A player shoots the puck; the goalie fails to keep the puck from crossing the goal line. The referee blows the whistle after the puck is across the goal line. This has been the definition of a goal in a hockey game for over a century. When did we start getting this one wrong?
I, along with all the fans at the Joe knew it was in. Dallas knew it was in. The fans in Dallas knew it was in. All of the Red Wings fans watching the game on TV knew it was in. Ken and Mick and even Larry knew it was in. Anyone watching Ken and Mick and Larry on the center ice package knew that it was in. Anyone logged on to NHL.com who was watching the game on their computer knew it was in. The people in the War Room in Toronto knew it was in. Even Gary, sitting atop his ivory tower ran down to the basement where Sidney has been living and told him that was a goal. But Dennis LaRue said it wasn’t, and thus…the goal doesn’t count.
That’s one person…out of thousands and thousands of people who knew it was a goal. One man said it wasn’t and thus it wasn’t. “The whistle had gone to blow the play dead.” Yes, we understand that, Dennis. That is what happens when a goal is scored, When you blew the whistle and skated over to the net with Abdelkader pointing and yelling, “It’s in! It’s in!” you must have noticed that the puck was completely over the line. When you got the call from Toronto, Dennis, they told you that the puck was over the line.
“What was the call on the ice?” Toronto says.
“I blew the play dead because I thought the puck was covered by the goalie,” Dennis replies.
“Well it was covered, behind the goal line.”
“Well I didn’t think it was.”
Therefore, it isn’t a goal? About 2.5-3 seconds after the puck had crossed the line, Mr. LeRue pulled out his whistle and blew it. Why do we even have instant replay? Seriously. If we can’t fix a monumental mistake such as that, we should just get rid of the entire instant replay system and revert back to the Bud Selig ways of Major League Baseball. You have a chance to right a wrong and the rules are set up in such a way that they prevent the right call from being made.
Let me say that again in a different way: the rules are set up so that mistakes can be made and that corrective actions simply cannot be taken.
That, my friends, is a flawed system. Oh and of course, this happens days after the GM meetings conclude…perfect.
Instant replay was instituted so that human errors could be corrected in an attempt to make sure that the game is fair as possible and the correct team wins. Well, that system broke down last night…again. The people on the NHL Network say “They get it right 99.9% of the time, and this time they got it wrong.” Sound familiar? It should, it’s the same B.S. argument we heard during Game 3 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals last season where Brad Watson “intended to blow the whistle” cancelling out a game-tying goal that went in before he could muster any air out of his pie hole. This was less than 30 games ago. Still want to think that they’re right 99.9% of the time? Those are two games (one of them a play-off game) that have been swayed by a wrong call that was not corrected.
Are we going to see an apology? Don’t make me laugh. We are going to get the same story we got when Brad Watson singlehandedly robbed us of a chance to get out of that Anaheim series a game earlier. The league will back the officials to the bitter end, no matter how badly he blew the call.
And he blew this one big time.
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i was watching FS Dallas because little gary's network was blacked out in my area and even the stars announcers were stunned at the BS. (though the bastards thought it was pretty funny)
ReplyDeletetoo many refs seem to want the game to be about them. i have not seen many people go to hockey games in their favorite referee jersey...
also, i think i would rather see games last an extra hour if it meant getting every call right. review everything. guys high-sticking their own teammates, diving, intent to blow and now this...
They need to record these phone calls with the Toronto "war room" I really want to hear what they talked about.
ReplyDeleteI bet if one of the Wings would have done some celebrating a few second sooner LaRue would have called it a goal.
I understand the ruling they used but I don't understand how there is anyway in hell that this ruling could possibly be used in this situation.
ReplyDeleteThis "no-goal" bothers me, BUT it wont bother me as much as WHEN the call goes the other way, and they count the same type of play as a goal against the Wings. And you know it WILL happen.
Also, how do we know it was Toronto on the phone with the ref. I bet it was Bettman telling LaRue "good call" and giving him a raise.
anyone else reminded of the goal stevie y scored against colorado in game 5 of the 2002 conference finals? he shoots the puck and only he and roy knew it was in. he started screaming that it was in, the ref skated up to the net, looked and signaled it was a goal.
ReplyDeletethat's how it needs to be if they refuse to make everything reviewable.
I'd love to know why the goal judge didn't flip the red light on behind the net. Did he not see that the puck was in? This would have been a catalyst in Detroit celebrating the goal which may have impacted the referees mindset. Also...it is absolutely ridiculous that we're even talking about this. A goal is a goal and should be thus, no matter what the ref was thinking at the time it was scored.
ReplyDeletei thought i heard they don't have judges behind the goal now. is that true?
ReplyDeleteThere's still a goal judge, he doesn't sit right behind the net where the goal light is. Instead they moved him up to like suite level I think and he sits on an angle to the goal. Depending on which side he faces probably played a factor in not switching on the light. If he was over Auld's right shoulder as I was, then there is no excuse.
ReplyDeleteIt is the responsibility of the Ref making the call to make sure he gets the call right in the end. Ok. Fine. You didn't see the puck in the net and you blew the whistle and called the play dead. It happens all the time. It goes to review and you find out that you made a mistake. Change your call. It's your JOB to make the right call.
ReplyDeleteDo we think the same call would have been made if this were the Stanley Cup Finals, Game 7, score 2-1? I know it happened similar to this against Anaheim but it wasn't AS obvious. This was an obvious goal. There is no way you can dispute it.
The judges in Toronto should have the ability to overturn a call like this when it's that badly made or when the Ref for whatever reason refuses to admit that he made a mistake.
And we know this is not quite the same scenario as Anaheim. If it were, it would have gotten more press than this is getting now. I saw this video this morning because I don't get the NHL Network with my Center Ice Package. As soon as I went to nhl.com I saw a post about it. This afternoon I saw another post. It was a horrible call and I hope a good rule change comes in to prevent stuff like this from happening again.
At least we have plenty of other hockey fans backing us up that the ref made a disgusting call. And the few Dallas fans that had comments about this happening would have been just as disgusted if it happened to them. Nobody wants to see their team win a game like this. Yeah a win is a win but it doesn't have the same meaning.