laying a check.
Your claim is that stopping to deliver a check is interference. If you stop, in a way that does not move you laterally and does not constitute a pick (which would require you to not have "body position"), you have right to the ice you ocuppy, as per the second paragraph of the "body position" section of the interference rule.
What gives you the idea that you no longer has right to the ice you occupy because you stop in front of a player? It's written verbatim in the rulebook that you have right to the ice you occupy if you aren't setting a pick, which you can only do if you do not have "body position" to begin with. If you are skating in front of a player, moving in the same direction as he does, you can't set a pick as you already have body position.