Interesting read from Tony Gallagher in the National Post.
http://www.nationalpost.com/s****ts/story.html?id=573430
If you can't click here's what it says.
VANCOUVER -- Now that the Stanley Cup has been awarded to the Detroit Red
Wings and any emotion from any one particular game has faded, we would be
remiss if we didn't seriously ask some questions about what actually took
place in that final series with respect to the officiating.
Having been around the NHL pretty much since the dawn of man, I have
watched
a lot of games and have seen a lot of good and bad calls by good and bad
referees, and I rarely address this topic.
By and large the NHL officials are outstanding individuals whom any
cor****ation would be thrilled to have represent them in almost any
situation.
When the way the game was officiated swung back and forth in pendulum
fa****on over the years, you knew that these guys were always just doing
what
they were instructed to do by the New York office.
And when the most im****tant games were played, the most experienced,
senior
officials were front and centre.
And even though the referees of the day would frequently call virtually
nothing once the third period began and the game moved into overtime,
there
was never any sense of anything fishy.
The breaks involved in officials' judgments always seen to balance out
over
a series of games. There was no such feeling at this year's final.
While nobody really wanted to say so, how could you have possibly watched
the calls in that series and not had the feeling that somehow, consciously
or more likely unconsciously, there was a slant toward favouring the
Pittsburgh Penguins?
While it seemed to be prevalent most of the series, at times to a far
lesser
extent, the final 20 seconds of Game 6 illustrated the problem perfectly.
With Detroit just having given up a power-play goal that allowed
Pittsburgh
to get to within 3-2 with under two minutes to go, the Pens had their
goalie
out and the Wings under siege.
But with about 18 seconds left, Pavel Datsyuk of the Wings managed to
skate
free with the puck, skate it out over the blue-line, but as he readied a
shot toward the open net, he was hauled down with an abundantly obvious
stick foul so blatant that Helen Keller would have been forced to raise
her
arm.
No call.
Pittsburgh then got the puck, stormed the other end and nearly tied the
game
in the last second.
This call wasn't missed. There is absolutely no conceivable way it could
have been missed.
But the officials chose not to end the Penguins' season. In fact, for the
first time in all my years of viewing hockey, I was overwhelmed by a sense
that there existed a desperate need to keep this series going for the good
of the game, no matter how far rule interpretations had to be stretched.
The most difficult part came once the series began to gain momentum and it
became abundantly obvious the television ratings in the U.S. were building
with every game and the league was sending out press releases to one and
all
that this was the case.
That's when things began to get a touch malodorous. With Detroit leading
2-1
in the third period of Game 4, the 1:26 of five-on-three time awarded
Pittsburgh comes to mind.
In OT of Game 5, with the series a goal away from extinction, the two
goalie
interference calls that had Detroit head coach Mike Babcock steamed enough
he felt compelled to complain to the media the following day didn't seem
to
pass the smell test.
There was Dallas Drake's charging penalty when in fact he was scarcely
moving and barely made contact. The fact that one team had virtually all
the
five-on-three time, often for extended periods, was troubling.
And then there was the Datsyuk no-call, one that would have set off an
absolute firestorm for hockey had the Pens sent it to overtime.
Of 10 experienced media types consulted about the officiating after the
series, not one said they thought it was all right.
The responses of most can be summed up with a simple head shake and the
response "not good."
Much has been made by some of the fact that the league didn't seem to use
the most experienced people, but instead those who were vigilant about
calling the touch stick fouls that have improved the game. And that may
have
been a factor. But the fact remains the officials who were used are
generally very good at their craft.
Sorry, but there was something just not right about the way that series
went
down.
Vancouver Province
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