The goalie interference Carolina got away with last night: diabolical

[BewareThePenguin 1]

As we all know, the fix is always in for the Pittsburgh Penguins, which makes last night's goalie interference non-call a real mystery. Here was a Pens' opponent being allowed to knock the stick out of Fleury's hands, the result being a late score that made the game much more dramatic than it should have ever been.

Could it be that this amazing display of blindness on the part of the refs is actually part of a greater plan? Informed sources suggest that the league office actually sanctioned this as part of "Operation Red Penguin" (cousin of Red Herring) a ploy to keep the critics off balance. The plan is simple: favor the opposition early, saving a later time for when the league will award the Penguins their usual supply of calls and non-calls. When the viewing public howls, they then can point to Game 1 and the goal the Hurricanes got away with.

I can hear the commish's Dr. Evil laugh right now, as he rubs his hands together in his office sipping a cognac with his cronies...

[kook_10 1,705]

It was a calculated risk by Staal and it paid off. Good on him!

[Guest Shoreline]

Why are you, a Pens fan, complaining about officiating in a game against the Canes, of all places, on a Red Wings forum?

I watched the s***ty reffing during the SCF the Penguins benefited from (especially interference, which is ironic now), saw the s***ty reffing for the first half of Game 1 yesterday, low-and-behold, more calls for Carolina on interference, and NONE for the Penguins, despite the Pens blatantly interfering with guys like Staal and Cole, especially Gill. Your bitching is nonsensical and stupid. Be happy you are, far more often than not, the beneficiaries of s***ty reffing.

[egroen 384]

As we all know, the fix is always in for the Pittsburgh Penguins, which makes last night's goalie interference non-call a real mystery. Here was a Pens' opponent being allowed to knock the stick out of Fleury's hands, the result being a late score that made the game much more dramatic than it should have ever been.

Could it be that this amazing display of blindness on the part of the refs is actually part of a greater plan? Informed sources suggest that the league office actually sanctioned this as part of "Operation Red Penguin" (cousin of Red Herring) a ploy to keep the critics off balance. The plan is simple: favor the opposition early, saving a later time for when the league will award the Penguins their usual supply of calls and non-calls. When the viewing public howls, they then can point to Game 1 and the goal the Hurricanes got away with.

I can hear the commish's Dr. Evil laugh right now, as he rubs his hands together in his office sipping a cognac with his cronies...

Exactly. The "Powers that Be" know we are onto them. This is just a coy plan to throw us off the trail.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

As we all know, the fix is always in for the Pittsburgh Penguins, which makes last night's goalie interference non-call a real mystery. Here was a Pens' opponent being allowed to knock the stick out of Fleury's hands, the result being a late score that made the game much more dramatic than it should have ever been.

Could it be that this amazing display of blindness on the part of the refs is actually part of a greater plan? Informed sources suggest that the league office actually sanctioned this as part of "Operation Red Penguin" (cousin of Red Herring) a ploy to keep the critics off balance. The plan is simple: favor the opposition early, saving a later time for when the league will award the Penguins their usual supply of calls and non-calls. When the viewing public howls, they then can point to Game 1 and the goal the Hurricanes got away with.

I can hear the commish's Dr. Evil laugh right now, as he rubs his hands together in his office sipping a cognac with his cronies...

"Operation Red Penguin"

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Why are you, a Pens fan, complaining about officiating in a game against the Canes, of all places, on a Red Wings forum?

I watched the s***ty reffing during the SCF the Penguins benefited from (especially interference, which is ironic now), saw the s***ty reffing for the first half of Game 1 yesterday, low-and-behold, more calls for Carolina on interference, and NONE for the Penguins, despite the Pens blatantly interfering with guys like Staal and Cole, especially Gill. Your bitching is nonsensical and stupid. Be happy you are, far more often than not, the beneficiaries of s***ty reffing.

Now now Shoreline- there's no need to pull your punches

[Z Winged Dangler 2,082]

it's funny how easily fleury dropped his stick...staal barely touched his stick. fleury dropped it and it ended up in his feet and he kicked it away so he wouldn't trip on it. this post belongs on a penguins site. this is "LETS GO WINGS" not "lets sob for the penguins"

the only reason i'm watching that series is to cheer for casualties

[Chunkylover 26]

We actually have a place where this belongs: the thread titled ECF, Penguins vs. Hurricanes.

[therock48880 14]

The Pens have had a whopping TWO minors called on them in the last SIX periods of playoff hockey. That pretty much sums it all up, imo.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Perhaps his point was that the majority of LGW feels the league caters to Crosby/the Penguins and how could this possibly go overlooked if Bettman & Co. only want Pittsburgh to win?

[Vincanni 1]

If you ask me this shoots the crap out of the refs taking the Pens to the cup conspiracy, but definitely raises ire towards the league's potential attempt to manufacture drama and prolong series. Or it could simply just be Staal taking a risk by "cheating" and getting away with it like many many players do.

[Guest Shoreline]

Perhaps his point was that the majority of LGW feels the league caters to Crosby/the Penguins and how could this possibly go overlooked if Bettman & Co. only want Pittsburgh to win?

The conspiracy thing is stupid though on either side. But it's weird to me that this guy comes here looking for sympathy or to simply complain when few to none here are going to feel bad, both concerning the SCF officiating, which was just another hurdle for the Wings, or yesterday's game where the Penguins were by FAR on the non-s*** end of the stick when it came to calls. They should've been tagged numerous times for obstructing opponents to the puck. In Gill's case alone, he was hitting players way before they even got to pucks to be able to make a play on it. I remember one specific case in detail where Gill almost hurt Staal interfering with him (smashing him into the boards even though a teammate was dumping in the puck and Staal's pursuit of the puck would have beaten any Penguin to it), it was right in front of an official, who was staring right at it since the puck went behind the net, and yet no call was made. If anything it's the Canes that can complain that the officiating was against them, given they should have had an arsenal of power plays early on, which could have helped set the tone for the Penguins. A Pens fan bitching is quite nonsensical and very hilarious, especially a conspiracy post of all things.

Edited May 19, 2009 by Shoreline

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

The conspiracy thing is stupid though on either side. But it's weird to me that this guy comes here looking for sympathy or to simply complain when few to none here are going to feel bad, both concerning the SCF officiating, which was just another hurdle for the Wings, or yesterday's game where the Penguins were by FAR on the non-s*** end of the stick when it came to calls. They should've been tagged numerous times for obstructing opponents to the puck. In Gill's case alone, he was hitting players way before they even got to pucks to be able to make a play on it. I remember one specific case in detail where Gill almost hurt Staal interfering with him (smashing him into the boards even though a teammate was dumping in the puck and Staal's pursuit of the puck would have beaten any Penguin to it), it was right in front of an official, who was staring right at it since the puck went behind the net, and yet no call was made. If anything it's the Canes that can complain that the officiating was against them, given they should have had an arsenal of power plays early on, which could have helped set the tone for the Penguins. A Pens fan bitching is quite nonsensical and very hilarious, especially a conspiracy post of all things.

I don't deny the fact that calls were missed yesterday....I watched the game. Howerver, I truly do not believe the league is catering to the Penguins the way so many here do.

Far too many fans of every team think there's a conspiracy against their team and the league favors specific other clubs over others. Do you realize how many people not only feel this way about the Penguins, but the Wings as well?

I don't believe the OP was looking for sympathy. He was here during the finals last year and heard the enormous amount of bitching LGW made about the refs favoring the Penguins. I think its pretty conceivable that the OP was just pointing out that bad calls get made both ways.

[jollymania 162]

pens fans are the worst group of overly defensive idiots, this is the second tme recently that i can remember one of tese babies coming in here just to whine about thier team and it had nothign to do with the red wings

[Guest Shoreline]

I don't deny the fact that calls were missed yesterday....I watched the game. Howerver, I truly do not believe the league is catering to the Penguins the way so many here do.

Absolutely. I've mocked people who believe the league is, as there is no conspiracy, unless it favors the Red Wings since our team still wins.

Far too many fans of every team think there's a conspiracy against their team and the league favors specific other clubs over theirs. Do you realize how many people not only feel this way about the Penguins, but the Wings as well?

I'm in enemy territory, so I realize more than most people here do. I hear s*** all the time about how the league loves the Wings. Again, there is no logic to conspiracy theories like that, as in, there's nothing substantiated by the claims.

I don't believe the OP was looking for sympathy. He was here during the finals last year and heard the enormous amount of bitching LGW made about the refs favoring the Penguins. I think its pretty conceivable that the OP was just pointing out that bad calls get made both ways.

I recall seeing posts like this from him before, so before I even responded I wanted to get an idea of how serious he was, searched his posts to be 100% sure.. voila. I dunno about you but I doubt a Red Wings fan going onto a Penguins forum and complaining is going to gather that fan much sympathy either.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Absolutely. I've mocked people who believe the league is, as there is no conspiracy, unless it favors the Red Wings since our team still wins.

I'm in enemy territory, so I realize more than most people here do. I hear s*** all the time about how the league loves the Wings. Again, there is no logic to conspiracy theories like that, as in, there's nothing substantiated by the claims.

I recall seeing posts like this from him before, so before I even responded I wanted to get an idea of how serious he was, searched his posts to be 100% sure.. voila. I dunno about you but I doubt a Red Wings fan going onto a Penguins forum and complaining is going to gather that fan much sympathy either.

Again, I don't think he was looking for sympathy. Just pointing out that bad calls are made against the Penguins as well. That idea seems lost a bunch of members here.

Agreed with everything else in your post.

[Guest Shoreline]

Again, I don't think he was looking for sympathy. Just pointing out that bad calls are made against the Penguins as well. That idea seems lost a bunch of members here.

Agreed with everything else in your post.

I'm sure anyone not a nutcase suggesting the league is in bed with other teams (Penguins, or Hawks) is going to understand that the Penguins get bad calls. However, I think my point is getting overlooked that of all things, why would a Wings fan listen to a Penguins fan when the Penguins were by far the biggest beneficiaries of penalty calls during both the SCF and yesterday's game? Maybe I'm wrong in the assumption that they want sympathy (for the intent of the post that wasn't tongue-in-cheek), but it's still pretty dumb no less.

If anything, there needs to be a discussion on what has been prompting such outrageously horrendous refereeing overall, not just in these specific cases, but league-wide. Far more often than not people are going to one extreme or the other. They're either declaring the league has it in for the Wings, or they're declaring that this is just a no big deal because every team gets screwed, both of which do little to help the underlying problem here, which is why is the refereeing so absof***inglutely abysmal. Is it they need an eye exam? Or is it some sort of inquiry needs to be done to get to the bottom of their problems calling a game fairly, and by fairly I don't mean equal penalties called, I mean consistently calling penalties, particularly the blatant ones where they're seen on live feeds, two feet away, watching the play, and just let it go, then turn around 10 seconds later to call some chincy s***. The NBA just had a problem with a referee trying to personally affect the outcome of games, and while I'm not under the belief that this is the reason the refereeing has major problems, what is really going on needs to be looked into. What can be described as a simple amount of erroneous calling (i.e. human nature / imperfection) is vastly different than what we've been seeing here for, at very least, the last two seasons.

[BewareThePenguin 1]

Why are you, a Pens fan, complaining about officiating in a game against the Canes, of all places, on a Red Wings forum?

I watched the s***ty reffing during the SCF the Penguins benefited from (especially interference, which is ironic now), saw the s***ty reffing for the first half of Game 1 yesterday, low-and-behold, more calls for Carolina on interference, and NONE for the Penguins, despite the Pens blatantly interfering with guys like Staal and Cole, especially Gill. Your bitching is nonsensical and stupid. Be happy you are, far more often than not, the beneficiaries of s***ty reffing.

Do me a favor -- check out the Pens-Canes thread. See how many instances of supposed "favoritism" the posters says the Pens got, then look how many times these eagle-eyes mentioned the worst non-call of all, the goalie interference that -- let's not forget -- the announcers were even crowing about. Double standard anyone?

Btw, go on most other hockey forums and you'll hear all about how the Red Wings get treated like royalty by the refs.

[Guest Shoreline]

Do me a favor -- check out the Pens-Canes thread. See how many instances of supposed "favoritism" the posters says the Pens got, then look how many times these eagle-eyes mentioned the worst non-call of all, the goalie interference that -- let's not forget -- the announcers were even crowing about. Double standard anyone?

Btw, go on most other hockey forums and you'll hear all about how the Red Wings get treated like royalty by the refs.

That's nice and all, and more often than not you see people mocking, making fun of, insulting, or simply rebuffing those who make those claims. There's enough intelligent people on the forums to keep things balanced. And maybe as to why you mostly see things from red-colored glasses here is, most of all, because this is a RED WINGS FORUM. This is not "other hockey forums". It's a given that you're going to inherently have more Red Wing fanatics here, delusional or not, than from other forums. What's the point of coming here to mention this? Most of us already know the league doesn't have it in for the Wings, or want the Penguins to win.

[jollymania 162]

Do me a favor -- check out the Pens-Canes thread. See how many instances of supposed "favoritism" the posters says the Pens got, then look how many times these eagle-eyes mentioned the worst non-call of all, the goalie interference that -- let's not forget -- the announcers were even crowing about. Double standard anyone?

Btw, go on most other hockey forums and you'll hear all about how the Red Wings get treated like royalty by the refs.

btw, this is letsgowings not letsgopens

[b.shanafan14 733]

I didn't see him intentionally knock the stick out of Fluery's hand, I may be wrong. I did see him sweep the stick away from Fluery, which drew the recourse of the Versus crew. Plays like that are hard to call, sometimes he is moving the stick away from the goaltender, sometimes you don't even notice who's stick it is, you just want it out of your way.

[theman19 47]

OMG you have the sheer audacity to come on here and complaign about officating after the crap you got away with last night?

A. I live in Raleigh, so i follow the canes

B. no their not my favorite team.

C. Screw you buddy,.....That game should have been tied had Hal Gill not flown off of Eric Cole trying to gain ground and catapult himself in to MAF. Good Grief, he looked like hudler did when pronger hit him, only Gill has like 4 inches and 50 pounds on cole. The real salt in the wounds is how you can say that after cooke knee on kneeded cole and took him out of the game and likley the series.

The refs on the canes side? Are you nuts? There were bad calls both ways, but don't come on the board of a team that doesn't really care for you anyway and complaign about officating after two highly controversial and bogus plays were comitted BY your team.

A stick was knocked out of MAF hands,..waaaaaaaaaaah. Cole's season could be done asshat.

[reggiedunlop 0]

the amount of whining that takes place about officiating is nothing short of hilarious.

missed calls and invented calls for both sides....... you sure you guys arent from washington?

[Guest Shoreline]

In that beautiful, anti-Penguins reffing, wonder why it is neither Gill nor Cooke got any penalties for their blatant infractions? That sure is going to teach us Wings fans a valuable lesson about how there's no problem with reffing.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

I'm sure anyone not a nutcase suggesting the league is in bed with other teams (Penguins, or Hawks) is going to understand that the Penguins get bad calls. However, I think my point is getting overlooked that of all things, why would a Wings fan listen to a Penguins fan when the Penguins were by far the biggest beneficiaries of penalty calls during both the SCF and yesterday's game? Maybe I'm wrong in the assumption that they want sympathy (for the intent of the post that wasn't tongue-in-cheek), but it's still pretty dumb no less.

I'm not overlooking your point. Just pointing out that it wasn't the OP's.

If anything, there needs to be a discussion on what has been prompting such outrageously horrendous refereeing overall, not just in these specific cases, but league-wide. Far more often than not people are going to one extreme or the other. They're either declaring the league has it in for the Wings, or they're declaring that this is just a no big deal because every team gets screwed, both of which do little to help the underlying problem here, which is why is the refereeing so absof***inglutely abysmal. Is it they need an eye exam? Or is it some sort of inquiry needs to be done to get to the bottom of their problems calling a game fairly, and by fairly I don't mean equal penalties called, I mean consistently calling penalties, particularly the blatant ones where they're seen on live feeds, two feet away, watching the play, and just let it go, then turn around 10 seconds later to call some chincy s***. The NBA just had a problem with a referee trying to personally affect the outcome of games, and while I'm not under the belief that this is the reason the refereeing has major problems, what is really going on needs to be looked into. What can be described as a simple amount of erroneous calling (i.e. human nature / imperfection) is vastly different than what we've been seeing here for, at very least, the last two seasons.

While I tend to agree that there has been extremely spotty reffing up to this point, unfortunately its a product of a few different beasts. First, there's the human error side of things. Any human can't be expected to make perfect calls in a game where they don't/can't see all the fouls (or lack there of) clearly due to positioning and the fact that each mind views to what degree a penalty is differently. Secondly, while the league likes to show its refs examples of what penalties are, there's always going to be different interpretations of some rules and different levels of leniency based on individual minds. In a perfect world, each and every ref would call a game the exact same way and a good portion of the questionable calls would go away because players would know what they could and couldn't get away with. Obviously we don't live in that world so there's always going to be varying viewpoints on questionable calls.

While I'm not about say "its no big deal because every team gets screwed" as you put it, I do realize the varying personalities reffing the game and would be ecstatic if the one thing they could accomplish was consistency within a game, not so much within the different refs (because that's impossible). To me, a penalty should be called (or not called) from the moment until the puck drops until the final whistle blows. That'd would be enough of a start for me.