Officiating in the playoffs

[Huntingwhale]

I stand corrected. However the entire thing was 100% Crawford's fault and his team should have been penalized. The fact the Blues were short handed was ridiculous.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I stand corrected. However the entire thing was 100% Crawford's fault and his team should have been penalized. The fact the Blues were short handed was ridiculous.

Agreed. As the commentators said, if Crawford stays in his net the play goes up ice with no issue.

[MBates]

I've never done games at the speed of the NHL but I have done the Mac's Midget tournament, Senior Mens AAA (teams that compete for the Allan Cup and that have several former NHL and pro players) and some junior.

Based on that experience I can rather confidently say these guys have an incredibly difficult job especially with the amount of video review both officially during the game and in the mainstream and social media outside of the game.

I am not at all saying they should be excused for really bad calls...they should and do get supervised and critiqued regularly for their performance. That said, fans are not in the game at ice level so I put very little weight on the complaints of fans about officiating.

The NHL should put cameras on ref and linesmen's helmets for some pre-season games and then make a video of some controversial plays showing what the fans saw on the tv at home compared to what the official was able to see on the ice. Given that perspective I think most complainers would give a lot more benefit of doubt to the officials.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by MBates

I've never done games at the speed of the NHL but I have done the Mac's Midget tournament, Senior Mens AAA (teams that compete for the Allan Cup and that have several former NHL and pro players) and some junior.

Based on that experience I can rather confidently say these guys have an incredibly difficult job especially with the amount of video review both officially during the game and in the mainstream and social media outside of the game.

I am not at all saying they should be excused for really bad calls...they should and do get supervised and critiqued regularly for their performance. That said, fans are not in the game at ice level so I put very little weight on the complaints of fans about officiating.

The NHL should put cameras on ref and linesmen's helmets for some pre-season games and then make a video of some controversial plays showing what the fans saw on the tv at home compared to what the official was able to see on the ice. Given that perspective I think most complainers would give a lot more benefit of doubt to the officials.

Fair points.

It does make me wonder if the future of officiating isn't at the ice level. Obviously there are things that will always require on-ice officials for, but I think eventually technology should help alleviate human error. Right now, there seems to be resistance to it though.

[Benched]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I probably have an unpopular opinion, but I wish the regular season was called the way they call the playoffs.

I think the playoffs have the perfect amount of clutch & grab and they let just the right amount of rough stuff happen before intervening.

I'm the opposite. I wish they'd call the playoffs like they do the regular season.

Sad to see a team just squeak in and then suddenly they can clutch and grab and are a much better team. Or teams with great skill get interfered with and held up just 'cause it's the playoffs, and then they aren't as competitive.

Really not fair.


Things can be intense, hard hitting, fast and exciting without 'putting the whistles away'. If you're cheating, I don't care if it's the playoffs, call it. Only way to get people to stop.