Canadiens Jobbed by Poor Officiating

[maple19]

You should be a leaf fan as it happen all the time miss goals ,Offside and they score

But that being a leaf fan the Habs fans now have to live with it as it is your turn now

Glad to see your getting them

hey hey goodbye

mike

[senrab]

nana nah nah, nana nah nah, HEY-EY-EY, GOODBYE

;)

[Brodeur_fan666]

nana nah nah, nana nah nah, HEY-EY-EY, GOODBYE

;)

You guys are not hearing it enough this year

[Estovia]

While it's true that most pro leagues have a "we stand by our referees 100%" motto, It would appear to me that the NHL has the worst track record when it comes to errors. It's probably due to the fact that there's so much more subjectivity when it comes to when and why they stop play/call a penalty/etc..

Personally I think three things need to happen, three things that wouldn't at all impinge on the referees' complete autonomy.

1) The rulebook needs to be simplified and clarified. The first step to removing as much subjective content as possible is to be able to show a clear difference between what is OK and what isn't. What is cross checking nowadays? I mean other than what guys in front of the net do to each other ALL GAME LONG. There are too many stipulations, too many "ifs, ands, and buts" to each rule to get consistent rulings from event to event.

2) Specifically to goaltending situations, Referees need to be given a hard time limit to blow the whistle at. All too often a referee will blow that "quick whistle" when a goaltender gloves a puck, even if it's obvious in the situation that he intends to play it away, and yet so often the puck will be held for 3, 4, 5 seconds in a crowd of people stabbing and hacking at the goaltender to get it free, and no whistle comes. The idea of "losing sight of the puck" is far too open ended to be consistent.

3) Players need to be held responsible for their actions. The NHL has become so obsessed with the idea of the "safety of their players" that it's devolved into a witch hunt based on player reputation. This is obviously more of a recent thing of course, but the early effects of it are already apparent. Players who turn themselves prone and get hit should be assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on par with a diving call, because that's what it is - a blatant attempt to draw a penalty where one didn't occur. Sure, like most unsportsmanlike calls, their might be penalties assessed on both sides... but players need to be reminded that the rulebook exists to protect them, not for them to abuse.

[doniceage]

Estovia nice post but my one question is number 3. You want players to be held accountable for their actions but I seen no mention of holding the officials or the guys at top Bettman, Campbell, etc. accountable for what they do.

I mean you can't hold someone accountable when there humans officiating to different rule. Would work as you say in point 1 and 2 but will all refs call checking or anything else the same. I just think it a never ending problems and until you get everyone on the same page or machines officiating your going to have humans making bad calls.

p.s. All teams get robbed we only care when it our team.

D
O
N

[RGM81]

id say 9/10 times it seems like my team (vancouver) gets the shaft on these types of calls too. i hate it when the pucks in the whistle comes after but the ref says he intended on blowing the whistle a second before that so now its no goal. however it seems like luongo also took a goal away from evander kane because you could not see the puck over the line even though most likely it was in. point being it usually balences out. it is alot easier to remember the calls that go against our fav team than the ones that do.and rgm Vince didnt screw bret......bret screwed bret lol a loogie and knocking vince out was small consolation im sure but watching mcmahon struggle to walk out of brets dressing room that night on the wreslting with shadows dvd( which is quite awesome i might say ) still cracks me up

It is a great film (and not just because I can spot myself in the crowd at one of the scenes taken from the Canadian Stampede PPV!!!) - I would love to track down the 10-year anniversary edition that also has the Owen Hart show.

It's too bad that so much of this thread has focused on the Canadiens aspect rather than the genuine need for rule reform in the NHL.

[Estovia]

Estovia nice post but my one question is number 3. You want players to be held accountable for their actions but I seen no mention of holding the officials or the guys at top Bettman, Campbell, etc. accountable for what they do.

Here's the problem, there's nobody who can hold them accountable. The only person who can hold Colin Campbell responsible for his decisions is Bettman. The only person who can hold Bettman accountable is.... Bettman. And they're so tied up in their struggle to ruin the game with their injury witch hunts and anti-Canada crusades that they don't really care about fixing the rule book.

Also... there is some justification to letting the officials have complete autonomy. Mostly because you can't have every game/goal/whistle/infraction/etc... going to a higher level every time there's a dispute over something. They need it to keep the game moving and to keep the rule of law.

That's why I don't propose any ideas that would go after them, personally or as a group. I only propose we change the definitions and concepts in the rule book itself so as to get a more consistent ruling on a nightly basis. Human referees will always make human errors, there is no removing that completely, but it is within our (their) power to make the necessary adjustments to reduce those errors to a minimum.

[v3rs3]

The stupidest part is where the referee "intended to blow the whistle." That to me just feels like he doesn't want that team to score, "Oh well I meant to blow it before the puck went in." Well it was still loose and the whistle wasn't blown until it crossed the goal line. That should be removed from the rulebook, players play until the whistle is blown. I can understand the quick whistle's b/c I referee myself, sometimes it's not intentional to blow the whistle or you made a mistake, but I meanted the blow the whistle? That's just stupid.

[MatsSundin13Rocks]

Seriously every team in the league gets horrible calls by the refs go against them each year but every team also gets horrible calls by the refs go in their favour. It sucks when it happens to your team but it happens to every team. It happens to the Leafs often enough but then again looking objective they get enough breaks by blown calls to make up for the bad calls against them. Still it sucks when it costs your team the win.

[nerf2003]

Being a HABS fan, I get to see it more than for any other teams....is it a surprise that the HABS have had the least amount of powerplays against the most penalty kills....there is no reason for that sort of parity, especially since my team is non-physical, nor lazy.

Leafs fans have been using the ref excuse for decades now....we're use to it here in HABS land. I have come to the realization that if there is a Montreal-Toronto game, and if the ref is either french or english, get ready to see tons of blown calls on both sides.

The Gomez goal was good, and Chris Lee should step down as a referee, because this is not the first game I have seen him ref where it was brutal. December 2008, reffed a HABS-Canes game, and gave the HABS 12 penalties that night....we all know that is a "crock of ****" in today's NHL. I am unsure if he also reffed the Minnesota game in Minny last year, and gave them 10 straight penalties in the second....again, the HABS won the game but I believe played almost 60% of the game short handed.

It is disgusting that Interference and Obstruction were supposed to be "always called". I see it so much from teams like Pittsburgh and the NHL "favorites" like Chicago and Washington.....

Let's just give the Cup to an American team every year....then it won't cost Bettman his job....bush league being ran by idiots....

And shots don't matter on the scoreboard, goals do......and HABS should have came out with at least a point against Pittsburgh.....but that's what you get when you play against "Crybaby" Sidney....the kid always gets what he wants....probably been spoiled all his life.