Sorry to say but....

[Hank 0]

Yes, the ones against the wings were brutal, but as if the ones against the ducks werent? What about the apparent slashing call on Getzlaf on Franzen? Franzen so sold that call, and we got a power play goal out of it. Wasn't that a brutal goal?

You make it sound like the Wings were the only screwed party here, which is such crap.

On the flip side though, I will agree that Pronger got away with too damn much thats for sure. I don't remember him getting any minor penalties in this series, and considering he was tying up people behind the net and wrestling them down, that was egregious.

As I said before, its easy to point at instances and say the Wings got screwed. I can do the same for the Ducks and I am not a Ducks fan. You mention the Hossa no goal, ok, I can understand that since it was blown early. On the flip side, you have the final goal that Cleary scored. Good goal or not? What about the goal where Cleary was in the paint with his leg behind Hillers? Good goal or goalie interference?

If you replayed all the games 5 times, you would have different calls coming from different refs who did the game. Even the same refs would not have gotten every call right 5 separate times.

As I said before, sit a Ducks fan in the same room as you and have a friendly conversation with him over a beer and watch a game like Game 7. You will have him bitching about non calls and interference as much as the Wings fans are going to ***** about the same thing. Another thing you can do is to attend a hockey game you care nothing about and just count how many penalties you would call in the course of a game. Its amazing when you aren't blinded by fandom just how much more sane you are when it comes to refs calling the game and the state of the NHL game as it is today.

I agree with you. But I don't know how even Ducks fans couldn say that our non-calls were as flagrant as theirs.

On XM this morning they played a sound bite from the Ducks radio duo that were commenting on how Pronger got away with the Hossa bodyslam. And these two guys are giant homers.

And the Pronger interference in Game 6 was absolute horsecrap. There was a ref right near by. If Stuart's was an interference call (borderline - in real time it looked like he had simply finished his check. the ref didn't blow it down until he saw Selanne was lying in a pool of Stuart destruction), then surely Pronger's should have been one.

In the end, Detroit and Anaheim probably both got away with some hooks, grabs or picks. But the blatant crap was all on Anaheim's side. Pronger interferred so much in this series that I thought I was watching 2001 hockey.

The refs not blowing calls for them, helped them a lot more as they were able to dirty it up and prevent a lot more chances.

Not calling interference and body slams doesn't help the Wings. It helps a team like Anaheim and it's the only reason this went 7 games.

[tommingthepuck96 1]

The stupidness of refs really sticks out when games go to overtime.

If you look at it from a real perpective..... Refs ALAWAYS call it tight in overtime.... ok thats cool... but why is it ok to call bull s*** penaltys in the regulation, but then call it tight in over time? Besides the fact that their decisions would be more magnifed OT?

Edited May 15, 2009 by tommingthepuck96

[tda513 8]

Yeah I hear you. The Hockey is cool though.

fixed it for ya...

The NHL is by far the worst run professional sport. The simple fact that Bettman doesn't want to move the Coyotes even though year in and year out they simply cannot make money there shows his business knowledge. We need a new commissioner before it's too late.

[Hossa7.4 0]

See, this is a terrible attitude to me. Stick your head in the sand and let them get away with as much crap as they want as long as we somehow pull it out. It doesn't hold them accountable and NEXT time, we may lose because we didn't raise holy hell.

"We" as in RedWings management.

The NHL is giddy because they got away with letting the Ducks do virtually anything they wanted, just to keep them in the series and keep it interesting. Now the national media is saying, "what a great series!"

BS. The Wings would have won this series in 5 games, going away, if the reffing was anywhere based on reality.

Thank you. It's simply not enough to say we rised above it and it makes it "sweeter", what if we would've lost? There's alot at stake.

we've seen this attitude when a bunch of BS penalty calls are made and if we kill them off people say the same thing. "No harm, we killed them off" . Sorry but there is harm, we've had our players expend more energy on the PK when they never should've in the first place, we haven't been able to roll our 4 lines, our star players on the PK are getting too much ice time. We can't find 5 on 5 rhythem and execute our gameplan. It's just not OK. It effects the team for the rest of the game or series.

and it's not just disparity between 2 teams but different series. I watched the Bos/Canes and how refreshing not to see a buch of hacking, wacking, cross checking AND there was hardly anybody thrown out of the faceoff circle. Ever. Seriously. What a change.

If the reffing was anything like that series or the Pens series it would've been 5 games max. Same thing with last years Finals. You can simply substitue Hal Gil for Chris Pronger when we got to the Finals. He was allowed to hack away and obstruct like it was 2001. Go back and watch the games if you recorded them. You'll be shocked at what he was allowed to get away with.

and what I really don't understand is how Red Wing fans can support this???? I mean, we're the skilled team, the skating team, it benefits us when the PO's are called like the regular season in terms of obstruction, lumberjacking. If you really wanted the Wings to have the best opportunities you'd want hockey called consistently and according to the rules.

and before anyone says, that's just the way it is, "it's the playoffs" let me ask you, does the NFL not call penalties in the 4th Qtr of a game? Does MLB adjust the strike zone in the last 2 innings? It's bush-league. And don't tell me "the refs don't want to influence the game". The player has influenced the game by taking the action of cross-checking or slashing, don't blame the ref for a players decision. The NHL is the only league that not only has, but approves of, calling the sport differently depending on how much time is left in the game or whether the game is being played in the regular season or the playoffs.

People talk about growing the game of hockey, well, no matter the network, hockey is at it's best when skating, stickhandling (datsyuk) shooting, creativity are allowed. Cross-checking, slashing, and elbowing are not hockey moves. Give any Neanderthal a stick and he can do the same. It takes no skill. It's not hockey, maybe it was hockey in the 70's with the Broadstreet Bullies but really, let's move on. Letting skilled players play their game is the way to attract more casual fans. The up and down the ice, the changing on the fly, the 7 mins. of uninterruped action with all kinds of shots on goal, the post to post save, this is what will bring more viewers in, whether it's on ESPN or Versus. Really.

I'm still bitter about 2007. there is no way we should've lost that WCF's. Before you say, forget it, or make a tinfoil hat comment I'll say the series WAS called differently. and it did effect the Wings negativley. How do I know? Because the Detroit Red Wings brass/upper management literally called up the Ottawa Senators and told them, warned them, that their just concluded series against the Ducks was called looser, differently, that they let alot of stuff go and that they should be prepared for it in the SC Finals. So , mock all you want but it's a fact the Red Wings organisation thought enough about it to let the Sen's know.

what is Detroit really good at? Well, we have Homer who's easily one of the best all time at screening, think of how many times he's had a goal waived off on bogus interference calls. How many times has O'Halloran done it alone? 4 times? This is a clear advantage yet we get called for it all the time. Think back to the Niedermayer goal in 07, he pushes our goalie in and still good goal. And then they complain about the Cleary call after running Ozzie all series? What an unmittigated joke.

another is faceoffs. Always one of the best teams. I've never, in 3 decades of watching and playing this sport, seen a team kicked out of the faceoff circle more in the last 2 PO's then I've seen it happen to Detroit. Just watching the last period and OT of the Bos/Car game and

it hardly ever occured. We're kicked out more in one period of hockey than both teams are in an entire game. Why is this? Because we're cheating by our wings trying to get a jump to get to a possible loose puck? Every team does this. That's why there always jostling and the players putting their sticks on top of the others to gain an advantage. I remember watching a defensive zone faceoff last night, the linesman told our wing to skate back to outside the circle becuase his skates were half over the FO line, fine,that's the letter of the law. Meanwhile, right next to him was Selanne standing with his skates 3/4 over the line and nothing was said. It's rediculous to say the least.

If you don't believe in Conspiracies that perfectly fine, but remember , these types of calls aren't legitimate and only serve to weaken the Wings chances of winning the cup. As a Wings fan, you ought to want the game called the same, whether regular season or playoffs.

and on a sidenote: hockey doesn't need to get back on espn for it to grow, hockey needs the skill players to be allowed to play the game. Hockey has been on espn 2 or 3 times since the 70's, last time it was was on espn for what, 12 years, and at the end of espns reign Arena Football, Horse racing and Poker got better ratings. Let the skilled players play and people will come out to see the game.

[Rocket Queen 30 1]

Man, nobody here is giving up the nhl.

Yes, the officiating is very frustrating at times but people need to keep in mind that hockey is very fast and things happen so quickly and the refs do not get the benefit of a replay like we do. It's real easy to watch these replays in slow motion then get all up in a frenzy over how weak of a call it was but when refs only get one chance to make these calls, in real time, and from only ONE angle, mistakes are goin to be made. The rule changes after the lockout just really make this much more frequent as officiating became a larger factor in the games. But to suggest that coaches should get "challenges" or that all penalties should be reviewable is complete nonsense. That would be horrendous.

Every year we go through this.

LOL agreed. I'm certainly not going to stop watching hockey because the officials blew some calls. That kind of thing is not going to stop until the officials are held accountable for their actions and I don't see that happening any time soon. That being said, there is a WHOLE heck of a lot going on the ice and even if something should be plain as the nose on the refs faces, different people have different perspectives. That will always be. As far as a conspiracy theory goes.. get real. Was it s***ty? Yes. Does it totally suck? Of course but, the officials are not being held accountable for the mistakes they make and both teams suffer for it. I tell you, sitting here bitching on a message board isn't going to ruffle any feathers but ours. Until people start complaining to the league, and good luck with that, this is what it is. A flawed league that we love to death.

Love your goalie.

Edited May 16, 2009 by Rocket Queen 30

[Selke13 0]

After Pronger wrestled down hossa, while getting up, pronger looked directly at the ref presumably thinking he would get called for the take down. i thought the initial hit was fine.

huds call was bush league. stuarts was iffy, but possibly shouldve waited a split second. but i dont understand how stuart gets penalized when homer is standing in front and not allowed by the opposing d to deflect the puck. ive also noticed uncalled interference penalties when the wings are breaking out and the winger is hit before the puck comes.

that being said, interference can be called on almost every play in some way. the nhl needs to do something to either amend the rule or cal it all the time.

[Zetterling 16]

After Pronger wrestled down hossa, while getting up, pronger looked directly at the ref presumably thinking he would get called for the take down. i thought the initial hit was fine.

huds call was bush league. stuarts was iffy, but possibly shouldve waited a split second. but i dont understand how stuart gets penalized when homer is standing in front and not allowed by the opposing d to deflect the puck. ive also noticed uncalled interference penalties when the wings are breaking out and the winger is hit before the puck comes.

that being said, interference can be called on almost every play in some way. the nhl needs to do something to either amend the rule or cal it all the time.

I agree. It's totally bush league!

[hoogs 8]

100% agree with OP