NHL Refereeing

Hoople

Registered User
Mar 7, 2011
16,193
121
I cannot believe that the League would allow what happened tonight.

This is not a homer thread where I am whining that the Canadiens were ripped off. No, this is a thread wondering how those two referees should still have a job after this game.

Penalties were ignored all game long. On the Senators and on the Canadiens. Both goalies were knocked over with no call. There were crosschecks, trips, hooking, roughing ignored....for both sides.

And then came the end of the game when penalties were called.

This game was a joke. I love to watch other sports like baseball and football. I have never seen a game where an umpire changes his strike zone toward the end of the game. I have not seen an umpire intentionally call a player safe when he was out by a mile.

In football, the refs occasionally ignore the holding calls. But they tend to call the game by the rules.

But not in the NHL. Games like this will portray this sport that I love as a sham. WWE wrestling, roller derby or professional boxing.

Sad day for the sport. Especially knowing that these two idiots will be out on the ice tomorrow or the next day.
 

Kriss E

Registered User
May 3, 2007
55,329
20,272
Jeddah
The head of the disciplinary committee (is there even a freaking committee??) is completely inconsistent, so don't expect his soldiers in the field to be any different.
 

zx81

Registered User
Aug 2, 2005
21,308
14,140
I cannot believe that the League would allow what happened tonight.

This is not a homer thread where I am whining that the Canadiens were ripped off. No, this is a thread wondering how those two referees should still have a job after this game.

Penalties were ignored all game long. On the Senators and on the Canadiens. Both goalies were knocked over with no call. There were crosschecks, trips, hooking, roughing ignored....for both sides.

And then came the end of the game when penalties were called.

This game was a joke. I love to watch other sports like baseball and football. I have never seen a game where an umpire changes his strike zone toward the end of the game. I have not seen an umpire intentionally call a player safe when he was out by a mile.

In football, the refs occasionally ignore the holding calls. But they tend to call the game by the rules.

But not in the NHL. Games like this will portray this sport that I love as a sham. WWE wrestling, roller derby or professional boxing.

Sad day for the sport. Especially knowing that these two idiots will be out on the ice tomorrow or the next day.

???
I thought the refs were ok tonight.
 

Habset

Registered User
Feb 21, 2008
1,474
255
Montreal
Its been really bad this year, seems like every game in the NHL there's at least 2-3 bad calls
 

Hoople

Registered User
Mar 7, 2011
16,193
121
We are not losing the game tonight because of the refs.

I hope that you didnt get that from my post.

I am not blaming the refs for the loss tonight. I was going to start this thread even if we won.

It bothers me when the League sets up rules and the referees can decide to follow them..........or not. All at their own discretion.

Bush league and gives very little credibility to the NHL as a legitimate sport when rules can be bent or ignored on a whim.
 

habtastic

Registered User
Aug 17, 2007
10,529
116
Montrealer in Boston
OP is not wrong. It's as if they don't even train them. Bad calls both ways and completely inconsistent. But hey, at least the next game at the ACC will be totally awesome for the Habs wrt reffing!!!
 

Account Terminated

Registered User
Sep 12, 2009
32,629
0
The NHL refs are not what bugs the hell out of me. It's the linesmen.

Drop the puck. Lord, tell them to drop the puck.

It seems like every time two centres line up to take a face-off, one is thrown out. Sometimes both. Sometimes the OTHER linesman standing at the other side of the rink makes the call to throw one of them out. Sometimes it feels like they are trying to take over the entire game. It's ridiculous.

Case in point, during the Leafs/Flyers game. Nearing the end of the 1st, the Leafs centre was thrown out. As I flipped out, the Flyers fans started to boo and even the TSN broadcasters took note, saying, "This must be some sort of record for most face-off ejections."

It's awful and it needs to stop.
 

Hoople

Registered User
Mar 7, 2011
16,193
121
???
I thought the refs were ok tonight.

Did you see Smith tackle Desharnais in the face off circle in OT?

Did you see the six Ottawa skaters on the ice for several seconds without a call?

Did you see both goalies get knocked down without a call?

There were multiple times that the sticks were around the waist without a call. Ditto for crosschecks.

Either call all of that as penalties all season long. Or, send a memo out that nothing will be called.
 

HarlemsFinest

teh gallys!!1
Jul 2, 2009
2,488
0
Montreal
www.montrealracing.com
hate to defend them, and i just mean it in general and when it comes to calls related to the puck's location or wtv, not commenting on tonight. but hockey is very fast paced compared to what other refs in pro sports have to deal with. being a pro baseball umpire is probably on par with that level of difficulty of making the right call. but we all talk about how we wish we could have the quality of reffing like the NFL. well it's pretty easy to call an NFL in comparison. they're also not 'part of the game' and trying to dodge 90mph rubber bullets and clearing attempts whizzing by their face, while they try and ref the game, players also aren't running (skating) at 35kmh in other sports. while i do hate them, i will defend them on that one point. of course they could stand to improve though.
 

DAChampion

Registered User
May 28, 2011
29,782
20,934
Referring is probably a very difficult job that very very few could ever do well.
 

llamateizer

Registered User
Mar 16, 2007
13,672
6,770
Montreal
There was obvious calls that they should've called. But yesterday, I was happy with the non-calls, the game was fun to watch with almost no penalties.
 

rocky7

DAT 13
Feb 9, 2013
3,479
1
God's country
I cannot believe that the League would allow what happened tonight.

This is not a homer thread where I am whining that the Canadiens were ripped off. No, this is a thread wondering how those two referees should still have a job after this game.

Penalties were ignored all game long. On the Senators and on the Canadiens. Both goalies were knocked over with no call. There were crosschecks, trips, hooking, roughing ignored....for both sides.

And then came the end of the game when penalties were called.

This game was a joke. I love to watch other sports like baseball and football. I have never seen a game where an umpire changes his strike zone toward the end of the game. I have not seen an umpire intentionally call a player safe when he was out by a mile.

In football, the refs occasionally ignore the holding calls. But they tend to call the game by the rules.

But not in the NHL. Games like this will portray this sport that I love as a sham. WWE wrestling, roller derby or professional boxing.

Sad day for the sport. Especially knowing that these two idiots will be out on the ice tomorrow or the next day.

Well said and I'll add that IMO, the refs are instructed on how to call games by the league. It is corrupt. Proof of that can be seen in almost all games played. It is a joke and compared to other sports, yes, a "sham". The NHL will never have credibility in the US. Canadian fans will support hockey no matter what. Lots of change is needed in many aspects of the game. Never happen if the stands are full.
 

Blind Gardien

nexus of the crisis
Apr 2, 2004
20,537
0
Four Winds Bar
I liked the reffing last night, overall. Yes, they ignored about a dozen calls that we've seen called pretty consistently in other games. And made some pretty cheap calls too... maybe I just missed it by the even-up penalty against Subban really didn't look like Subban got Condra or whoever it was at all. While they got the big interference call on Methot that was too obvious to miss, they also let go a ton of other picks that have been called all year. So the refs performance did stand out as being completely out of line with the "standard" for the rest of the season to date.

But I liked that. It was more of a throwback "let 'em play" approach. I prefer that. Of course, it could be they weren't consciously taking a "let 'em play" approach, it just ended up being that way due to their incompetence. I'll take it.

The league could improve the game so much if it could somehow crack the mystery of inconsistent officiating, however. But as long as they're already maxed out on sales, essentially, there probably isn't really much incentive.
 

Dana Scully

I want to believe.
Dec 3, 2005
12,872
0
Ottawa
The calls they made were legitimate calls. There were plenty of non-calls, though, which gave me the impression that they were going to let both teams just play. And I'm fine with that, as long as it goes both ways.

But for some reason in the last two minutes of a tie game, they started calling absolute nonsense. It was terrible for both sides. No sense putting the whistle away for the majority of 58 minutes and call everything in the last two and then again in OT. Bizarre.
 

CrAzYNiNe

who could have predicted?
Jun 5, 2003
11,748
2,889
Montreal
The calls they made were legitimate calls. There were plenty of non-calls, though, which gave me the impression that they were going to let both teams just play. And I'm fine with that, as long as it goes both ways.

But for some reason in the last two minutes of a tie game, they started calling absolute nonsense. It was terrible for both sides. No sense putting the whistle away for the majority of 58 minutes and call everything in the last two and then again in OT. Bizarre.

Subbans stick on stick is tripping?

The way I see it is the league wanted a lot of PP at the beginning of the season to maximize scoring and get viewers back. Now that 1/3 of the season is done and the playoffs are around the corner, at least from what I saw tonight, they want to get back playoff like officiating. The penalty on Cole was pretty borderline, the call on Subban was a phantom call, which we all know was a call to make them equal. The Turris call was borderline, but you have to call it since Diaz couldn't clear the puck. In the thrid DD was being sat on after each faceoff, which I thought was pathetic not to call.
 

Sorinth

Registered User
Jan 18, 2013
10,937
5,387
Referring is probably a very difficult job that very very few could ever do well.

This. For those that follow Kerry Fraser's blog most missed calls he points out the ref blew the call because he was badly positioned or didn't have a proper sight line. Just like a defenceman to be a good referee you need good hockey sense to read the play.

Honestly I think the best thing they could do is install helmet cams on the refs. Even if the fans don't get to see the video. It would allow the league to evaluate the refs better and seperate the good refs from the bad. It would probably also help the refs improve since they can review the game much better.

The other thing they should do is hire more referees. Even though that would dilute the "talent" pool. More refs equals less games and more times going over tape/practising which would make them better.
 

Habs

We should have drafted Michkov
Feb 28, 2002
20,946
14,144
I didn't mind the non call against Price, I felt he tried to sell that 'bump' pretty hard.
 

Kriss E

Registered User
May 3, 2007
55,329
20,272
Jeddah
Referring is probably a very difficult job that very very few could ever do well.

If I didn't watch as much hockey, I'd probably agree.
However, the inconsistency is just too much. It's not like we're talking about stuff happening behind the plays (although if I recall correctly, that was the point of adding a 2nd ref). Most often than not it's happening exactly where the puck is.
They let things go but then start calling the exact same things they let slide. Makes no sense.

But they get their directives from someone. I think that's the root of the problem.
 

Dr Gonzo

#1 Jan Bulis Fan
Dec 13, 2009
4,355
0
Bat Country
In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes...and some of our fans complaining about refs after a game.

I thought they did an ok job. Not perfect, but then again they are humans and not robots so we can never expect them to be perfect.

If we had won, I doubt this thread would exist. I do however agree with whoever said there is a consistency issue. Not necessarily in-game, but from pairing to pairing. Personally I think they should keep the ref pairings together throughout the year, so that teams can figure out their reffing style and play accordingly. Like in footy.
 

Sorinth

Registered User
Jan 18, 2013
10,937
5,387
If I didn't watch as much hockey, I'd probably agree.
However, the inconsistency is just too much. It's not like we're talking about stuff happening behind the plays (although if I recall correctly, that was the point of adding a 2nd ref). Most often than not it's happening exactly where the puck is.
They let things go but then start calling the exact same things they let slide. Makes no sense.

But they get their directives from someone. I think that's the root of the problem.

Watching a lot of hockey is not good enough. Unless you've actually refed at a decent level then you have no idea how hard it can be. The view from the stands/camera is totally different from on the ice.

The 2nd ref is to help with seeing stuff behind the play and also make it so the ref is not too far behind the play (Since NHLers skate much faster than your average ref). But the second ref will cause consistency issues, one ref might let something slide, and the other ref doesn't call it because he's far away/doesn't see it. The play moves to the other side of the ice, and now the second ref sees it and calls it because his "line" of what consititues a penalty is not the same as the other ref.
 

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