Officiating

[pjgj13 30]

I am not bashing the refs (at least not yet) but I have noticed differences when they call certain plays. Remember the Hossa holding penalty a few games ago? He BARELY touched the guy and was called and a few minutes later a more blatant holding occured and wasn't called.

The numerous crosschecks AFTER the play is blown dead. Zets and Hudler tonight. The trip on Lebda (?) and later Dats gets tripped and nothing. The stuff after the whistle should be called more than it already does.

Am I just seeing things?

[stormboy 47]

i am inclined to agree with you, but honestly i think it's hard for a fan to fairly judge reffing. i was listening to the blues feed of the game and several times i heard "so and so hauled down, no call." then a minute later, "so and so tripped up, no call again!" finally, "so and so interfered with, STILL no call!" (of course, the so and so's were all blues players.) penalties are, for the most part, i the eye of the beholder. thus what looks like a penalty to us does not to the blues fans, and vica versa. it should be no surprise, then, that the calling of games is so inconsistent. obviously they shouldn't be biased at all (and i would argue against bias in most cases...the holmstrom effect was definately in effect towards the end of last year, but i'd bet that happens to other players in other situations as well, from time to time), but most of the calls are just as subjective.

and it's always hard to tell exactly what the ref sees. we have the benefit of camera angles and replays. it's hard to say exactly how certain things appeared down on the ice when the refs are trying to watch the whole game at once, etc.

that being said, i get just as frustrated as the next person when calls are so inconsistent...and i do think there has to be a better way of making penalty calls more clear cut. but it's the same in every sport, to a degree. balls are called strikes and strikes are called balls in baseball all the time, and it's just part of the game.

but, yeah, every fan thinks the reffs are out to get their team. see: the rangers board after last game, our board after most losses.

[PuckFace 1]

It's all around the NHL right now. I have been watching every game I can and it's plain to see that the calls are very inconsistent. But as the post above stated, every fan is going to think that their team is getting the short end of the stick more times then not. The Ducks, I would say have it the worst from what I have seen so far this season. But that might be due to their play style as well... Watch any Ducks home game and you will always hear them chanting "Reffs you suck" over and over. Doesn't matter if the call was good or not. But I think it's in all sports the fans, players, and the owner want consistent calls but as they are called by humans it wont happen. If it looks like a penalty from the reffs perspective the arm is always going to go up...

Edited October 23, 2008 by PuckFace

[clutchngrab 12]

NHL officiating is inconsistent? ... No - That can't be possible!

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I am not bashing the refs (at least not yet) but I have noticed differences when they call certain plays. Remember the Hossa holding penalty a few games ago? He BARELY touched the guy and was called and a few minutes later a more blatant holding occured and wasn't called.

The numerous crosschecks AFTER the play is blown dead. Zets and Hudler tonight. The trip on Lebda (?) and later Dats gets tripped and nothing. The stuff after the whistle should be called more than it already does.

Am I just seeing things?

99 times out of 100 officiating will always be inconsistent, and in the Wings specific game last night, there will probably be Wings fans that cry foul on a lot of calls that Blues fans think nothing happened, and vice versa. You can sub any 2 team names in there and the same will probably hold true to a certain degree. There's almost always going to be some bias from fans, generally speaking, trying to sway that the referees missed calls or were against the fan's favorite team. Just part of the game and it isn't going to change anytime in the near future. And this holds true in almost any sport. Because of this I try not to worry too much about how the referees performed or and rarely try to use them as an excuse why a team won or lost.

[therock48880 14]

99 times out of 100 officiating will always be inconsistent, and in the Wings specific game last night, there will probably be Wings fans that cry foul on a lot of calls that Blues fans think nothing happened, and vice versa. You can sub any 2 team names in there and the same will probably hold true to a certain degree. There's almost always going to be some bias from fans, generally speaking, trying to sway that the referees missed calls or were against the fan's favorite team. Just part of the game and it isn't going to change anytime in the near future. And this holds true in almost any sport. Because of this I try not to worry too much about how the referees performed or and rarely try to use them as an excuse why a team won or lost.

I agree. It irritates me when people say the officiating cost someone a game. We still have people on this site that insist the reason the Wings lost to the Ducks two years ago was due to poor officiating and I think that's ridiculous. Having said that, last night's game was very poorly officiated. Even Babcock, who rarely says anything negative about officiating, is quoted in mlive saying that he wished the calls would have gone both ways. That's rare for him.

[12Newf 0]

im pretty much on the fence with the whole should the wings have an enforcer argument and i do see the value in having one but i dont know who to take out of the lineup (kopecky probably). anyways what im saying is that officials dont seem to be calling penalties when players are crashing the wings' goalies and since our defensemen wont lay a beating on anyone i would love to see downey in the lineup at least temporarily. kopecky needs to be benched.

[2probert4 8]

im pretty much on the fence with the whole should the wings have an enforcer argument and i do see the value in having one but i dont know who to take out of the lineup (kopecky probably). anyways what im saying is that officials dont seem to be calling penalties when players are crashing the wings' goalies and since our defensemen wont lay a beating on anyone i would love to see downey in the lineup at least temporarily. kopecky needs to be benched.

I was ticked off at the flying elbow by Tkachuk on Franzen with no call.. Elbow was very high. (Someone floored Tkachuk in the 3rd, so there was payback)

[rbochan 15]

Ask Peca how good they are.

[egroen 384]

We still have people on this site that insist the reason the Wings lost to the Ducks two years ago was due to poor officiating and I think that's ridiculous.

Heh... from that round table discussion with the Wings management last year, it sounds like Mike Illitch agrees with those people.

Which I love, because I picture him as an average Red Wings fan getting pissed off at the officials and throwing his popcorn. I wish that interview was still around (I think it was from the Det News).