What is happening to the NHL...

[Category 5o]

Anyone catch this gem last night?


Ended up in a 4 on 4, instead of a 5 on 4 in favor of the Sharks, which lead to a 4 on 4 GWG for the hawks as well as a minute of 5 on 4 PP for Chicago.

Here's the statement from the NHL on their record time rescinding the call.

"The way the linesman saw it on the ice, he was convinced it was a major penalty. Unfortunately, he was wrong," supervisor of officials Mick McGeough told a pool reporter. "It's been overruled, taken care of by the league and Brendan Shanahan and the safety committee, and there are no more issues right now."

Y! SPORTS

 

[evolver115]

Yeah, the refs blew it. They gave dejardins a match penalty for a phantom blow to the head. It was a clean hit. They did the same thing to Chris Kunitz of Pittsburgh last nite for a clean hip check that they called to be interference. The refs are guilty of overreacting, but I guess they are looking at it from the standpoint of protecting the players.

Eh, what else is new. The refs are inconsistent. It's not just the NHL. Most officiating these days leaves you scratching your head. Look to last Sunday night in the Super Bowl. Crabtree was interfered with on the 4th and goal play at the closing minutes of the game.

 

[mooger_35]

The biggest surprise was this... "Unfortunately, he was wrong"

The league admitting an error? Shocking!

Of course they didn't say it about a ref, just a linesman. So carry on I guess.

 

[forty_three]

The biggest surprise was this... "Unfortunately, he was wrong"

The league admitting an error? Shocking!

Of course they didn't say it about a ref, just a linesman. So carry on I guess.

Kind of have mixed emotions on the admission of error.

On one hand, it is nice for them to say "yeah, we screwed that up." A simple mea culpa is sadly too foreign a concept lately.

On the other, I would probably prefer them to handle it in private. Fans, Gossip writers (Like everyone at ESPN) and bookies are too wrapped up and loud. I mean can you imagine if the NFL actually said (what almost everyone knows) "Yeah, it was holding. But we didn't call any holding the whole game. So it wasn't appropriate to call there. Basically we fucked up the WHOLE Super Bowl with terrible calls both ways."

Would make Sabres fans constantly bitching about a skate seem like a summer breeze.

These things should be handled behind closed doors. Too much at stake. Yeah, they fucked up. Fine the ref, send 'em to training to get better. Whatever. But don't announce it. They are people with jobs. If they don't perform their jobs well, fire them. Introduce consequences, and stop problems before they get to potentially affecting the outcome of a championship.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

Kind of have mixed emotions on the admission of error.

On one hand, it is nice for them to say "yeah, we screwed that up." A simple mea culpa is sadly too foreign a concept lately.

On the other, I would probably prefer them to handle it in private. Fans, Gossip writers (Like everyone at ESPN) and bookies are too wrapped up and loud. I mean can you imagine if the NFL actually said (what almost everyone knows) "Yeah, it was holding. But we didn't call any holding the whole game. So it wasn't appropriate to call there. Basically we fucked up the WHOLE Super Bowl with terrible calls both ways."

Would make Sabres fans constantly bitching about a skate seem like a summer breeze.

These things should be handled behind closed doors. Too much at stake. Yeah, they fucked up. Fine the ref, send 'em to training to get better. Whatever. But don't announce it. They are people with jobs. If they don't perform their jobs well, fire them. Introduce consequences, and stop problems before they get to potentially affecting the outcome of a championship.

I see what you're saying, but I feel the opposite.

In my view, as the fans, we are the only reason that the league exists, and I think that the entire league should be beholden to us because of this.

Sure, an admission of error won't change anything, but sometimes it's nice to have confirmation at least that you were right that it was a BS call.

 

[dash]

Sure, an admission of error won't change anything, but sometimes it's nice to have confirmation at least that you were right that it was a BS call.

I agree with sabresfaninthesouth. The NHL needs to be upfront where blatant officiating errors are concerned and they have a track record of failing miserably where this is concerned. In my opinion, this just encourages and provides validation to the conspiracy theorists and tin hat people. We tell people to man up when they are wrong and admit their errors, the NHL should be no different.

 

[Slimpikins]

If they rescind the match penalty, they are admitting the ref was wrong. The only way to truly keep it behind the scenes is to keep the major intact, which would be unfair to Desjardins.

 

[pixburgher66]

I don't know how you can call a north-south play a blindside hit...Mayers was too busy looking backwards for the puck. Guys have to be responsible for their own actions too. Reminds me a bit of the hit that took out Sid for forever in the WC. Moving up the ice, but has head turned around.

 

[BOSSMANPC]

I see what you're saying, but I feel the opposite.

In my view, as the fans, we are the only reason that the league exists, and I think that the entire league should be beholden to us because of this.

Sure, an admission of error won't change anything, but sometimes it's nice to have confirmation at least that you were right that it was a BS call.

I have been saying that for years. People would rather hear them say we screwed up and move on. Yes Sabres fans were "bitching about a skate seem like a summer breeze" and 90% of the bitching was because the NHL didn't have the integrity to just say they made a god damn mistake. Instead they tried saying it was the correct call, then even blamed the arena staff for letting all of the players and media on the ice.

So for the 1000th time it would have been easier to except if they would have just said they screwed up. Trust me there was more talk here about how the NHL danced around the fucking situation than there was the goal or no goal itself. The league looked very mickey mouse over it.

 

[BOSSMANPC]

I agree with sabresfaninthesouth. The NHL needs to be upfront where blatant officiating errors are concerned and they have a track record of failing miserably where this is concerned. In my opinion, this just encourages and provides validation to the conspiracy theorists and tin hat people. We tell people to man up when they are wrong and admit their errors, the NHL should be no different.

Amen.

 

[BOSSMANPC]

Remember that terrible call by Ed Hochuli {sp}? a couple years ago in that football game that cost a team a win? He manned up and admitted and publicly apologized for the mistake and I remember fans and the sports media giving him kudos for doing it. They were saying that he was personally trying to answer all of the nasty e-mails he received.

 

[raptorlife4]

should be able to quickly look at a replay on a call like that

 

[forty_three]

I agree with sabresfaninthesouth. The NHL needs to be upfront where blatant officiating errors are concerned and they have a track record of failing miserably where this is concerned. In my opinion, this just encourages and provides validation to the conspiracy theorists and tin hat people. We tell people to man up when they are wrong and admit their errors, the NHL should be no different.

I can see both sides, but laying it out there all the time will lead to certain fanbases keeping track. If every mistake is laid out there, in two years there will be metrics and trends and people screaming about how they are 14.7% more likely than xxxxx to get a blown call against. I guess either side feeds the conspiracy theorists.

Everyone knows the names of the officials who have made very famous bad calls. But they are still working. Acknowledgement by the league(s) and the officials that the call was bad doesn't change anything, particularly not their employment status.

Personally, while it would be nice to have league acknowledgement of what everyone sees with their own eyes, I would much rather have a bad official kept away from a game. especially big ones.

That fucker who blew the perfect game in Detroit? He shouldn't be allowed near a stadium ever again. But he's out there all the time. He's acknowledged he blew it. There is no perfect game in the books. The league knows he blew it, but he continues to be out there.

 

[dash]

I can see both sides, but laying it out there all the time will lead to certain fanbases keeping track. If every mistake is laid out there, in two years there will be metrics and trends and people screaming about how they are 14.7% more likely than xxxxx to get a blown call against. I guess either side feeds the conspiracy theorists.

Everyone knows the names of the officials who have made very famous bad calls. But they are still working. Acknowledgement by the league(s) and the officials that the call was bad doesn't change anything, particularly not their employment status.

Personally, while it would be nice to have league acknowledgement of what everyone sees with their own eyes, I would much rather have a bad official kept away from a game. especially big ones.

That fucker who blew the perfect game in Detroit? He shouldn't be allowed near a stadium ever again. But he's out there all the time. He's acknowledged he blew it. There is no perfect game in the books. The league knows he blew it, but he continues to be out there.

I agree with quite a bit posted above 43, but I think officials/umpires at the top of their sport will still miss calls from time-to-time (they are human after all). As far as Jim Joyce is concerned, yeah he blew the call, but he came clean about it almost immediately after the fact and although the Tigers pitcher lost his perfect game, at least the Tigers didn't lose the game.

The part that is troubling though is that I see some officials "guessing" (as in they didn't see the hit, but they heard a big noise and they see the guy's head snap back, so it must have been a hit to the head. If you're going to issue a major penalty, you'd better make damn sure you are positive. If that means conferring with the other officials, do it and take the 30-60 seconds to get agreement that it is indeed the right call.

 

[Cmon_WTF]

I think my favorite part was Mayers response to questions about the hit:

“It was a hit to the head,” Mayars said. “I’m not sure if it was elbow or forearm, or whatever it was. We’re trying to get that out of our game. It’s unfortunate that happened. But, we got a power play out of it, and most importantly we won the game."

In fairness to Mayers, Desjardins did make significant contact with his hip/midsection, and Mayers head does spend a lot of time up his ass so perhaps it was a head shot...

 

[Category 5o]

In fairness to Mayers, Desjardins did make significant contact with his hip/midsection, and Mayers head does spend a lot of time up his ass so perhaps it was a head shot...

 

[Slimpikins]

In fairness to Mayers, Desjardins did make significant contact with his hip/midsection, and Mayers head does spend a lot of time up his ass so perhaps it was a head shot...

Ha, well played.

If he is pissed at anyone it should be Keith for feeding the puck into his skates while coming out of the zone. Served him up on a platter.

 

[esls79]

Ha, well played.

If he is pissed at anyone it should be Keith for feeding the puck into his skates while coming out of the zone. Served him up on a platter.

So Mayers was on the trolley tracks and looked down to find the puck? What is the big deal then?

 

[BOSSMANPC]

So Mayers was on the trolley tracks and looked down to find the puck? What is the big deal then?

Like the hit Campbell laid on R.J. Umberger a few years back. His team mate put him on the trolley tracks too.

 

[Dacks]

Refs are going to mistake. From the first clip, I thought it was a hit to the head of a defenceless player. Needed a nice slow-motion replay to see it was primarily shoulder-to-shoulder. (Mind you, I'm sure the whiplash was bad enough that Mayers genuinely thinks it was a hit to the head.)

Refs always make mistakes, the difference here is that this mistake led to a 5min major instead of a 2min minor. Unless they start reviewing major penalties in-game, that's going to happen - at least it's not as bad as the miscall against Backes. To be honest though, it's a worthy trade-off: A few bad calls, with admittedly harsh consequences, to reduce hits to the head and concussions.