NHL or NBA?

[urban iceman]

I know this is a HS forum , but I don't know where else to vent!

Last night was the first time I've ever turned off an NHL playoff game in the second period. I was totally disgusted with the officials dictation of the game and it's seems to be happening more and more every year!! They are turning the NHL into the NBA with all the GHOST CALL'S and "Even up calls". It's just ruining the game for me and I'm not alone. People were walking out of the establishment earlier than me where I was watching the game. PITIFUL!!

[puckbreath]

I know this is a HS forum , but I don't know where else to vent!

Last night was the first time I've ever turned off an NHL playoff game in the second period. I was totally disgusted with the officials dictation of the game and it's seems to be happening more and more every year!! They are turning the NHL into the NBA with all the GHOST CALL'S and "Even up calls". It's just ruining the game for me and I'm not alone. People were walking out of the establishment earlier than me where I was watching the game. PITIFUL!!

Agree completely.

[Cadets16]

Since when does cross-checking two players in the back not get a penalty, but when one shoves back he gets 2 for roughing? Disgusting officiating.

Oh and don't even get me started on the holding no-call at the end the end of the third! STA v. Hermantown 2013 anybody?

[TheHockeyDJ]

Since when does cross-checking two players in the back not get a penalty, but when one shoves back he gets 2 for roughing? Disgusting officiating.

Oh and don't even get me started on the holding no-call at the end the end of the third! STA v. Hermantown 2013 anybody?

That was brutal, all of it, as was the East cross check in the back on Avery Peterson in the final two years ago on what might of been a game-tying goal. But back on the Wild, I agree it was the worst officiating I've ever seen, Brad Meier must of been wearing an Avs shirt under is stripes.

[Cdale]

Agree but I'd rather fold sox or have some elective dental work done vs watching NBA. As far as the "ghost calls and even up calls" that crap been around for yrs. Esp the make up calls. And late games/OT are the worst for swallowing the whistle. The fricking rules are the rules. A hold is a hole....be it 2 minutes into 1st period or last minute of a tie game.

[sagard]

The Wild executed like peewees. Giving up a shorty. Failing to close on the late PP. Coyle getting man handled and turning it over cleans instead of winning the battle and getting it deep.

Yes the refs could have bailed them out, but good teams don't leave it to chance. Hopefully the show up in game six and destroy them.

[MNHockeyFan]

Coyle getting man handled and turning it over cleans instead of winning the battle and getting it deep.

Coyle was one of a handful who gave a 100% effort all game. And I don't fault him on that play at all - he was mugged, grabbed, held and the ref refused to call it. Then on the ensuing rush the other way, Colorado was clearly off-sides (a still picture that was on TV proved it) but the linesmen didn't call that either. Two terrible missed calls in a row cost the Wild the game.

[Roy01]

Can this sum it up?

Yes, it was a series of missed calls, just play hard in the next game...

[Tenoverpar]

When you give up goals twice in the last minute of the game you have to fight for your life tonight instead of winning the series 4-1 like you should have...

[karl(east)]

When you give up goals twice in the last minute of the game you have to fight for your life tonight instead of winning the series 4-1 like you should have...

Exactly. Yeah, the refs screwed up, and I was yelling at them as much as anyone as it happened. But they are not the reason the Wild lost. That would have a lot more to do with a team that dominated pretty much every aspect of play in Games 3 and 4 suddenly reverting to earlier form and playing an even territorial game with a team that has a better goalie, a deeper defense, and a handful of elite finishers. Not gonna work.

Great teams don't put themselves in a position where the refs matter. (I'm not saying that to trash the Wild; this is a pretty young team and a work in progress, and I still think they have a fighting chance in this series. That's just reality so far.)

[Froggy Richards]

When you give up goals twice in the last minute of the game you have to fight for your life tonight instead of winning the series 4-1 like you should have...

Exactly. Yeah, the refs screwed up, and I was yelling at them as much as anyone as it happened. But they are not the reason the Wild lost. That would have a lot more to do with a team that dominated pretty much every aspect of play in Games 3 and 4 suddenly reverting to earlier form and playing an even territorial game with a team that has a better goalie, a deeper defense, and a handful of elite finishers. Not gonna work.

Great teams don't put themselves in a position where the refs matter. (I'm not saying that to trash the Wild; this is a pretty young team and a work in progress, and I still think they have a fighting chance in this series. That's just reality so far.)

I've never really followed that logic. Isn't the goal to win the game? You're not going to go out and dominate opponents every night no matter how good you are. You do what you have to do to win. The Wild did that, and then got robbed by the refs. I'm not sure how it's somehow okay just because they didn't play their best game of the year.

[karl(east)]

When you give up goals twice in the last minute of the game you have to fight for your life tonight instead of winning the series 4-1 like you should have...

Exactly. Yeah, the refs screwed up, and I was yelling at them as much as anyone as it happened. But they are not the reason the Wild lost. That would have a lot more to do with a team that dominated pretty much every aspect of play in Games 3 and 4 suddenly reverting to earlier form and playing an even territorial game with a team that has a better goalie, a deeper defense, and a handful of elite finishers. Not gonna work.

Great teams don't put themselves in a position where the refs matter. (I'm not saying that to trash the Wild; this is a pretty young team and a work in progress, and I still think they have a fighting chance in this series. That's just reality so far.)

I've never really followed that logic. Isn't the goal to win the game? You're not going to go out and dominate opponents every night no matter how good you are. You do what you have to do to win. The Wild did that, and then got robbed by the refs. I'm not sure how it's somehow okay just because they didn't play their best game of the year.

I didn't say I made it okay, and if the complaining gets the league to crack down on the refs in the future, I suppose it's served a purpose. But if you use that moment to write the narrative about your own team, it's defeatist, and fails to take responsibility. The refs were a huge part of the 3rd Colorado goal, sure. But they had nothing to do with the 4th. Even after that awful goal was scored, the Wild had every opportunity to win the game. They didn't.

Yes, the goal is to win the game, but if you muddle about for most of that game and play nowhere near your best, do you really have any right to blame the refs? Obviously no team is ever going to click at 100% every night, but there are definitely things you can do to minimize those moments, or to react quickly when you realize you're not doing well.

Sure, this does sometimes happen in a game where the losing team really does play near their very best--see the Hermantown-STA example given earlier--but the Hawks (who I'm going to guess had a very good PK that year, given the talent they had) still had every opportunity to kill that penalty. They didn't.

There is a real psychological point here: when teams start blaming factors beyond their control for their fate, things almost inevitably start to fall apart. I could go on with examples forever, both good and bad, from teams I both like and dislike. Being upset by referees is a distraction, and if you're fixating on the refs, your head probably isn't where it should be. If you instead say, "eh, it happens, back to work," then your odds aren't half bad. Obviously this doesn't matter as much for us fans as it does for the players, but I still think it's a healthier mindset, and one that is worth perpetuating. I'm not big into pulling "life lessons" out of sports, but I think there's a valuable one to be found here.

[urban iceman]

Looks like I got good feedback on this, but the point I was getting to was that I don't want the NHL going the route of the NBA in that the officiating is so subjective that it get's to be unwatchable until the last moments of the game, but by then the outcome seems already determined. DON'T RUIN HOCKEY TOO!!

[hockeyfan2150]

Here we go again crap refs can't see what is going on and making crap calls.

[MNHockeyFan]

Here we go again crap refs can't see what is going on and making crap calls.

I heard one of the announcers say tonight that in the NHL goalie interference is not reviewable. If it was reviewable Colorado's first goal would likely have been overturned. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this play WOULD have been reviewed (and overturned) in D1, where every questionable goal seems to be reviewed through video replay.