Strange calls last night in the NHL?

Question

I am not whining about officiating and I hate when people do. Last night though, I saw 2 of the strangest calls I have seen in some time.
The one I mentioned in an earlier post of a fight between Laraque and Chara where they both got 2 minutes for delay of game.
Then later in the evening, there was a bit of a brawl between Phx and SJ and everyone was kind of going nuts, Bernier punching while he still had his stick in his hand, Carcillo and Roenick going at it, then Carcillo skates away from Roenick and is the 3rd man in on Bernier, Roenick goes over and hauls him off of him and in the process, Carcillo's knee bent awkwardly. I know Roenick was not an aggressor, but he was scrapping and by the end, he was just playing mediator but he was still involved, yet he GOT NOTHING and Phx got the extra 5 for fighting. Even Roenick seemed shocked while on the bench that he was not in the box.
Therefore, they missed out on alot of fighting major calls last night.

BTW, I am not whining and could care less about the outcome of these games, I just found it.........weird.

LITY, if you say these incidents, give me your take, Zam and Lubers as well.

LITY- Worst part was it was Roenick who scored on the following PP. LOL

I keep the Q open, if you see them, chime in your thoughts.

Listen, normally I don't think the refs do THAT BAD of a job, some calls are going to be cheesey and some are going to be missed, they are human, it has always been part of the game and always will be, I am just commenting on how it was strange calls. The Chara and Laraque one didn't even give one team or the other an advantage, I just found it odd that they didn't get 5 minutes each.

TB- Many teams complain as a strategy as well, to try to gain an advantage for the next call. Gretzky does it CONSTANTLY even when he knows it was a legit penalty, he let's the refs have it so they think twice next time around. Just last night, he lost it because HIS player broke his stick over an opposing player and got whistled for it. He knew it was the right call but he acted out to gain favour.

2U2- Nothing strange about that call.

JK- I agree, every year we hear the same. I am not saying they should be crutches, you get some for and some against, I hate the excuses. I just bring them up from the "oddity" standpoint.

Laying Low-they squared off, punches were thrown (didn't land) and they fell down on each other. Sure looked like a fight to me to spite there being no connected blows. Seemed as though the ref was attempting to embarrass them.

Answer 1

Bob, sorry, I started to answer this in the morning and the wife cornered me into silly and unnecessary things such as my holiday haircut and shopping prior to my high school double tonight. Needless to say I was not real happy about the track my day took.

I have not seen the Laraque/Chara incident yet. I will say that we have been told at some of the higher levels I work to call delay of game if you have players who are trash talking/face rubbing but never really getting into it. If we have to call a second set of delay penalties, they get misconducts to go along with it. You describe it as a fight so I am not really sure what to say. If you can find a clip post the link, I didn't have any luck. Everyone is so enthralled with Crosby's night last night that you are hard pressed to find a highlight of that game not involving him.

I did see the San Jose/Phoenix scrap. I think the referees just flat out missed Roenick and Carcillo in their initial altercation. Roenick was flat out throwing when everyone paired off. Missing that call is something that just shouldn't happen with 4 officials on the ice any longer.

I was surprised with Carcillo leaving that fight to get into the other one. That alone should have given the Sharks some sort of power play, but Carcillo and Roenick should have gotten 5 each for fighting. Then Carcillo should have received the extra penalties for involving himself in the other altercation. I almost wonder if having played with Roenick for 18 games last year he didn't want to fight the guy.

I think the officials from the SJ/PHO game will be getting a call from Stephen Walkom today asking similar questions to these.

TBL: The league receives complaints from every team, every season. This season is no different than any in the past when it comes to officiating. They have really revamped the officiating system over the last few years and will continue to do so. The officials travel with laptops and receive regular emails highlighting different situations pertaining to their games along with others that took place in other games around the league. They have turned over a considerable number of officials as well. Missed calls and phantom calls are part of the game. They can and will try to reduce them but there is still that humanity factor that gets in the way. The game appears about 10X slower on the television than it does on the ice.

Answer 2

Its one thing when the bad calls are directed to both teams...its totally different when the calls are one sided. I've seen it happen many times during the past couple of seasons. The scariest part though is not just the bad or missed call...its the other team scoring on the powerplay they shouldn't of had. An example of this was during the Minnesota-Rangers game yesterday. If anyone saw the game, Burns hit Prucha hard into the boards with an elbow to the face. Prucha was hurt on the play and Burns (for some reason) did not get a penalty. The Rangers got a penalty though for arguing the call. And not only that, but the Wild scored on the powerplay after all that happened. Then there was Chris Drury who was cross-checked and nothing was called. He got a penalty for arguing the missed call. Oh, and guess what?...The Wild scored on the powerplay while Drury was in the box. Thats just one example of a really poorly-officiated game. There are many others...it happens all the time, no reason to be surprised.

Answer 3

Strange. Oh well. My take on bad calls is that it's just another bad break in the game.

You could say that Roenick didn't deserve that goal, and you'd probably be right. But at the same time somebody hits the inside of the post and missed a goal by 1/8 of an inch. You could just as easily say that that team got screwed, but you don't hear about the injustice of the situation.

Bad calls are a part of the game just like any kind of luck luck is a part of the game. Would I like to see better officiating? Of course! Do I support replay? Yes. Get the calls right as often as you can. I am not making an excuse for terrible officiating. But it should not be used as an excuse for your team losing.

Another pet peeve of mine is when people say that "the officiating has been horrible this year!! Some of the worst ever!"

1) Every year in every sport, there are fans saying that the officiating has been atrocious and that they need to do something about this atrocity. It's been this way for the 15 years I have been following sports. Every year has been the worst officiated year in the history of sports. And every team has the refs biased against them.

2) I'd like to see you do a better job.

But yeah, those do sound like odd calls.

Answer 4

Bob,I did not see these incidents, but from my understanding, the Laraque-Chara fight wasn't a fight at all, even though they squared off. I guess the ref felt if they weren't going to trade blows, then they were wasting time, hence delay of game. While some fighting callls get missed, I think that the league needs to address these ridiculous "touch" calls that are resulting in way too many penalty shots. I remember you could drag guy down from behind, shove your stick up his "you know what", and maybe a minor penalty for tripping would be called, let alone a penalty shot. Also, there is too much inconsistency among the refs themselves. One will call everything one night, and nothing the next. It would be easier for everyone if at least that much could be accomplished.

Answer 5

We are moving towards the perfect balance. Cdn's proposal is good except that the removal of 2 games from the schedule means a lot of money to the owners. To some teams it wouldn't matter nobody goes to the games anyway but to a team on the edge of financial balance it could be disastrous. Who's proposal has a major drawback on schedule evaluation. Since intra conference and inter conference games would be equal a team in a weak division will have an unfair advantage over a team from a strong division. Say for example if Carolina and Philadelphia had the same number of points but only one was going to make the final eight how would you decide? Two games head to head wouldn't out way 16 games against stronger teams. Just a thought.

Answer 6

Bob-I didn't see it but maybe with Roenick because he was mediating he didn't get the 5.It sounds like he should of at least gotten 2 minutes.Probably nothing more embarrasing than dropping the gloves and only getting 2 minutes for delay.I wonder did Laraque make up for it by the end of the game with a fight?

Answer 7

Officiating is a problem that MUST be addressed by the start of next season. I might venture to say it's a bigger problem than suspensions at this point, because it effects ENTIRE teams.

These referees have been an absolute joke this year, more so than any year. They focus on calling one penalty, and in the process completely FORGET about calling other penalties.

Teams either get a pair of ref's that will call EVERYTHING, or they will have a pair in which the player will have to be raped for an arm to be raised.

All thirty NHL teams have complained about the refs so far this season, so the argument that it's a small group of fans complaining is wrong.

Most of these guys belong in some rec league, not the National Hockey League.

BOB - I believe they do.

Answer 8

I have seen some weird calls myself. For example Dominic Hasek when he skated out against an on coming break away sliding under the player playing the puck and there by tripping the player. Dominic got 2 minutes for tripping???? I believe this was against the Predators 11/22/07. Fantastic play, weird call.

Answer 9

I have not seen them.................but one of Roenick's goals when entering the NHL was to get into 100 fights in his career. I think he's still a few short.

Thanks Bob, I'll be home at 8ish, I'll see what I can see. It sounds 'interesting'

Answer 10

Ya...even as a sharks fan i think that roenick should have been in the box.....im not complaining though....he got us that extra point........