NHL Officiating - I've pretty much lost faith in any consistent co

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

The joke of a call on the Bertuzzi penalty finally did it for me. I have lost all faith in them showing some shred of competence in a consistent manner.

I often gave them the benefit of the doubt a few seasons ago when Holmstrom got called for ridiciulous phantom interefernce calls. Slowly and surely the quality of officials on the product has just turned into an absolute joke this season, with intent to blow the whistles too frequent waving off goals, phantom interference goals, and crap calls like the one on Bertuzzi tonight. And this is just watching my favorite team, I wander how bad it is league wide.

I'm not going to say that officials or Bettman or NHL higher ups have it in for the Wings or want them to fail because I don't do conspiracy theories or stuff like that, but the officiating overall this year has been terrible.

I can handle losing, I can get over a loss or even my favorite teams playing like dirt some games, because losses are a part of life. I rarely take wins/losses too seriously on the emotional scale.

What absolutely infurates me though is referees playing a much bigger role in determining an outcome of a game than is necessary, in any sport. It happened tonight with the crap Bertuzzi call, it happened in the recent Dallas game, it happened in another game against Dallas, a game on the road against Colorado with an intent to blow the whiste call, etc.

EDIT: And if you thought the Bertuzzi call was legit, that's cool, agree to disagree on that one (a term which I hate ), but overall the quality of the body of work in officiating this year has been awful.

Edited January 20, 2010 by SouthernWingsFan

[Guest Howard He Do It?!]

To be fair, the Wings benefit from bad calls too. Datsyuk was hooked in tonight's game and Ken Daniels openly questioned that call. It's a two way street. That does not change the fact that officiating is inconsistent league wide, but let's not act like the Wings are always on the short end of the stick.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

To be fair, the Wings benefit from bad calls too. Datsyuk was hooked in tonight's game and Ken Daniels openly questioned that call. It's a two way street. That does not change the fact that officiating is inconsistent league wide, but let's not act like the Wings are always on the short end of the stick.

I know, I'm definitely not trying to dismiss that, which is what one of my blurbs more/less said that I don't believe higher ups aren't out to "get us".

Refs though have just gone so downhill to me this year, and that is something I almost never really thoguht about voicing displeasure towards overall.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

The officiating is a joke, but the Bertuzzi play looked like a penalty to me. Bertuzzi just pulled "a Bertuzzi" out there in an important juncture of the game.

I think the problem with consistency started occuring when the league turned into this "new NHL" crap, where penalties are called more often than they used to be. That opened the window to all kinds of problems, because many of these penalties were never called in the past. Ever.

[Guest Howard He Do It?!]

The officiating is a joke, but the Bertuzzi play looked like a penalty to me. Bertuzzi just pulled "a Bertuzzi" out there in an important juncture of the game.

I think the problem with consistency started occuring when the league turned into this "new NHL" crap, where penalties are called more often than they used to be. That opened the window to all kinds of problems, because many of these penalties were never called in the past. Ever.

Hell, many of them are not even penalties to begin with.

[Rick Zombos Ghost 82]

the hooking call lidstom got on ovechkin was my WTF moment of the night. also the huge amount of slew footing the caps get away with is crazy.

[Guest Howard He Do It?!]

I know, I'm definitely not trying to dismiss that, which is what one of my blurbs more/less said that I don't believe higher ups aren't out to "get us".

Refs though have just gone so downhill to me this year, and that is something I almost never really thoguht about voicing displeasure towards overall.

I do agree that the refs seem even worse this year. I'd have to imagine that even with changes, there would still be unhappy people. Hockey is a tough sport to officiated and nothing can change that. Hockey needs to update its rules to match the times. Hockey circa 1980 is a lot different than hockey today. To expect the same rules to work is pretty laughable.

[bonan78 1]

I missed the Bertuzzi call (my stream froze), but I am of the same mind as the OP, I can handle the fact that my team will lose occasionally, I can even handle if they lose frequently (I'm also a Lions fan), but when the officiating has been as abysmal as it has been this season, not just in Wings games but league-wide, then fans of the game have the right to voice their displeasure, no matter which team they cheer for, because when the refs are as piss-poor as they have been, every team's fans are going to have ample opportunity to lament a bad call costing their team a game (or several games if you're a Wings fan).

Sorry for the run-on sentence, but whether it's a iffy penalty call that results in a game-tying or winning goal against, a game-tying or winning goal for being waived off due to "intent to blow", or the deciding goal in a shootout being allowed because one official who did not make a call on the original play overrules the official who was in the best position to make the call (and was the only one who did), the overall body of work for NHL officials this season has been maddeningly awful, and if I were to perform this badly at my job I would be disciplined or even fired, but there is no accountability for the refs and it's got to be fixed somehow, I just wonder what it is going to take for someone to wake up and start taking action.

[GoWings1905 2,694]

the hooking call lidstom got on ovechkin was my WTF moment of the night. also the huge amount of slew footing the caps get away with is crazy.

Same here. AO fell down and somehow that was hooking? Talk about star treatment from the officials. That's crap the NBA pulls.

The Bertuzzi call was fine to me. It was a dumb penalty to take 200 feet away from the goal. Bertuzzi has a knack for taking bad penalties at the worst times.

[Barrie 900]

I think the problem with consistency started occuring when the league turned into this "new NHL" crap, where penalties are called more often than they used to be. That opened the window to all kinds of problems, because many of these penalties were never called in the past. Ever.

I agree. I'll be the first to say hockey was better before the lockout.

Edit: The penalty calls in the last 5 minutes that are in favor of teams down a goal, drives me insane! It seems like it's been happening more often since the lockout too.

I wouldn't be surprised if the refs were told by the league after the lockout to call more penalties to increase scoring.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Barrie

[seeinred 1,488]

The Caps also basically got away with murder in the last 90 seconds or so. Which is typical of the team in the lead in the waning moments of a 1-goal game.

[wingsdiehard13 33]

SouthernWingsFan is that really you ?

The Caps also basically got away with murder in the last 90 seconds or so. Which is typical of the team in the lead in the waning moments of a 1-goal game.

Exactly, I can understand 'putting away the whistle' but some of the crap they got away with had me screaming at the television.

[CenterIce 83]

I wouldn't be surprised if the refs were told by the league after the lockout to call more penalties to increase scoring.

That is exactly what the new rules were designed to do.

[FinWing 26]

At this rate they might as well eliminate penalties from the game altogether, save for blatant attempts to injure. At least it would be consistent. Make it 4-on-4 for 60 minutes while you're at it, more room for skill and less clutching and grabbing.

[edicius 3,269]

The officiating is a joke, but the Bertuzzi play looked like a penalty to me. Bertuzzi just pulled "a Bertuzzi" out there in an important juncture of the game.

Eh, I don't know. I watched the replay on that and it didn't look like Bertuzzi actually did anything to trip Green. He just got near him and Green dropped to the ice. I didn't even see a stick near the skates or anything.

[Guest R2D2]

Agreed. This will continue under Bettman run leadership. The refs don't know what to call anymore, it's not their fault as much as the higher ups telling them to 'use their judgement'.

[Mors 201]

Eh, I don't know. I watched the replay on that and it didn't look like Bertuzzi actually did anything to trip Green. He just got near him and Green dropped to the ice. I didn't even see a stick near the skates or anything.

Agreed, I was surprised by the number of people complaining about a bad penalty by Bertuzzi. Looked to me like he barely tapped the outside of Green's leg if anything and Green kicked his legs out...

[Tr!PoD#19 524]

The Bertuzzi call, followed by the Caps players trip on Datsyuk make-up call was awful.

I thought the refs last night were quite bad.

[Guest Shoreline]

As a Wing fan, you consistently see those bad calls and think it's biased toward the Wings. There is no doubt officiating sucks, and something needs to be done. I've said so for years and I don't care who agrees or disagrees. There is no bias for or against the Wings, but the officiating plain and simple needs to be re-done. If the officials and their union have a problem with it, they can eat zebra-striped s***. The consistency of bad calls and even failed calls on goals that can and have had a say-so of who wins the game is one that seriously needs to be addressed for whatever the value the NHL wants to have in representing the game/sport of hockey. This should not be the case where officials are interrupting the game of hockey with their bulls*** rather than merely enforcing rules. In this case, they are playing a more prominent role than they should be and need to either start being more consistent in their officiating, or f*** off entirely.

[mmamolo 287]

Edit: The penalty calls in the last 5 minutes that are in favor of teams down a goal, drives me insane! It seems like it's been happening more often since the lockout too.

I wouldn't be surprised if the refs were told by the league after the lockout to call more penalties to increase scoring.

I definitely think it was a league mandate to call more penalties to increase scoring...at least at opportune times.

I definitely think, for the most part, ppl would agree that the short end of the calls doesn't awlays go against the Wings. It's the inconsistency that bothers ppl. I can handle differences between different refs style of calling games but what I find hard to take it when one refs calls situations differently within a game. Not to mention the Alex Burrows situation. As a Wings fan, since we're chasing the Canucks I by no means want them winning games but that phantom interference call may have been the worst I have seen this year and it essentially cost the Canucks the game - or at least set the stage. To me, as a die hard Wings fan even, that call outraged me more than the Brad May no goal call a couple of months ago against Dallas.

[Opie 308]

Honestly I think this was Gary's plan all along.

Hear me out, I don't have a tin foil hat!

You see, going into the lockout Gary had a big problem. The Clutch and Grab Devils style that was running rampant. He wanted to expand the game to the sunshine belt. With a slowed down product there was no way Hockey would be more successful than football in the south or the west. He was looking for a way to speed up the game. Gary is a lawyer and knows Basketball, not hockey. He is not a "hockey guy" from age 4. For the most part his relationship with David Stern got him the job. There are other details about how he got his job, I don't care my point here is he really isn't a "Hockey Guy"

So, not being a "Hockey Guy" he had no idea what to do to fix the current conundrum he was facing, he didn't (and I believe still doesn't) have a firm grasp on the history of the game or the way Hockey had been played for decades.

In my mind I believe the only thing he could tell the refs to stop clutch and grab was to simply call more penalties. What was the press release after the lockout about this, something to the effect of the refs are going to call more hooks and holds.

So you are either telling me there were penalties being let go by the officials, in that case you need to clean up the officials and have a camp or something to define the penalties in all refs minds (they still need this).

OR

In order to stop the players from slowing the game down what wasn't a penalty before is now?

He had no better solution than to have the refs just start making calls, that is what I believe led us here. None of the refs or players on the ice no what is a penalty to one lineman (sorry stars game flashback) Referee and not the other. Because after the lockout they game out whistles a blazing! There are I would say on average about 2 penalties a game per team where no one knows what to do. Everyone is too flabbergasted to even react, coaches make that eye roll, players not even arguing because they can put the words together to describe what just happened.

On top of that you add to the fact that over the past 15 years or so the athletes have become stronger, faster, quicker all while the officials have just gotten older.

How can a 50 year (who only probably trains on his own) old keep up with a professionally trained (year round at that) athlete like OV, hell even Helm?

Then you add on to it the Auger piece, now refs are taking diving personally? Well then call the dive when it happens, and I mean more than 10 times a season (warning not official numbers!).

Edited January 20, 2010 by Opie

[GoWings1905 2,694]

The Caps also basically got away with murder in the last 90 seconds or so. Which is typical of the team in the lead in the waning moments of a 1-goal game.

Except if you are the Pittsburgh Penguins in the deciding game of the final.

[wingfan13 44]

I was most angry about Zetterberg basically being hogtied coming into the zone after he got the puck around the Caps D in the last few minutes of the game. I was amazed there was no call. I rewound the to see if again and he was absolutely held. The D man (Green?) put his hands up and looked over to the ref right away. The ref who looked like he was about 10 feet from it and looking right at it did nothing.

[Rick Zombos Ghost 82]

Agreed, I was surprised by the number of people complaining about a bad penalty by Bertuzzi. Looked to me like he barely tapped the outside of Green's leg if anything and Green kicked his legs out...

The problem is if you are Todd Bertuzzi you are up a goal in the 3rd (when the refs are just itching to give the team that's down a chance to tie it) and you get your stick near your opponents skates and he goes down then you are going to the box. If its Datsyuk they probably let it go. Bertuzzi doesnt get the benefit of calls just like Holmstrom he's gotta realize that and play on a fine line in that situation.

[MonkeyGoalie 14]

To me what is the most frustrating about the reffing and the calls are that the types being made aren't in the rule book. In this day and age of the NHL a hooking is called when a players stick is parallel to the ice surface but in the official rule book hooking is:

55.1 Hooking - Hooking is the act of using the stick in a manner that enables a player or goalkeeper to restrain an opponent.

When a player is checking another in such a way that there is only stick-to-stick contact, such action is not to be penalized as hooking.

The part that I bolded is the part that most refs do not follow.

I don't know if this is due to the NHL management being lenient on the calls being made or maybe they don't care how calls are made as long as money is being made. Who knows, but I'll still keep watching the Red Wings play.