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NHL Officials and their Biases


Drivefor25

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Good day all fellow habs fans! Just wondering if any of you out there are seeing the same things that I am when it relates to calls being made and not made as well as calls against certian players and not on the rest as well as calls going against one team and not on the other.

Personally I feel there is an EXTREME LACK of consistancy when it relates to todays NHL CLOWNS, whoops, I mean dignafied officials.

Lately it seems that the calls are fluctuating between whats being called in the first, isn't being called in the second and then it seems it'l' only be called in the third of the ref's feel like.

Now don't get me wrong. I am all for the "Zebras" enforcing the rules as they have been put in place to make the game faster and more exciting, but how can the game be faster and more exciting if all there is, is a steady stream to the penalty box.

This doesn't just apply to Mick McGeouh's major brain **** on friday night, that ended up costing Craig MacTavish 10 large, but look at what happened Saturday night in the Habs - Devils game. Let me set the scene....

2nd Period. A Devils player gets pushed into the habs net by a habs defenceman, that's fine, however, the rule states that a player, if pushed into the goalies crease, must make an attempt to get out of it. NO ATTEMPT WAS MADE. THE ONLY EFFORT THE PLAYER IN THE CREASE ( BEHIND HUET ) WAS TO BLOCK HIS FACE FROM BEING HIT BY THE GAME WINNING GOAL. Allow me to also say that Dave " I hate Montreal " Jackson was standing right there and there was no call, But earlier in ther period Downey got called for interfering with Brodeur when in reality Brodeur was out of his crease and exagerated the little contact to an Academy award winning degree.

Why is it everyone in the arean, at any given time is held accountable for their actions, whether it be the coach, equipment manager, that guy who sells 12$ coke's and 20$ ice cream, hell even Youppi are held accountable for the actions but for some unknown top secret reasons ref's get off scott free or in the case of Mick " spastic " McGeough a simple comment to the media " Yeah I blew the call".

This has got to stop and the refs really need to be put under a microscope and held accountable for their actions. Now I am not just saying this because I love the habs, I love the game and it's getting harder and harder to enjoy as these clowns with orange bands on their arms are getting away with "murder". Whats it going to take before something changes???? Maybe, god forbid but maybe a marquee player needs to be fatally injured or something before the league opens it's eyes and not just the revenue books.

GO HABS GO!!!!

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Wow...do you feel better after getting that off your chest?? :D

I agree tho...I know its the new NHL, but they seem to be calling some wierd stuff. Perhaps the coaches should have video-replay challenges available to them. Maybe 1-2 a game where the coach can call for a replay, if they are wrong, they are charged an extra minor or perhaps a timeout. Just throwing ideas out there...

Edited by cfposi
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Maybe it's just me, but no one else see a sever decline in the consistancy of calls as well as the steady decline in the quality of the officials. I know I singled out 2 zebras in my initial post but it's not just them it's all of the refs.

Next time Dave Jackson refs a habs game watch how tight of a game he calls against the habs compared to the opposing team and then compare it to any other game he calls.

What I said isn't just something that I began to notice since last friday, this is something I've been noticing since last year.

As I said maybe it's just me, and if it is I appologise, but I know i'm not the only one who sees this and who is frustrated with this

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:o :puke:

My next door neighbour for 2 years is now head of NHL officiating.

At the time he was just breaking into the NHL then, and we used to talk hockey whenever he was home.

I found out quite a bit about the life they live and how they approach the game itself.....

So I'm appalled when people think pro referees constantly have it in for a certain team!

These guys are the best at their craft and are doing an extremely thankless task night in and night out.

They do it in a job where you are always making the wrong call in someone's eyes!

They have good nights and they have bad nights on the job - just like anyone else does!

They officiate the fastest sport humans play on two feet - they have one instant to make a call and someone is going to argue it, whether you're right or wrong!

These guys are humans who make mistakes from time to time?

But incompetent and biased..... give me a break!

p.s. He always mentioned the fact that the best place to work a game was in Montreal. The city, the passion for hockey, the history and the way they treated the officials were par excellence in his opinion.....

Edited by beliveau1
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Hmm. The problem with officiating in any sport, is although the rules are indeed written in black and white, it's up to a human to interpret and make the calls in a split second. I know during every game, I see calls that upon further review (and numerous replays) that were missed. I know it sucks, but that's life. Each official has their own interpretation and personalities. Some games are worse than others. Over the course of a season, I'd say things are pretty even. Remember the parade to the box during that Avs game? You should've heard the folks out here talking about how biased the officiating always is in favor of Montreal. The grass is always greener...

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i think if you honestly look at the calls in Habs games. 85-95% of the calls were penalties. Obvious calls. I think Green who kneed Johnson should have got 5 but the rest was ok.

So now i will get on my soap box and complain about the instigator rule and how stupid it really is. Last night was a perfect example, a cheap shot kneeing call gets 2 minutes, Souray hops in to protect a team and he's gone for 17. The 2 minutes is NOT a consequence for kneeing someone. Getting beat up or taken out yourself is. Let the players police the cheap shots.

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Penalties against Edmonton: 9. Penalties against Montreal: 4.

What are you complaining about?

I'm complaining about the inconsistancy in the calls as well as the phantom calls that are made. I am also wondering if there was a penalty called on the high stick that is in you picture.

All i'm saying, and this isn't based on last nights game, is collectively the officiating in the nhl is awefull, not just against the habs, not just against the leafs. The entire nhl. It's getting really hard to enjoy a game

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I'm complaining about the inconsistancy in the calls as well as the phantom calls that are made. I am also wondering if there was a penalty called on the high stick that is in you picture.

All i'm saying, and this isn't based on last nights game, is collectively the officiating in the nhl is awefull, not just against the habs, not just against the leafs. The entire nhl. It's getting really hard to enjoy a game

Thats just human error. The game is one of quickest professional sports out there and it's hard to get every call 100% right. Not only that, human bias gets in the way of properly evaluating a call. Of course you'll be mad and say it wasn't good if Montreal gets a penalty, I do the same for Colorado.

I ask you this, if you were able to officiate an NHL game somehow, do you honestly think you'd get everything 100% right?

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Thats just human error. The game is one of quickest professional sports out there and it's hard to get every call 100% right. Not only that, human bias gets in the way of properly evaluating a call. Of course you'll be mad and say it wasn't good if Montreal gets a penalty, I do the same for Colorado.

I ask you this, if you were able to officiate an NHL game somehow, do you honestly think you'd get everything 100% right?

No I don't think I'd get everything 100% right. However I would call the game as a neutral party which is what these refs are supposed to be and I would call the same thing both ways.

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The thing that irks me has nothing to do with the Canadiens. It's in general. The 1st Leafs @ Habs game featured Dandenault getting called for hitting a puck carrier along the boards. The puck was 2 feet in front of the Leaf. They called it interference. I learned in bantam that it's a legal clean hit. It was legal.

Then Kilger gets called for sneezing on Koivu. I was annoyed with both calls which resulted in goals. Kilger did NOTHING wrong.

Game in and game out regardless of the team we are seeing NONSENSE!

I don't blame the refs. I blame the NHL for having a loosy goosey calling policy. If you ask "the powers that be" who supervise the refs I bet they would n't be able to clearly tell you what is and what is not an infraction. For crying out loud, I still don't know.

1-1 and 0-0 is the same difference. LET THEM PLAY!

And, they did last night. You could have easily called a number of penalties in the 1st. I was a little surprised thinking, "they're REALLY letting them play". My friend concurred.

Then in the 2nd it's parade to the sin bin.

What is that?

Edited by ATHLÉTIQUE.CANADIEN
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The thing that irks me has nothing to do with the Canadiens. It's in general. The 1st Leafs @ Habs game featured Dandenault getting called for hitting a puck carrier along the boards. The puck was 2 feet in front of the Leaf. They called it interference. I learned in bantam that it's a legal clean hit. It was legal.

Then Kilger gets called for sneezing on Koivu. I was annoyed with both calls which resulted in goals. Kilger did NOTHING wrong.

Game in and game out regardless of the team we are seeing NONSENSE!

I don't blame the refs. I blame the NHL for having a loosy goosey calling policy. If you ask "the powers that be" who supervise the refs I bet they would n't be able to clearly tell you what is and what is not an infraction. For crying out loud, I still don't know.

1-1 and 0-0 is the same difference. LET THEM PLAY!

And, they did last night. You could have easily called a number of penalties in the 1st. I was a little surprised thinking, "they're REALLY letting them play". My friend concurred.

Then in the 2nd it's parade to the sin bin.

What is that?

This is exactly my point. If you didn't call it in the first, don't call it in the second or the third, however if you were calling it in the first, call it in the second and in the third

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This is exactly my point. If you didn't call it in the first, don't call it in the second or the third, however if you were calling it in the first, call it in the second and in the third

They've been putting their whistle away in the last half of the game for ages - this is not something that is suddenly new to the sport..... and it was wrong when they first started out with that 'let the players decide it' mentality (see Don Cherry for a prime example of this Neanderthal mentality :angry: :puke: :angry: )

No I don't think I'd get everything 100% right. However I would call the game as a neutral party which is what these refs are supposed to be and I would call the same thing both ways.

These guys are not team biased like fans are - they are not affected by that mentality. They do however have a natural born instinct which interprets a play according to their perception of the event.... and they have a split-second to make up their mind about it. Somebody's always going to disagree with them, especially if it goes against your team?

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The only time I see a refereeing bias is when Montreal plays Toronto...whether it be at home or away. And this season hasn't been that bad...There are a few times where I holler in front of my TV or at the Bell Centre for a call...but we gotta remember...they're only human :unsure:

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I think the NHL should just not have referee's anymore ... that way nobody can complain either way ... just have the goal judges turn the light on when a goal is scored and have the players play 3 wack patty cake for faceoffs. :lol:

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As far as the McGeough gaffe is concerned, we'll never know if he is ever disciplined for that mistake, as the league doesn't announce stuff like that. I think the last time they did that was 1994 in the Rangers-Nordiques series when Andy Van Hellemond made that delayed penalty call that wiped out a Nordiques goal. They claim it has to do with protecting the officials from undue criticism from players and coaches during games.

I think we can all remember the game a few years ago against the Devils when, on a first period goal by the Habs, Kerry "Helmet Head" Fraser called back a goal because of goalie interference. Then in the third period, when the Devils scored on an almost carbon copy play, Fraser let it stand. To this day, I don't think he was ever reprimanded or even questioned about why he called the exact same plays completely differently in the same game.

After last season, I thought the officiating had gotten better as the season went along, and was actually pretty happy with the fact that the calls were a lot more consistent from period to period and game to game. Even went the calls cost us games, I really couldn't argue with the calls in many cases because that was the way it was being called, and some players just didn't adapt. But after only a month of games, I think the level of officiating has deteriorated to the point that maybe Walkom needs to step in and talk the refs about "putting the whistle away" or suddenly calling everything late in the game. The one and only thing that players ask from the refs is to be consistent. Consistently bad or consistently good, just consistent.

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Kerry Fraser doesn't like Montreal very much and Montreal doesn't like him too much either.

Remember when Michel Therrien incurred his wrath and drew an unsportsmanlike penalty against none other than Carolina?

Oh boy...

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Kerry Fraser doesn't like Montreal very much and Montreal doesn't like him too much either.

Remember when Michel Therrien incurred his wrath and drew an unsportsmanlike penalty against none other than Carolina?

Oh boy...

You know what? Every single fan base in the NHL hates Fraser and thinks he screws over their team. For every situation like Hackett/New Jersey and Therrien/Carolina you can name a similar situation where his bad calls helped the Habs. Anybody remember Game 5 in 1987 against the Nordiques? He made a dubious goalie interference call on Paul Gillis as Alain Cote scored to put the Nordiques ahead in the 3rd period (of a 2-2 series). No goal. 13 seconds later, Ryan Walter scored the game winner for the Habs. Michel Bergeron wanted to fight Fraser after the game.

Fraser is just a bad referee, he screws everyone over more or less equally. The same goes for Mick McGeough, who is my pick for the worst referee in the NHL.

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Alot of this nonsense has to be attributed to the rule book getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Keeps going and going like the energizer bunny :P

Rules, rules and more things for refs to remember.

The NHL simply has the officials confused with change after change. It's really dumb.

I mean, what does the NHL brass think?

"Er, um...let's change the rules every 3 months. If Brett Hull wins the cup with his skate in the crease we'll just tweak the rules. Why not give the referees new instuctions every day. Why not even contradict them? We will get this game on track."

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The REAL problem is that the NHL is afraid of letting the refs use their JUDGEMENT. Instead, they issue absolute directives like, 'call everything related to stick fouls,' 'absolute zero tolerance on obstruction' etc.. The result is that refs are erring on the side of calling penalties rather than the reverse (hence all the phantom calls), and, in consequence, the game has lost a huge aspect of the physical play.

I was in GM Place on Monday when the Canuckleheads beat the Stars as a direct result of a marginal elbowing call in the last two minutes. I mean, give me a break.

Really, the rule should be: call interference when it's more than incidental, and when it has meaningful ramifications for the play. Moreover, allow for some battling, within reason. Most importantly, the crackdown on fouls should be relaxed in the corners and in the slot, the traditional war zones of the games; but in no way should they allow hooking and holding on the rush to creep back into the game.

The thing is, these are fine distinctions and implementing them would involve allowing refs to use their discretion, which the NHL apparently fears to do. The question is: are NHL refs smart enough to be able to handle that kind of complex nuance, or aren't they?

Edited by The Chicoutimi Cucumber
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The REAL problem is that the NHL is afraid of letting the refs use their JUDGEMENT. Instead, they issue absolute directives like, 'call everything related to stick fouls,' 'absolute zero tolerance on obstruction' etc.. The result is that refs are erring on the side of calling penalties rather than the reverse (hence all the phantom calls), and, in consequence, the game has lost a huge aspect of the physical play.

The thing is, these are fine distinctions and implementing them would involve allowing refs to use their discretion, which the NHL apparently fears to do. The question is: are NHL refs smart enough to be able to handle that kind of complex nuance, or aren't they?

they did allow the refs to do that ... then the NHL turned into the clutch and hold league about 10 years ago. The rules haven't changed ... the refs are now just calling them properly.

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