NHL Officials Gone Awry

For all of you wondering what ever happened to the replacement referees the NFL had used temporarily during the 2012 NFL season... Have no fear! I found them! They seem to have found a gig officiating games in the NHL since then.

Now I am only a disgruntled Penguins fan speaking out about this, but I know there have been plenty of other fan bases whom have dealt with the same upsetting, irritating, and game changing calls we have.

This past week against the Isles, we saw a game winning goal on an Islanders powerplay that really never should have happened. If anything, it should have been a powerplay seen by the Penguins from a non-call just moments before the zebras sent the Isles to the man-advantage.

For those of you whom may have missed the game, or don’t recall the moment I am talking about, it was about the mid-way point in the third period and the Pens kept pushing and created a ton of opportunities in the offensive zone. Patric Hornqvist made his home at the front of the net and the offense was taking shots and creating opportunities over and over and over again. We got a shot on net saved and frozen by Halak, but before the whistle was blown, Horny was crosschecked from behind causing his face to take on the goal post. Luckily, he was able to avoid any real injury (because he is a hockey player) and just push the net off the moorings.

No. Call.

Less than 30 seconds later, against the far wall, Matt Cullen was knocked down in an arguable interference non-call... again... He gets up, takes the body of the defender, and quickly gets called for crosschecking. Now, it was an arguable call, and I can understand the call. However, what I do not understand, what I cannot wrap my mind around, is the two non-calls leading up to that penalty. It was a “ticky-tacky call” according to Bob Errey, and I would have to agree. It was a weak call, not even worthy of a crosschecking call. Maybe... just maayyyybe it could have been an interference, but the puck was close enough to call that. And, of course, the subsequent powerplay, the Isles score the game winning goal.

It was at this point I decided I should put something out there about the horrible officiating in the NHL.

Now before anyone jumps on me for bitching about the refs not calling a fair game for Pens, listen here; I am the first to admit when there’s a call thats deserved for us. I will be the first to completely agree with a legit penalty; even the penalties that can be let go while “letting the players play” but are still called; I get that. I understand those calls. But do NOT make a ticky-tacky call late in a game where you have already let go legit penalties.

Okay, the Pens are not the only team dealing with this. I have watched enough games where the refs have let go legitimate penalties. I have watched Stars/Hawks games, Bruins/Lightning games, etc, and have noticed there have been some pretty bad non-calls. However, I have noticed more and more the last 2-3 years these zebras “calls” are getting worse and worse. I’ve seen obvious tripping calls cause teams to lose opportunities in the offensive zone late in close games. I’ve seen legit boarding/interference calls cause injuries to key players.

And all these penalties? Gone by the wayside.

What the hell, NHL?!

All I want to see is a game called fair. I want to see a game where there are no horrible calls for either team. Keep it classy. Keep it fair. Keep it clean. If there is an obvious penalty... call it. If it’s something that you see embellished... call the embellishment, call the penalty, call both! I don’t care. But do not, do NOT call the little, ticky-tacky crap that you’ve let slide all game and then let the legit calls go unnoticed.

This is something that needs to be addressed. I know I am not the only fan that loses his mind over these calls. There’s fans for every team that end up losing their minds, they scream at their TVs like the zebras can hear us. We yell and scream like our voices can be heard, but yet no one listens.

So here’s to a change! Let’s hope it can get better. Let’s hope things can turn around. But I will not hold my breath. I’m just gonna sit here and wonder how many opportunities my team will lose because of horrible calls and God awful officiating.

Your move, NHL.