Officiating: NHL Finals

[KronwallCRUNCH 5]

The officials are controlling gameplay yet again. When will they LET THEM PLAY?

Here's an idea for the NHL...each team gets a 10 min PP per period, at least then the fans and players will know what to expect.

I wish they would have formed the WHA so we'd have some sort of alternative to this BS.

[toby91_ca 620]

The officials are controlling gameplay yet again. When will they LET THEM PLAY?

Here's an idea for the NHL...each team gets a 10 min PP per period, at least then the fans and players will know what to expect.

I wish they would have formed the WHA so we'd have some sort of alternative to this BS.

I think they should be calling far more penalties than they are. They're back to how it used to be....don't call clutching and grabbing, etc.

[GoHabs007 0]

They have rules for a reason. By "letting the players play," i.e. not calling penalties that should be called, the refs are having just as much an impact on the game. That's how the NHL got itself into the mess it had before the lockout: refs weren't calling penalties by the book and the game suffered greatly.

[KronwallCRUNCH 5]

They have rules for a reason. By "letting the players play," i.e. not calling penalties that should be called, the refs are having just as much an impact on the game. That's how the NHL got itself into the mess it had before the lockout: refs weren't calling penalties by the book and the game suffered greatly.

Not true. The refs AREN'T calling the penalties that they were "cracking down" on. There was one interference call tonight, and that's been the trend throughout most of the playoffs. All of the calls are slashes, elbows, crosschecks; Heatley even went on during the intermission and said that it was a clutching and grabbing type of game tonight, but that the no-calls were consistent, so it was no big deal. IT IS A BIG DEAL. Players (and fans) don't know what a penalty is from night to night, but they definitely DO know what it feels like to play half of the game on special teams. to the NHL.

[vangvace 12]

Not true. The refs AREN'T calling the penalties that they were "cracking down" on. There was one interference call tonight, and that's been the trend throughout most of the playoffs. All of the calls are slashes, elbows, crosschecks; Heatley even went on during the intermission and said that it was a clutching and grabbing type of game tonight, but that the no-calls were consistent, so it was no big deal. IT IS A BIG DEAL. Players (and fans) don't know what a penalty is from night to night, but they definitely DO know what it feels like to play half of the game on special teams. to the NHL.

True but the competition committee wants it up to 40min of power play with 20min of shootout... you heard it here first!

Seriously though they need to go back to a single ref. That way players can know how the game will be called since every penalty can't be called. (But I would like to see more dives)

[GoHabs007 0]

Not true. The refs AREN'T calling the penalties that they were "cracking down" on. There was one interference call tonight, and that's been the trend throughout most of the playoffs. All of the calls are slashes, elbows, crosschecks; Heatley even went on during the intermission and said that it was a clutching and grabbing type of game tonight, but that the no-calls were consistent, so it was no big deal. IT IS A BIG DEAL. Players (and fans) don't know what a penalty is from night to night, but they definitely DO know what it feels like to play half of the game on special teams. to the NHL.

I never claimed they were. I was simply saying the penalties they've been calling have been penalties. Frankly, I was thrilled when I see a crosschecking call. Guys get away with so much crosschechecking that there were times this season when I wondered if it had been stricken from the rulebook. I've seen guys knock people to the ice with a crosscheck and get away with it, while I guy will take a hook for having his stick vertical for half a second.

And from what you're saying in this post, you don't really think the refs should let the players play. Instead, you're like me. You want them to call the games consistently, and that is where the problem lies. If all refs called all penalties by the book, we wouldn't have a problem. There would be a lot of penalties at first, just like early last year, but players would adjust. They would know what they can do and what they can't do. Refs may control a game through inconsistency, but not through calling penalties in general.

As for Heatley, I think he's whining because his team is getting dominated. I didn't see a whole lot of clutching and grabbing. I saw Anaheim totally outplaying Ottawa in all aspects of the game. As Messier said, it was a very good game to watch, one of the most dominant 1-0 wins he's seen in awhile.