Category: Wings-Penguins, Stanley Cup Finals
Posted by John Niyo (The Detroit News) on Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 1:06 PMThoughts on the refereeing
Yes, the Wings have spoken with supervisor Mike Murphy, the NHL's senior VP of hockey operations, about some of the questionable calls, including both of those goalie interference whistles in Game 5. No, there's been no official mea culpa from the league, and there won't be at this stage of the game. No surprise there.
But here's my take, restated: The interference call on Dan Cleary was a joke. You could make a case for the call on Zetterberg, but I don't think it's a terribly strong one. When an attacker drives the net with the puck on his stick, you can't call that interference.
Just the same, however, the hooking call they made on Petr Sykora late in the second OT was borderline as well. It met the standard, but sure had the look of a makeup call.
That's the problem I've had with the officiating in the playoffs: The refs are so concerned with getting reviewed and rated and second-guessed, they're not calling the game they see. They're calling the game they think we're seeing.
The tripping call Dan O'Halloran made on Pavel Datsyuk in the first period of Game 5 was perfect example. If you watch the replay, O'Halloran's getting into position behind the net and appears to miss the beginning of the contact up along the boards. He saw the Penguins player fall, so he raised his arm. It's a phantom call. And we've seen too many of those lately.
As for O'Halloran, I was surprised he made the final four. He's generally a good ref -- and these guys have one of the toughest jobs in sports -- but not one of the four best in the NHL. I wrote that before the series started, especially after watching him and Kelly Sutherland struggle in the Western Conference finals. Sutherland didn't make the cut, O'Halloran did. Why isn't a guy like Dan Marouelli here for the Finals?
