Atrocious officiating

Not trying to be a homer here, but, my gosh, shouldn't the NHL be embarrassed with the way Michael McGeough and Dave Jackson officiated Game 4? For two periods they called, in my mind, a series of penalties for inconsequential plays, most of which went against Tampa Bay. The call on Jason Ward that led to Brian Gionta's first goal should never have been made. Ward said under the strict interpretation it wa a penalty but doesn't an act have to have an effect on a play before it is called? And putting the Lightning two men down at the end of the second period when Lecavalier barely touched the man he was accused of hooking shows a lack of understanding about the ebbs and flows of a game. And just to be even-handed, Patrik Elias shouldn't be called for interference when he is checking an opponent who has the puck.

Yeah, it's tough to be an NHL referee and it's easy for me to talk having a better view from up high. Doesn't matter. That is their job. And it is the playoffs when games should be officiated at the highest level.

And one other thing, if you're going to call the small stuff in the first period, keep calling it throughout.Let's not have one standard early and another late. Isn't that what the league was trying to avoid?

All in all a poor effort, I thought. The NHL must strive to do better.

 

Comments

[Fred]

With a PP as bad as ours it may be better to skate 5 on 5 anyways.

[Lisa]

I was at the game, and the officiating was horrible. Even worse, whenver the lightning scored, the officials hung their heads down, their positions mimicing Brodeur's. Whenever the Devils scored, I thought I would see them pumping their fists. They either have a major bias against the Lightning or they were paid off.

[Nan]

Hey Tim, well said! And if in fact the referees do officiate better on national TV - I believe you are correct on this, then the Bolts may get a fair shake on Sunday. The Bolts sure have had their share of bad calls. The team can't say anything about it because they will look like whiners and the NHL wouldn't do anything about it anyway! May our guys persevere through the bad calls and come out the other side victorious!

[Tim]

Until the league starts policing these little zebra striped morons with suspensions with no pay for their atrocious game changing calls nothing is going change.

There wouldn't have been as much controversy as there has been for the past two years if the refs would have had to answer to and the league for their controversial calls and cowardly conduct. Every time someone brings officiating up, the league sticks its head into the ground like an ostrich.

Sports writers should pull the commissioners punk card every chance they get on this matter. They should write down every bad call and every controversy they perpetrate. Whenever you sports writers get any face time with one of these league stooges you should shove it right in their face.

For as much money as an NHL official makes, there is no excuse for the lack of integrity these doofusses exhibit on the ice on a nightly basis.

Damian, I think you are doing a good thing for bringing this topic up.
Fans pay too much money to see great hockey players. What they don't pay for is some turd with an attitude destroy their game.

Tampa Bay has had its share of officiating doofusses control their destiny this year. If it wasn't for the horrendous officiating I venture to say that the Bolt's record would have been somewhere near Pittsburgh's, who got allot of game changing call go their way. Tampa is one of the least penalized teams in the league, but when it comes to game changing or momentum changing calls, I bet Tampa ranks right up there.

I haven't watched a single Tampa Bay game this year where there hasn't been a hand full of bad calls. Who can forget the Ref jumping out to block an empty net goal by Brad Richards earlier this season against Washington, after an atrocious 5 on 3 that turned into a 6 on 3 that the Bolts didn't deserve.

The league needs to do something soon or else they will loose their integrity and once you loose that, you loose everything that's worth anything.

It's also my observation that whenever Tampa Bay is on a nationally televised game the officiating seems to be better than when it is not. Conspiracy maybe, maybe not, but its all too coincidental it seems.

[Phantom]

Mick McGeough used to call a decent game. He has had a bone against the Bolts for a while now.
Help my spotty memory here, wasn't his brother the coach of the St. Pete Renegades? They moved to Richmond, Va and I don't know if lil bro ever got a fair shake in coaching the game starting with the Bay area experience.
W.G.A.S., right?
Don Koharski is kind to us, for now, but the rest are an abomination.

It's the playoffs, p*** off and let 'em play.

I think something drastic needs to be done. It's not only a disgrace,all teams deserve fairness and consistency. Where any of you at the Senator game Neil should be thrown out of the league for the hits that always happen after play is stopped. Too many players are getting hurt and the officials let it all go. If the players started filing personal injury suits against the officials it would stop. No I'm not an attorney.

Well personally I think that the refs were paid off by the Devils. I mean seriously, I've seen bad games called all year. But this game was taking it to a completely different level.

[Nan]

If those are the best officials that the NHL can offer to referee playoff games, they got problems. Why don't they just grab someone off the street who can also skate and have them officiate? Maybe they would do a better job! If they are going to make lousy calls make them equal on both sides. But this is the playoffs, the players on both teams deserve the right and the respect from the officials to handle it themselves out there. Only the very obvious calls should be made. Just let them skate and may the best team win on their own terms and not on the official's!