Officiating

[sdogg1m 3]

I don't buy into the conspiracy against the Red Wings but the officiating was awful this series.

Pittsburgh got two 5 on 3s and I don't think Detroit got any.

Hudler barely had his stick up on the hooking call.

NBC didn't even show the Datsyuk penalty (Wonder why?).

Datsyuk was hooked at the blue line for a turnover just prior to the game ending and it was not called.

[Phazon 24]

yeah i know it was horrid, but in the end Wings won so it doesnt matte rnow

[Reds4Life 51]

geez man Red Wings are the Stanley Cup Champions and you post this pointless thread..go grab yourself a beer or two and enjoy

[sdogg1m 3]

geez man Red Wings are the Stanley Cup Champions and you post this pointless thread..go grab yourself a beer or two and enjoy

LOL! I don't drink so all I have is pointless threads. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying this Cup victory, I just didn't get to see the half the game and noticed Pittsburgh had another 5 on 3. How they failed to score on both of those!

[puckbags 863]

Call it however you want but I know for a fact half of the officials in the league would've blown the whistle on Z's game winner, whover that zebra was, he was in great position to make that call and thank god it went our way!!

[pavyaz19 1]

I am super proud of the wings, and extremely disgusted by the officials. this year, especially the playoffs, proved to be the very worst officiating i've seen in all my life. and i'm not just talking while the wings were playing... i watched TONS of playoff hockey this year, and rarely was there a game, stike that, period, where i wasn't amazed at how wrong the officiating was. also, now with the power of DVR and slow-motion playback, i've discovered how wrong the linesman are on offsides calls. but, i will not give the linesman any grief, it's high-flyin' hockey for god sakes... but you refs, oh you refs... how humiliated you should feel.

[LidstromIsASuperhero 29]

The officiating in the playoffs was a joke. Either stuff is a penalty or not. There was no rhyme or reason to how they called things, and you know they saw it. The NHL needs to do some real revising of their rulebook this summer to get rid of the immense grey area when it comes to penalties. As it stands, the refs have too much free reign to dictate a game as they wish.

[sdogg1m 3]

Glad to see Ozzie mention the tripping of Datsyuk in his interview. I was going nuts on the play as it caused a turnover and a near tie game.

[Saran 1]

WOOOOOOOOOO we won the cup, but ya the calls were BULLs*** cup or no cup

[Vladiator 116]

Yes that trip on Dats was pathetic. Doesn't matter anymore, but how blatant can you not make a call? Hopefully these guys will never ref a SCF again. Just horrible to say at the least. Hope Babs and the rest of the crew will make the same point.

[adtthosa 5]

Drake, Draper and Datsyuk all got penalties for what were basically body checks. Datsyuk got interference for hitting Staal, who had the puck. Explain that one. The officiating in these playoffs was truly some of the worst I have ever seen, but the refs are only human and will always make mistakes. All we can do is live with it.

....which is a lot easier to do when you WIN THE STANLEY CUP!!!!!!!!!

[spyder 0]

If you want to see the absolute most bulls*** call (non-call) in this whole playoffs go to 1:36 remaining in the 3rd of game 6, when the pens score their last goal. Someone bats the stick out of lilja's hand (should be a slash there?), but then sykora shoots the stick away from lilja with his stick (a penalty thats usually called EVERY time). Its obvious and blatant. Complete s*** that it wasn't called, then the pens scored because of it.

I will not be watching the NHL next year if this bulls*** continues, only reason why I watched hockey at all this year is because of the wings.

Edited June 5, 2008 by spyder

[Firehawk 305]

How about that weak ass call on Hudler to give the Pens a chance at the end of the game? Are you kidding me?

I mean yes it doesn't matter now, but what if Hossa would have tied the game with 1 second to go? Then what would you guys be saying?

Something has to be done about the officiating next year. It was absolutely horrendous. I just ask they be consistent, but honestly, with 2 minutes to go in a SCF game, are you kidding me that they call whatever that penalty was on Hudler?

I swear to God i almost had to pop some Xanax.

[sixer 37]

The Officiating was HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!

So inconsistent and to give the Wings so many calls at crucial moments in a Cup Final was BS!!!!!

HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!

The League better get it's act together!!!!

[Firehawk 305]

If you want to see the absolute most bulls*** call (non-call) in this whole playoffs go to 1:36 remaining in the 3rd of game 6, when the pens score their last goal. Someone bats the stick out of lilja's hand (should be a slash there?), but then sykora shoots the stick away from lilja with his stick (a penalty thats usually called EVERY time). Its obvious and blatant. Complete s*** that it wasn't called, then the pens scored because of it.

I will not be watching the NHL next year if this bulls*** continues, only reason why I watched hockey at all this year is because of the wings.

Oh you know you're going to watch the NHL next year because of the red wings lol. They're going to REPEAT BABY!

[Datsyerberger 279]

Yes, the officiating has been downright lame. Granted, part of it is due to some very unclear and shaky rules, such as the current case with goaltender interference. Another is a matter of tolerance/severity, where we often see blatant late hits, cross checks, and cheap shots go unpunished but half-second hooks and little love taps take penalties left and right.

Another part of the problem is that there were 2 officials (O'Hiterlan/Devorski) who never should have been officiating the finals, much less as a pairing. The other 2 guys were more decent than I expected for a coupla no-names, but atleast they don't look blatantly biased and have a hard on for goal/goaltender infractions. (Hey Devorski, lets call another GI from the blue line with a bunch of traffic). I don't think there was a conspiracy against us winning, but I /am/ convinced the O'Halloran/Devorski pairing was intentionally created to give us hell for our in front of the net style.

Another thing that needs to be addressed is make-up calling and evenly matched penalties. Even if your team plays dirty as hell, you still have a decent chance for a not-too-lopsided game special teams wise, just because the other team's ticky-tacky stuff will be called almost as often as your outright brutal penalties.

And then there's the issue of diving. Hard one to deal with and can be a hard one to call. If you call a guy for diving but it turns out he actually went down for a legit reason (such as a trip that was hard to see from a particular angle), you look like an ass. If you call a guy for a trip because it looks convincing from one angle, but on the other hand it's a blatant dive from another perspective, you again look like an ass. Very rarely are these clear-cut, unless Forsberg is around somewhere.

I think the best thing you can do here is not to call the diving penalty unless it's a blatant dive, and call the penalty the other way if it looks like a drop for a legit reason. All penalties are reviewed, so if in review after the game it turns out what looked like a penalty was actually a dive on the 'victim's' part, then drop a fine on them. And make it public. On the other hand, if a ref calls a dive on someone and it turns out it was more likely a legit drop, fine the ref. It's a penalty that does not need to be called lightly.. and at the same time, should be harshly punished when its caught, even when its after the fact. The worst scenario is when an uncaught dive results in a PP that turns out to be a game winning situation for the diver's team. That really kills image, and is why diving needs to be addressed, even if in many cases its going to be off the ice.

On the other hand, in some cases we come down too hard on the refs. Hockey is a ***** of a game to officiate and call consistently. However, I do feel we are on the verge of a crisis, and besides a handful of noticeable bad apples, the problems stem more from poorly worded and misinterpreted rules than the officials themselves.

[Firehawk 305]

When someone takes a penalty and everybody is wondering why the ref's hand is up, it doesn't need to be called.

[Hank 0]

I don't buy into the conspiracy against the Red Wings but the officiating was awful this series.

Pittsburgh got two 5 on 3s and I don't think Detroit got any.

Hudler barely had his stick up on the hooking call.

NBC didn't even show the Datsyuk penalty (Wonder why?).

Datsyuk was hooked at the blue line for a turnover just prior to the game ending and it was not called.

I couldn't agree more.

I absolutely detest when people complain about officiating, but last night's game was horrible.

Prior to Hudlers 'hooking' call, I saw Pascal Dupuis wrap his stick around Datsyuk's waist preventing him from forechecking. This happened right in front of a ref and there was no call.

I hate conspiracy theories and I won't buy into one, but last night was pure fodder for people that do.

If there was ever a game to use as an example of whether or not the NHL wanted a game 7, last night was it.

The Wings only got 3 PP and two of them were off of overly, obvious high-sticks. There were countless other infractions that could have been called and yet weren't.

[Nightfall 871]

When someone takes a penalty and every Wings fan is wondering why the ref's hand is up, it doesn't need to be called.

Fixed it for you.

Seriously, it was a well reffed series. A few mistakes here and there. The interference call by Datsyuk in game 5. Malby sold a hell of a call in game 6 on that interference call on Malone I believe. Still, a vast majority of the calls were legit.

My only complaint was that there were a lot of calls that were ignored in that OT game and in a few games in this series. The OT game I remember the most because I distinctly counted at least 6 in the second OT on both teams. It looked like the refs reverted back to the prelockout style of reffing.

Otherwise, I am satisfied. The refs didn't factor into who won the series which is what needs to happen. The best team won and thats key. If the refs were the trump card and favored a team to win, it wouldn't be fun to watch.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I don't buy into the conspiracy against the Red Wings but the officiating was awful this series.

Pittsburgh got two 5 on 3s and I don't think Detroit got any.

Hudler barely had his stick up on the hooking call.

NBC didn't even show the Datsyuk penalty (Wonder why?).

Datsyuk was hooked at the blue line for a turnover just prior to the game ending and it was not called.

I can guarantee you Penguins could easily make claims that the Red Wings got away with more as well. Overall correct me if I'm wrong, Detroit had more PPs in the series.

Look I'm with everybody that the officiating is inconsistent. It is hard for me though to really just flat out hate one or two referees (yeah, even O'Hallaran ), I think it's just more that the interpretation of the rules is way, way too subjective. I know it is impossible for many rules calls to be just black and white and you're done with no grey area, but it needs to have as little grey area as possible.

Again, I don't dislike any referee. I was personally an official at a much, much lower level than professional, just collegiate intramural leagues in basketball and soccer. The people playing were competent and decent enough to where the pace and flow of the games were still competitive and fairly fast. I made my fair share of good calls, bad calls, no-calls, etc. just like NHL officials. It's a tough gig at any level when you know YOU CAN'T WIN and you'll always be pissing some players or fans off in the course of the game.

What needs to be done is to have officials get in as close too 100% agreement on rules/penalties.

[therock48880 14]

I do think it was a conspiracy and I will base my thoughts on the Philly/Pitt series more than the Detroit series because I'm an obvious homer. It certainly seemed that most of calls or no-calls came at crucial moments against Detroit. I realize that Detroit had more power plays than Pitt in this series. But the ones at crucial parts of the game seemed to go in Pitts favor. (Hudler hooking call, no interference on Malone for ripping Lilja's stick out of his hand, Datsyuk trip, etc...)

Now, back to the conspiracy theory. I watched all but a few minutes of the Pitts/Philly series and I thought there was a definite conspiracy against the Flyers. Every questionable call (with the exception of the one no-goal call) went in Pittsburg's favor (notice a trend here?). I had absolutely no rooting interest in either of those two teams, as a matter of fact, I can't stand the Flyers and wanted Pittsburg to sweep them. Therefore, I'm sure I'm not being a "homer" when I say that Philly got royally screwed by the refs. I don't know what the solution is, but I think something HAS to be done in the offseason about a few rules:

1. goalie interference (which will soon be called the Holmstrom rules)

2. cross-checking in front of the net

3. refs swallowing their whistles at the end of the game (Datsyuk trip)

Do you guys think any type of a challenge system, ala the NFL, will ever be considered to look at the obvious mistakes that refs make?

[CrossCheck24 2]

yeah i know it was horrid, but in the end Wings won so it doesnt matte rnow

It is sad when the officiating has actually turned my father away from the NHL. He is the one who got my brother and I into hockey, and has taken us to many games growing up. Throughout this playoff run he has been so disgusted he has turned off the game, hopefully not for good. Watching detroit take penalty after penalty and watching penalty after penalty not being called on whoever the opposition is disheartening to say the least.

It is an even bigger credit to the wings for winning it all dispite the officiating

[Lookout14 0]

That last call at the end that allowed the Pens to score was a NON call IMO.....it was very obivious that they wanted to give the Pens a last gasp to tie it up again and they nearly did just that due to THAT BAD CALL.

I don't think anyone will review the overall performance of these ref's and bad calls....it will keep on going like this next yr also.

[dicksmack 33]

The officiating was a disgrace. Nice try, but the Wings are too good to be stopped by s***ty, biased officiating. It was the Men vs the Pens!

[BlueMonk 102]

I couldn't agree more.

I absolutely detest when people complain about officiating, but last night's game was horrible.

Prior to Hudlers 'hooking' call, I saw Pascal Dupuis wrap his stick around Datsyuk's waist preventing him from forechecking. This happened right in front of a ref and there was no call.

I hate conspiracy theories and I won't buy into one, but last night was pure fodder for people that do.

If there was ever a game to use as an example of whether or not the NHL wanted a game 7, last night was it.

The Wings only got 3 PP and two of them were off of overly, obvious high-sticks. There were countless other infractions that could have been called and yet weren't.

My sentiments exactly. As I posted in another thread, I think most of the complaining about the officials, especially from the people who think the league is somehow out to get the Detroit Red Wings, is ridiculous. But the calls in this series screamed, "make it go 7 games," a bit too loudly for my tastes.