Is the fix in for the Pens?

Penguins have lived off these breaks since they made the playoffs.

I think the Red Wings have as well to an extent.

On the too many men call it looked like the back referee noticed but didn’t do anything…it almost looked like he was telling the last guy to get off the ice.

The Pens probably didn’t get the PS because Malkin already had his illegal breakaway shot during that game.

Given that at least one of the officials looked directly at the Pens player leaving the ice (and may in fact have said something to him about it before he did) you can’t say they just missed it. Either they justified it to themselves that the players were never a part of the play, or they flat out chose not to call it.

If it’s the first case, well that’s pretty generous given that it was 21 seconds. If it’s the second case then that’s a serious issue.

If none of them actually saw it then their competency has to come into question. It’s 21 seconds.

Clutch grab stuff, whatever. If you get away with blatant crosschecks/semi intent to injure/you instigate a violate clear, established rules that have had precedent set (Slashing a player during warm ups and starting a fight in the last five minutes, THAT is garbage. The clutch grab stuff is annoying, but when it’s not called, it looks like hockey. 80s/90s hockey, which was some awesome hockey, as I’m sure a Penguins fan would agree. But crosschecks/slashes, that shit needs to stop.

With the Zetterberg thing, which I think was penalty shot worthy BTW, the ref at least explained that in his view, Zetterberg rested his hand on the puck briefly then began an attempt to move it off of Osgood’s back. So there was subjectivity there.

Yeah, but why even be subjective if this “fix is in”, why not just award the penalty shot? :)

As JP says below, the whole disciplinary system is inconsistent from the suspension policies down the the rules enforcement…Sometimes you get pissed on, sometimes you get pissed off, pardon the language..

The problem there, JP, is that the awful officiating coupled with old rumors make such a rumor look plausible, and that’s the real problem. But you’re right. Fix the officiating and this sort of rumor doesn’t circulate.

Put another way, what in his entire tenure as Commissioner makes you think that Gary Bettman and his crew are capable of executing something like an office happy hour, much less the throwing a Cup Finals, successfully?

This.

The theory is that Sid = eyes outside of home markets and that the sooner Sid ascents to his throne on high, the better he is to sell the League nation-/continent-/worldwide. It’s not “Pittsburgh” so much as “Crosby” for whom the League would (allegedly) be in the tank.

While there is a certain logic to what you say, you’re focusing on the wrong numbers. You’re looking at expanding the number of fans. The league/Versus/NBC is looking at ratings. Pittsburgh and Detroit has to be a bonanza for that, because anyone who’s not at the game has nothing else to do. [And no apologies — not to be mean, but these are two cities with problems. Why does Pittsburgh travel so well? Because those people aren’t travelling, they don’t live in Pittsburgh any more. I have a friend who’s lived here for 28 years, and still roots for Pitt.] Washington maybe a better growth market, but it’s not yet a better television market.

Rec’d, not for the market analysis in the 2nd paragraph, but for the italicized “Pittsburgh” in the first. This is what I think whenever I hear these conspiracy theories. Of all the teams to choose to tilt the scales in favor of, why would the NHL choose Pittsburgh?

Detroit is a Hockey town. They have the lions, pistons and tigers. The pistons have been alright, the lions just went 0-16.

Pittsburgh, no matter what the sport is, has fans nationwide, it’s the nature of Pittsburgh. After the steel collapse, everyone scattered across the country. Working class families with working class back bones, they’re loyal to a T. It doesn’t hurt that during that time the teams were never really bad enough to drop them (except the Bucco’s).

Not to mention Crosby. After all the press they got early on that they shouldn’t have been banking on Crosby being the next savior they’re probably hoping for his magic to continue.

All of that said, it’s a stretch to think they’ve fixed things up to this point. The Pens weren’t even set to make the playoffs before the new coach came in and they were playing like it. ‘course Crosby didn’t get suspended for his fighting hijinx (double teaming a skater who was down and going below the belt as well as instigating a fight off the playoff circle)…It’s not a stretch to think some fan-ism by the refs have happened. They’ve called it…ok if not horribly inconsistent through out the playoffs. The real problem I have is the calls by Campbell after the fact. Why suspend Brash for 6 games if you’re not going to apply the same criteria for everyone? Why create gray areas? Man up and show some discipline if you’re not backing one team or another, or even one player over another.

I believe it’s aboslute horseshit, in the SC finals, to have game 1 and 2 back to back, then not force game 3 and 4 to be back to back.

There’s this thing called Competitive balance, and the more you schedule regular season games overseas, and make playoff schedules that are improperly balanced the more you remove that competitive balance and tip the scales to someone’s hand.

This. I doubt the NHL is competent enough to formulate, much less execute, a conspiracy such as this. But there is clearly favoritism involved, and though it has helped many teams the Pens seem to get it often on their own. Malkin gets away with a ton (slew foots, elbows), Crosby never gets called for his stick work, Gill interferes with anyone he pleases, Orpik seems to be able to do whatever he wants along the boards, crosschecking is legal for Kunitz, etc.

People can claim it balances out all they want, but it clearly doesn’t. Conspiracy is an over the top claim, its probably better just to say that the Pens have figured out what they need to do to get away with murder and the league has made no attempt to change the way it does things.

…ya know, one of the penalties a linesman can call is Too Many Men on the Ice.

Yes, there’s inconsistency, but given the conditions, what is the answer?

Hold officials accountable. Examine – publicly – their calls and non-calls. Make sure they’re calling the same game in the first and third periods in October and June. Make sure that different referees are enforcing rules similarly. And where there are disconnects, correct them or have consequences.

Referees can’t be healthy scratched or sent to the minors for sucking (though wouldn’t it be great if they could be called up and sent down to and from the AHL?), but they can be held accountable and their actions, reviews, etc. can be more transparent. You can easily find out who led the League in penalties, hooking minors, penalties per game, etc. – why not make it as easy to see who leads the League in penalties called, hooks called, penalties per game called, etc., so you can compare officials and start getting some damn consistency in the way games are called.

And for the love of Pete, put their names back on their sweaters.

It’s not impossible, but it’s difficult.

The rules need to be clarified and speed needs to be taken into account in the rules. Depending on the reading of the rules, those taps on the hips with the stick could be called slashes, the rule actually says: whether contact is made or not. I’ve never seen an aggressive chop of the stick called when no contact is made, and most of the time it’s only called when a stick breaks.

Rules need to be cleaned up, the stick bend rule, which is never called, should go. Other rules that are out dated should go.

Video replay should be utilized more, if only just with determining penalties around the goal. Give the coaches a challenge, especially on a penalty call or goal. There could be a couple off ice referees reviewing the play as it happens to speed the process.

It’s a tough job, but as TVs get better, it’s not going to get any easier

tell that to Colin Campbell.

should put a picture of the nba commish up there. but i agree with the majority of posts tha call shenanigans on the nhl even being able to orginize a fix

So you think giving the coaches 1 challenge of a call that can be utilized at a stoppage for a replay that won’t last more than 2 minutes will extend the game an hour?

I’m not saying that they should review every play, but video replay is here, we have hi-def, we have software that makes “cue-ing the tape” a piece of cake and they already claim to review goals in Toronto. The BS about doubling the time of a game is disingenuous.

I really think hockey needs to be delayed by 5 minutes for broadcast.

The uniqueness and compelling nature of a game that never stops on a small playing surface also means a lot of intense or incredible plays/moments are lost in cameras losing sight of the puck, bad angles, quick happenings that the viewing audience may not catch… When play eventually stops, the replay people have moments to pick the best (most recent) highlight before the puck is dropped again.

With a delay there’s the opportunity to pick the best angles, slow-mo’s, split-screen replays of whether a puck crossed the goal line…the possibilities are endless for upgrading the viewer experience.

(It potentially would also allow for league officials to see and correct mistakes or missed calls more easily)

There already exists a delay when there is a digital and non-digital version of a game on (particularly noticeable in the NCAA hoops tournament). Most of us care more about better quality viewing than worrying about which channel may be delayed more in viewing.

Replay should also only be used to clear up objective rules (i.e. puck over the line, net off the moorings, etc.) and not clearly subjective penalties (although “distinct kicking motion” may be pushing it). Even the NFL doesn’t allow replays to see whether or not there was a penalty on the play, those are judgment calls made by the refs at the moment and I don’t think the NHL should be having refs go back and look at replays to determine whether there really was interference or not. I have a feeling that the results of such a rule change would infuriate fans even more than the current piss-poor officiating.

Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis
When I was dead broke, man I couldn’t picture this