The only problem with not calling the penalty is the slash came from above the head and knocked the stick out of hands in the defensive zone. Personally, I don’t think it was a situation where it would have led to an offensive chance since the puck was heading to the side boards but if the player was able to turn that puck around and Hoefenmayer didn’t have his stick and the Wolves scored, there would be 67’s fans calling for justice as well.
Again, I don’t see that play developing into anything though so I am not sure it should have been called but I can understand why it was called. It was pretty stupid to slash down on a defenders stick while he had the puck from pretty much above his head. You have to admit that was bonehead, especially in the offensive zone. So let’s agree to call a spade a spade at least. As Don Cherry would say, “It was a dumb-dumb penalty.” Still sucks the game ended on that, even from a 67’s fan perspective. But, also unfortunate Gilhula was a little dumb (errr needlessly aggressive) on that play.