Idiot Refs Help Pens Beat Flyers

 Referee’s are human and they screw up all the time. Then again, referee’s are also bias, and they screw teams all of the time too.  I don’t blame the Flyers recent slide on the zebra’s, but I completely blame them for yesterday’s loss. The evidence:

• Leino follows the puck to the net, Fleury comes out of his crease, the two collide, and Leino falls on him. There is a scramble in front, and Gagne knocks the puck in. After initially ruling it a goal, the refs confer, and decide that it does not count. I still have no idea what the hell the rule is. They claim that it was incidental contact, but because it was the goalie, the goal can’t count. WTF?!?!?!!? I thought the rule said if you collide with a goalie, it’s either goalie interference, or it’s incidental contact and play continues.  There was no penalty called on the play, so why the hell can the players not continue to play and possible score? If they ruled that the goalie was knocked out of the play, why didn’t they blow a whistle to stop anything?
• Flyers steal the puck, pass it to Giroux in the slot, where’s he’s 1 on 1 with the goalie. As he dekes, Fleury blatantly throws his stick. Again, no call made. That’s completely fine according to the refs. It wasn’t even close to questionable, but they let it go.
• Matt Cooke carries the puck behind the Flyers net, with a defense man chasing him. The defender reaches his stick in to try knocking the puck away.  Cooke kneels, hugs the stick between his arm and his body, and pulls it away. Holding the stick penalty, not called. Cooke passes in front, where the puck is intercepted.  Before the Flyers can move up, Betts gets cross checked by Fedotenko, who takes the puck, dishes it across the goal mouth, where Cookehas circled to, and he pops it in.  Again, two blatant penalties, that occurred right where the puck is, where the refs are looking, and no call.
• Crosby throws a good, clean hit that knocks over Hartnell.  Somehow, the refs call a roughing penalty on Harts. Both players went down, and nothing else happened.  What was the ref calling?  The ensuing powerplay lead to another Penguins goal.

The disallowed goal would have given the Flyers a 2-1 lead, but instead it swung momentum completely in the Penguns favor. The two missed penalties on the same play lead directly to a goal. The non-call on Fleury, and phantom call on Hartnell did not directly affect goals, but did affect important game situations.

The Flyers have a serious gripe with the officials after getting screwed in this game. Of course, there’s nothing that they can do, because refs are untouchable.  It’s one the worst things in sports, and I wish the owners would step up and do something about it.  Referee punishments need to be disclosed.  Why do players get to be embarrassed in the forum of public opinion? Their actions on the ice are just as visible to the fans as are the referees’. If a player, coach, GM, or owner get reprimanded by fine or suspension, we generally hear about. If or when referees are reprimanded, we the fans are never told. This needs to change. We pay damn good money to see our favorite teams and athletes, but when questionable officiating gets in the way, we are left with questions but no answers. This is unacceptable and needs to change immediately.

In addition, star athletes should not be protected or get calls in their favor.  Fans and announcers seemed resigned to accept that this is a normal thing, and have embraced the concept. Why? It’s moronic! A rule is a rule, and should be enforced equally. When a celebrity gets away with a crime in real life, we all cry foul, and deem it unfair that their status in life helped them. Why is this same logic not applied in sports? It makes no sense, and it’s stupid. just because something has always been done a certain way, does not make it right.  ESPN’s Bill Simmons has wrote before that teams should create a position called the VP of Common Sense, to aid GM’s in making personnel decisions.  I love the idea, and would extend it to league offices. Put somebody in power that does not have this archaic way of thinking, and give them some influence over the rules.

Finally, Gary Bettman must go. He’s not a true hockey fan, let alone hockey lifer.  He’s and NBA guy running the NHL for a long time now.  The game could be so much more if there was a more passionate and knowledgeable person running things. I blame him for a lot of the officiating mistakes, for letting the Devils almost ruin hockey, for the sharp rise in salaries that lead to the strike a few seasons ago, and for the favorable treatment of star players.

Thanks for reading!

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