Don't watch the CFL btw then in any means. I'm pretty much turned off that product due to how bizarre the officiating is and its much worse in football because bad calls can just basically hand teams TD's or take them back. PI can put the ball on the one yard line. WTF? I've seems get 2-3 TD's that way, just that way, on bogus calls and win the game.
So I'm sympathetic to your message that bad calls can kill enjoyment and I've gone through some waves like that myself. But actually the game today is much more wide open then its usually been. This is free skating hockey. With the change in the lines, long passes, it opens up the game. More interference is called generally, its a lot more open today then hockey has usually been. That's something someone wouldn't necessarily know unless they watched hockey for 50 years.
Mostly last night the Oilers had trouble with the Canucks schemes, coverage, and pressure. it was the complete opposite of the prior game in which the Flyers didn't give a **** to cover anything. The Oilers get lulled into that kind of thing. I dread games like the Flyers game because I know it makes the Oilers feel "scoring is easy now". Then its back to reality a game later when a well coached club is actually covering them. Most of what stopped the Oilers was not infractions. It was well drilled systems, schemes, execution. Nucks played a better, and more cerebral game, and won.
Yeah, I suppose at this point us younger fans are spoiled by the new NHL. I personally didn't start watching hockey or the oilers until their 06 playoff run, and can honestly say I didn't understand the majority of the smaller aspects until years later.
My memories of hockey are going to be a much more open, free flowing game with every bit of interference being considered a potential game changing missed call.
Where as anyone who watched the glory days will likely remember a totally different style of hockey.
So here I am complaining that I want things to be as open as they were when I first started watching, not knowing how far the game has come in terms of freedom for skaters already.
I appreciate that things don't change overnight, and that obviously fans whining about things that were just good veteran plays not that long ago are going to come off as whiny and entitled, but I can't help but think the NHL itself is partially to blame for setting us up for disappointment.
The debate every offseason seems to be "how to increase scoring' and "how to grow the game" and it just seems so simple to me.. call the game by the books, but if you look at it from the perspective of these guys actually reffing and running the NHL I guess it makes more sense. They come from a generation of clutch and grab and getting their "bells rung", so trying to do something like calling every little play for these refs would be going against the norm of what these refs are used to. I can't speak for them obviously, but in a business like the NHL, I can't imagine having the balls to oppose a 20+ year old ref telling you you're doing something wrong.
It feels like the NHL is in an awkward spot overall. I can see why the games are called the way they are, but at the same time, if they want to grow the game to appeal to more than the average Canadian or hardcore American hockey fan, it's going to be through players like McDavid, Matthews, Eichel and the like being allowed to play to their fullest potential.
Until they hammer down and decide which way they want to go, and hold the refs and players accountable for not acting accordingly, they're going to be in this middle ground that everyone appears to hate.
