Referees and umpires are sports fans’ worst enemies and best friends (at times). They get no appreciation, but when they mess up they don’t hear the end of it; boos and profanities rain down from the rafters, shaking the arena. I would not be at all surprised in many have received death threats for their questionable call or lack thereof.
I, unlike most, am not going to bash the referees in the NHL playoffs for missed calls. Human error is part of any sporting event as nobody is perfect and sometimes things go unnoticed. It is one area of the sports industry that has been there from the beginning. Anyone who cannot understand that by now should dedicate his or her time to watching and playing sports video games and forget about live action. The real thing will just drive you crazy.
What gets me upset is the ignored calls; two in particular, during the NHL Conference Finals, in the past two days have really frustrated me. The first one happened in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals between the Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks. It was Clayton Stoner’s mini tirade against Andrew Shaw. It started with a cross check from behind on Marcus Kruger, which was called, but it ended with a punch to Shaw’s face.
WHY was this only a two-minute penalty? And how were the refs willing to ignore this? It’s unnecessary on Stoner’s part and a clear penalty. Did the refs figure that he was already going to the penalty box so what’s the difference?
Well, it could have made a huge difference! The Blackhawks scored on their first power play, scored on Stoner’s minor as well, and who is to say they wouldn’t have scored a third time if he received a double-minor. Can you imagine if that happened? Hockey fans might have gotten more sleep. Both teams wouldn’t be exhausted, playing 56 extra minutes of hockey. Even if they didn’t score, who is to say the momentum wouldn’t have been in their favor and a winner would have been determined in regulation.
I just don’t understand how you let a cheap shot like that go. Shaw was just going to protect his teammate, probably spew out profanity-laden sentences, but he didn’t even get the chance. Stoner just stuffed his glove in Shaw’s face, knocking him to the ground.
I don’t mind fighting in hockey—purposeful fighting, not instigating—but I hate the cheap shots like this. If you want to fight and so does your opponent go for it, but players should not expect to get away with plays like these, especially in the playoffs.
Now let’s rewind a little bit and go to Game 2 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers.
In the second period of the game with the Lightning up 3-1, Cedric Paquette got called for what looked like high sticking but ended up being interference against Dominic Moore. That call was fine. What wasn’t fine was how the referees completely and utterly ignored Moore’s embellishment. This is something the NHL has been trying to get rid of in the past few seasons and for the most part refs have done a good job. I guess they all just went temporarily bind during this play.
Stars and Sticks
I tried to find a video of the play, but failed. Sorry!
There is a very fine line between selling a call and embellishing and Moore didn’t just step over it, he leapt. Why would both of his feet jump off the ice?
This ignored call actually came back to bite the Rangers. Yes, they scored their second power-play goal of the game, but they refs (maybe to make up for that awful ignored embellishment call) decided not to call a clear tripping penalty against Tampa Bay when the Rangers were desperately trying to score the tying goal.
With the League trying so hard to get rid of diving and embellishment, going as far as fining players, plays like Moore’s should be a no-brainer. It should have been 4-on-4 hockey—period.
Both of these ignored infractions by Stoner and Moore really got to me, but the embellishment no-call made my blood boil. I know it isn’t just Moore (he’s neither the first nor the last to embellish) and other players in the League have done much worse to get a call in their favor, but I see embellishment as cheating; it is players taking the easy way out.
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In my mind, players who embellish are showing a blatant disrespect for the game that makes them millions. You can’t win by the rules, so you have to find a way around them. If people wanted to see players pretending to be hurt they would watch soccer (I love the sport—having played all my life—but at some point you have to say, “come on get up already”).
I understand the desire to win, but I want to win the right way with no ifs, ands or buts about it. There are so many other factors that go into how a game plays out, so leave the make believe to Hollywood and play like a true athlete.
With all of that said, I hope to see the referees correct their errors and stop ignoring cheap and egregious penalties.
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