Officials...Conspiracy or Incompetence?

[Brad Kepler 0]

Last Season Brad watson denied the Wings an overtime Annaheim/Game 3. Officials ssuspend Kronwell for a legit hit. Pronger throws Hudler into teh net and it's HUDLER going into the penelty box-Chiacago/Game 3. 7 men allowed on the ice in Game 3 Pittsburgh. nothing. and NOW an officials stops the wings from tyong up the game against Dallas on 11-18-09. Now to those morons that think that there isn't something rotten I want to hear YOUR alternative theory to explain this stuff

[Shaman 713]

first...

....Its not a conspiracy, its just total lack of leadership from Toronto on down.

Edited November 19, 2009 by Shaman464

[Tr!PoD#19 524]

Incompetence. It happens to every team.

That was really bad, though.

[uk_redwing 495]

The officiating in this league is a joke. Doesnt go much further than that.

If we all made mistakes like they did tonight in our jobs, we'd get fired.

[Doc Holiday 0]

[Carman 387]

My suggestion is to watch some other hockey games. The Red Wing's aren't the only team that gets bad calls. All of your examples are calls that happen regular due to the incompetency of officiating in the NHL. If the ref's really were against the Wing's, then their is no way that they would be as good as they are year in year out.

[Electrophile 3,554]

Incompetence. Clearly and obviously. There is no conspiracy, they just suck at their jobs and they suck at executing those jobs and they suck at interpreting the rules.

Baseball makes their umpires know the rule book back and front, they have to go to school, there are ramifications if they continually suck at what they're doing. Maybe the NHL should invest in something like this.

[Holmstrom96 347]

Makes absolutely NO SENSE that Toronto didn't override that. Imagine if it was Cindy Crosby instead of Brad May, Bettman would have personally called and made sure it counted.

[Jedi 1,865]

When it comes to conspiracies, I rarely believe in that stuff. IMO, the biggest case for a conspiracy from last year was the scheduling for games one and two of the finals, back to back with only 2 days off in between. But that was more a case of the NHL being handcuffed by their TV contract with NBC than "ZOMG, Gary Buttman wants teh Penz to win!!!11". NBC had exclusive rights to games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and they would only play the games on a weekend. So either the NHL scheduled them back to back on short notice, or they scheduled them back to back with a full week and a half of inactivity before game 1. No conspiracy there.

The call tonight and the Watson call vs the Ducks is (IMO) a case of both incompetence, and the rule book SORELY needing an overhaul regarding "intent to blow the whistle". Both tonight's goal, and the Watson no-goal call were a case of the ref being out of position, and having the intent to blow the whistle, even though it was blown after the puck crossed the line. Since the rule states (or at least, is enforced as) the play is officially dead when the ref intends to blow the whistle, that's why we got jobbed on both calls.

But since the refs intent to blow the whistle can't be overturned by Toronto, then we get the fuzzy end of the lollipop on those goals, and in the end, there's nothing we can do.

Incompetence for being in a bad position. Incompetence for intending to blow the whistle too soon. Incompetence on the NHL's part to make that kind of call unreviewable.

Conspiracy? Hardly.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Incompetence. Since absolute hackjobs can be NHL refs, I think i`ll send in my application, at the very least I could certainly screw over someother teams that are playing the Wings, couldnt be that hard, LaRue and that guy who waived off 15 of Homers goals the past 3 years have taught me well.

[commadore183 103]

Does the league or the ref's union do drug screening? If not, now might be a good time to do so...

I think it's incompetence from the refs, personally. There are different levels of incompetnence, and we just saw the 7th level of it on that "non-goal".

[VM1138 1,921]

It's not a conspiracy.

It is just gross incompetence. We need to be able to challenge or review goals. Refs should not be God out there.

I'm betting it has something to do with awful training and inconsistent messages from the ref HQ. Like any business, inconsistency and incompetence is generally caused by inconsistent messages and incompetent handling of situations by the top brass. Oh, and the fact that utter incompetence is rewarded with Stanley Cup finals jobs.

[Brad Kepler 0]

They WHY at a critical time did this convienent 'mistake' occur? Like Brad Watson last season it was done at the best possible time to screw the wings. and in essence it has been repeated almost point for point. We were promised last year when it happen that it was a wild mistake and probably wouldn't happen again......well it has

[T-Ruff 47]

The notion that there is a conspiracy against the Wings or for another team is simply insane.... That said, I don't think there are very many who truly believe there is one.

The NHL simply needs to employ Jame's Duthie's "Common Sense" revolution, and not be so over-protective of their refs who make mistakes....

[jollymania 162]

No conspiracy, but it seems like we have worse than normal luck with refs, the ones tonight were actually apes dressed in human suits, now that might be a conspiracy.

[Brad Kepler 0]

then why do they still draw an NHL paycheck. in the REAL world we screw up we clean out or locker and desk.

Could it be it wasn't a 'mistake' but following orders?

[ManLuv4Clears 7]

Another reason why people don't take the NHL seriously.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

At least in basketball, you absolutely know that the star players get the calls, and the jailed official admitted that NBA referees fix the games. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the same kind of stuff happens in the NHL.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

When it comes to conspiracies, I rarely believe in that stuff. IMO, the biggest case for a conspiracy from last year was the scheduling for games one and two of the finals, back to back with only 2 days off in between. But that was more a case of the NHL being handcuffed by their TV contract with NBC than "ZOMG, Gary Buttman wants teh Penz to win!!!11". NBC had exclusive rights to games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and they would only play the games on a weekend. So either the NHL scheduled them back to back on short notice, or they scheduled them back to back with a full week and a half of inactivity before game 1. No conspiracy there.

Not the fact that Pittsburgh escaped penalty for having a sixth man on the ice for over 20 seconds?

[wingfanatic4alltime 32]

I agree its not a conspiracy but the bad calls seem to kill us more than any other team that gets the bad calls. The officiating in this league is a damn joke as another poster said. I agree with Mickey that if the refs are gonna make these ticky tac hooking calls then call them on both sides and im like all of you a happy camper. All i want is CONSISTENCY from the officials. Also why wasnt the league office able to overturn the call maybe someone smarter then me can answer that. Thats all i have to say sorry for ranting but tonite just angered me

[Jedi 1,865]

then why do they still draw an NHL paycheck. in the REAL world we screw up we clean out or locker and desk.

Could it be it wasn't a 'mistake' but following orders?

Mick McGeough, who I think MANY will agree was arguably the worst ref in the NHL EVER, was a ref for 21 years. He practically made a career on bad calls, but still kept his job. Seriously, just do a YouTube search for Mick McGeough, and you'll see what I mean.

The NHL doesn't publicly reprimand their referees (and in fact, usually bend over backwards to back them up), but they obviously have rather lax standards for their job performance.

Heck, my local weatherman gets the weather wrong like 60% of the time, and he gets to keep his job. Why should an NHL ref be any different, I guess? *shrug*

[Brad Kepler 0]

You have EVERY RIGHT to be upset The Wings were ROBBED of this game just like they were ROBBED of the Cup....and it was done by the front office. As you pointed out it should have been overturned AND WASN'T. So you apolgists tell us again how everything is 'kosher'

[Statts 4]

Enough with this "intent to blow the whistle" rule. It's bulls*** and needs to go... seriously... how long does it take to bring a whistle up to your mouth?

[VM1138 1,921]

I'm not sure how it works when Toronto calls on a disputed goal, if they have ultimate say or what, but it seems like "intent to whistle" could only be decided by the ref. Therefore, Toronto could not tell him that it was his intent to blow the whistle way too soon.

[clutchngrab 12]

When it comes to conspiracies, I rarely believe in that stuff. IMO, the biggest case for a conspiracy from last year was the scheduling for games one and two of the finals, back to back with only 2 days off in between. But that was more a case of the NHL being handcuffed by their TV contract with NBC than "ZOMG, Gary Buttman wants teh Penz to win!!!11". NBC had exclusive rights to games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and they would only play the games on a weekend. So either the NHL scheduled them back to back on short notice, or they scheduled them back to back with a full week and a half of inactivity before game 1. No conspiracy there.

The call tonight and the Watson call vs the Ducks is (IMO) a case of both incompetence, and the rule book SORELY needing an overhaul regarding "intent to blow the whistle". Both tonight's goal, and the Watson no-goal call were a case of the ref being out of position, and having the intent to blow the whistle, even though it was blown after the puck crossed the line. Since the rule states (or at least, is enforced as) the play is officially dead when the ref intends to blow the whistle, that's why we got jobbed on both calls.

But since the refs intent to blow the whistle can't be overturned by Toronto, then we get the fuzzy end of the lollipop on those goals, and in the end, there's nothing we can do.

Incompetence for being in a bad position. Incompetence for intending to blow the whistle too soon. Incompetence on the NHL's part to make that kind of call unreviewable.

Conspiracy? Hardly.