Prospect Info: Giavani Smith, and the abuse of an official

[jkutswings]

Red Wings prospect Givani Smith pulls referee off him during fight, should be disciplined for behavior

I know the kid has an edge to him, but that's not a good look for anybody, and discouraging to see from a 2nd round pick.

Click to read more...

 

[TheMule93]

Comment from reddit regarding this

Not to say the player was in the right, but according to more than one of the twitter comments the ref tripped over a stick on the ice, so the video could just show the worst angle without context. The fact that Smith played the rest of the game backs that theory up a lot more than the Sarnia homers claiming it was malicious.

 

[Winger98]

At the beginning of the clip you can see a stick being kicked around in their feet. Would make sense. Smith has always been sold as a gritty guy, but I don't recall anything like this in his past.

 

[HisNoodliness]

Comment from reddit regarding this

That makes me feel better. Not that he should be pushing a ref regardless but if it looks a lot worse than it was that's a good thing.

 

[WingsMJN2965]

Nothing like a sped up GIF to give you a distorted view of what happened.

 

[Ezekial]

He also didn't get penalized for it, original 2 minute minor + 5 for fighting.

 

[Redder Winger]

Thanks for the replies to this.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

If that ref didn't think anything happened and didn't penalize Smith in the moment, I think it's fine. It's just an unfortunate looking moment captured from a weird angle.

 

[jkutswings]

Stick or no stick, he still pushed a ref, which is a really dumb thing to do.

 

[Flowah]

Nothing like a sped up GIF to give you a distorted view of what happened.

I know that in studies of videos and juries in trials, slow motion imparts a feeling of intentionality to actions from the jurors' perspectives. Even when there is none. I wonder what the effect would be if sped up.

 

[robertmac43]

Go to the Kitchener Rangers thread for some insight on the play, there are a lot of comments from people who were at the game

 

[AHall88]

Stick or no stick, he still pushed a ref, which is a really dumb thing to do.

Looks more like the ref just tripped, the gif seems to be at 1.5 or 2 times speed, not really ideal for judging something like this.

 

[Hammettf2b]

Does anyone have any other video evidence because the gif in the OP looks really damning. If people are saying its altered, I would really like to see an original to compare.