Wednesday, April 25, 2007
What are they doing to our game?
The last time I saw refereeing as inconsistent and out of touch with what I would expect in a game seven of the playoffs was the gold medal contest between the Canadian and American women in 2002 when Canada was whistled for I believe eight straight penalties and something like eleven of twelve in what was the most incompetent, brutal officiating in the history of the sport of hockey. Check that, the three guys who did the World Junior game in Piestany, Czechoslovakia (as it was still called then) on January 1, 1987 were worse.
If that women’s game was the worse then game seven in Vancouver between the Canucks and the Stars has to rank up there. I won’t name the officials, you can find that information on line if you really want to but my beef today is I feel I was deprived of a better game because of the officiating which included among other things – a call where the Dallas player did not even touch the Canuck player, plain to see on replay. A non-call after a Vancouver d-man knocked the net off without any assistance from a Dallas player and a mixed up call where the wrong player was signaled off. Not to mention the penalty to Stu Barnes for ‘tapping’ Trevor Linden on the arm or Joel Lundquist for impeding Henrik Sedin. I know that by the letter of the new NHL law, those stick fouls are supposed to be called all the time. Not some of the time but all the time. I guess I’ll show my age again. To me in a game seven I want to see the players decide the contest not a half dozen power plays to one team in one period that totally changed the flow of the game. Sure I picked Vancouver to win and yes I want as many Canadian teams as possible to advance but not like this. That was embarrassing. The NHL really needs to look at this. The officials are instructed to call the game a certain way and it’s my belief that with this mandate they have become somewhat over zealous. I don’t think the referees are any better or worse than compared to 20-30 years ago but I do believe that with our continued push for an anti-septic league we are putting the cart before the horse. We have games like this aforementioned contest where some of the most inconsequential contact is called and yet other times when cheap shots, these hits to the head, are deemed totally acceptable in the game. I just don’t get it. It’s brutal to watch and it’s made the referee’s the show not the game. No good.
As for the Canuck victory, what is Trevor Linden drinking? Whatever it is figure out a way to bottle it. Is this 2007 or 1994? Was he flying. Incredible game by Linden and it was very appropriate that he scored the game winner. I also think the critics of Marty Turco can put a sock in it. His play was exceptional especially in the last four games and especially in game seven given how many power plays he had to face. That’s a 2-1 game if you take away the empty net markers. I think it all ends here for the Canucks though. I believe Anaheim will shut them down fairly easily. Te games should all be close due to Luongo but I just cannot see Vancouver winning this series. I’ll call Anaheim in five.
San Jose- Detroit should be a beauty. I’ll call the Sharks to prevail in this one in six games. Lidstrom is looking as good as ever so the match up with him on Joe Thornton should be fun to watch. I want to see how Hasek responds in the second round of the post season facing a team that can score unlike Calgary. The other variables of course are the injuries specifically to Holmstrom on Detroit so we’ll see what happens, if he can play or not. I’ll say this; Todd Bertuzzi looked very, very good in those last few games against the Flames but I still think San Jose is to strong.
In the east I’m probably picking with my heart here. The Devils have home ice advantage, they won the season series and they looked very good in the last two games against Tampa Bay. However I feel this is the strongest Ottawa team I’ve ever seen in any post season. The most depth, snipers, well coached although Bryan Murray has his own demons to conquer in terms of second round success, still – I believe the Senators will get ‘er done as my buddy Jeff Cavanaugh is fond of saying. I’ll call Ottawa in six.
There are those in some circles who think the Rangers could be the sleepers of the East if not the entire playoffs. Perhaps. Personally I think they will be over matched against a very determined Buffalo team eager to pick up where it left off in last years post season with all of their injuries. Tim Connolly is looking particularly sharp. I’m concerned a bit about Paul Gaustad missing some action with the severed heel injury. He would be a valuable counterpart to what we’ll see from Sean Avery in this series and Avery has already begun with the pre-game comments so as usual, it makes the first game a beauty to watch. We’ll see what develops. Feel free to email any thoughts on these selections or anything else you’ve read here on my blogs. Gidday.
Liam Maguire
Liam1@ca.inter.net
If that women’s game was the worse then game seven in Vancouver between the Canucks and the Stars has to rank up there. I won’t name the officials, you can find that information on line if you really want to but my beef today is I feel I was deprived of a better game because of the officiating which included among other things – a call where the Dallas player did not even touch the Canuck player, plain to see on replay. A non-call after a Vancouver d-man knocked the net off without any assistance from a Dallas player and a mixed up call where the wrong player was signaled off. Not to mention the penalty to Stu Barnes for ‘tapping’ Trevor Linden on the arm or Joel Lundquist for impeding Henrik Sedin. I know that by the letter of the new NHL law, those stick fouls are supposed to be called all the time. Not some of the time but all the time. I guess I’ll show my age again. To me in a game seven I want to see the players decide the contest not a half dozen power plays to one team in one period that totally changed the flow of the game. Sure I picked Vancouver to win and yes I want as many Canadian teams as possible to advance but not like this. That was embarrassing. The NHL really needs to look at this. The officials are instructed to call the game a certain way and it’s my belief that with this mandate they have become somewhat over zealous. I don’t think the referees are any better or worse than compared to 20-30 years ago but I do believe that with our continued push for an anti-septic league we are putting the cart before the horse. We have games like this aforementioned contest where some of the most inconsequential contact is called and yet other times when cheap shots, these hits to the head, are deemed totally acceptable in the game. I just don’t get it. It’s brutal to watch and it’s made the referee’s the show not the game. No good.
As for the Canuck victory, what is Trevor Linden drinking? Whatever it is figure out a way to bottle it. Is this 2007 or 1994? Was he flying. Incredible game by Linden and it was very appropriate that he scored the game winner. I also think the critics of Marty Turco can put a sock in it. His play was exceptional especially in the last four games and especially in game seven given how many power plays he had to face. That’s a 2-1 game if you take away the empty net markers. I think it all ends here for the Canucks though. I believe Anaheim will shut them down fairly easily. Te games should all be close due to Luongo but I just cannot see Vancouver winning this series. I’ll call Anaheim in five.
San Jose- Detroit should be a beauty. I’ll call the Sharks to prevail in this one in six games. Lidstrom is looking as good as ever so the match up with him on Joe Thornton should be fun to watch. I want to see how Hasek responds in the second round of the post season facing a team that can score unlike Calgary. The other variables of course are the injuries specifically to Holmstrom on Detroit so we’ll see what happens, if he can play or not. I’ll say this; Todd Bertuzzi looked very, very good in those last few games against the Flames but I still think San Jose is to strong.
In the east I’m probably picking with my heart here. The Devils have home ice advantage, they won the season series and they looked very good in the last two games against Tampa Bay. However I feel this is the strongest Ottawa team I’ve ever seen in any post season. The most depth, snipers, well coached although Bryan Murray has his own demons to conquer in terms of second round success, still – I believe the Senators will get ‘er done as my buddy Jeff Cavanaugh is fond of saying. I’ll call Ottawa in six.
There are those in some circles who think the Rangers could be the sleepers of the East if not the entire playoffs. Perhaps. Personally I think they will be over matched against a very determined Buffalo team eager to pick up where it left off in last years post season with all of their injuries. Tim Connolly is looking particularly sharp. I’m concerned a bit about Paul Gaustad missing some action with the severed heel injury. He would be a valuable counterpart to what we’ll see from Sean Avery in this series and Avery has already begun with the pre-game comments so as usual, it makes the first game a beauty to watch. We’ll see what develops. Feel free to email any thoughts on these selections or anything else you’ve read here on my blogs. Gidday.
Liam Maguire
Liam1@ca.inter.net
# posted by Liam Maguire @ 10:23 AM 
