Nero 20 Report post Posted May 1, 2011 Hello again, my friends. It has been nearly a year since I have posted here. For the last year, I have been almost completely uninterested in the Red Wings or anything to do with hockey and the NHL (I did however, attend a single home game thanks to getting some free tickets). I decided that enough was enough. The bogus and phantom calls, and Bettmans' favoritism toward Pittsburgh were enough to completely drive me away from anything NHL/hockey related. And I post this to you now, as I hear from my friends in real life and fellow posters of LGW, that the situation is largely unchanged. And so I ask... Why? Why is the topic of officiating in the NHL such a taboo? Why does the NHL not only refuse to acknowledge their mistakes, but refuse to fix them? Furthermore, why are the teams and their owners doing f*** all about the situation? Why, in this modern age, do we still officiate sports of this caliber, using the judgement of a couple morons ON THE ICE (where they clearly cannot see everything)? Why have we not even attempted to move toward a better system? The state of this is absolute trash. And I would think that it's bad for the NHL in general. What is some new potential fan going to think when he sees a player for his team get tripped up and no call is made? They're going to call it bulls***. And it is, in fact, bulls***. How many times has Holmstrom been called for goaltender interference when it is clearly not? Call it part of the game. Say that it cannot be changed. I'll say that's bulls***. There's already a war room in Toronto. Get rid of the rule enforcing referees who can only be watching one direction at a time, and replace them with people whose sole job is to drop the puck and break up fights. Staff up the war room with people who can watch the game from many different angles at a time. Have a button in the war room that signals a whistle / immediate stoppage immediately. And for god sakes, get rid of goals being waived off or bogus penalties by people who can't even see the whole game at once or review it themselves in slow motion. When will something finally be done about the state of the officiating? When will teams and their GMs finally speak out against the NHL? I hope it's soon, because I'd really like to enjoy some hockey again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grypho 195 Report post Posted May 1, 2011 Why? For the same reason, I suppose, that we still have umpires for pitches in baseball. It would be far, far more precise to have lasers tracking the strike box, down to the angstrom, rather than a blind-as-a-bat ump who can call a pitch wrong by two balls width. I think it's the human element. And even the added controversy over human flaws, and even biases, perceived or real; things that give everyone something to shout about. Which, of course, draws a crowd and keeps it drawn, which in turn draws in more money. "If bleeds it leads" will always be the mantra of the mainstream media, and sports like ice hockey aren't that far off. The NHL can cut down on deliberate head shots. Then again, deliberate head shots only produce injuries, but otherwise aren't a spectacular expectation. But it will be long time before exhales when the NHL does away with fighting altogether. The NHL doubled the number of refs on the ice, but I wouldn't look for any significant changes to the system itself any time soon. Not unless it can be shown, and they can be convinced, that it will equate to more money. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nate94gt 134 Report post Posted May 1, 2011 I think the fans should be able to call a toll free number during games to call penalties. Obviously the nhl can't hire the right people Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SouthernWingsFan 854 Report post Posted May 1, 2011 NHL officiating will always be consistently inconsistent for the near future no matter how much we will kick and scream about it. 1 commadore183 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuperNovaXll 124 Report post Posted May 1, 2011 I keep holding on to the hope that someday the NHL will have text book black and white rules.. I understand that the Refs are human and will always miss calls every so often, but I cant understand why some of these BS little "grabs" are called at times. As annoying as it is, as fans... there is nothing we can really do about it other then wait and hope that something changes. Time will tell. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
