Hello again, my friends. It has been nearly a year since I have posted here. For the last year, I have been almost completely uninterested in the Red Wings or anything to do with hockey and the NHL (I did however, attend a single home game thanks to getting some free tickets). I decided that enough was enough. The bogus and phantom calls, and Bettmans' favoritism toward Pittsburgh were enough to completely drive me away from anything NHL/hockey related. And I post this to you now, as I hear from my friends in real life and fellow posters of LGW, that the situation is largely unchanged. And so I ask...
Why?
Why is the topic of officiating in the NHL such a taboo? Why does the NHL not only refuse to acknowledge their mistakes, but refuse to fix them? Furthermore, why are the teams and their owners doing f*** all about the situation? Why, in this modern age, do we still officiate sports of this caliber, using the judgement of a couple morons ON THE ICE (where they clearly cannot see everything)? Why have we not even attempted to move toward a better system? The state of this is absolute trash. And I would think that it's bad for the NHL in general. What is some new potential fan going to think when he sees a player for his team get tripped up and no call is made? They're going to call it bulls***. And it is, in fact, bulls***. How many times has Holmstrom been called for goaltender interference when it is clearly not?
Call it part of the game. Say that it cannot be changed. I'll say that's bulls***. There's already a war room in Toronto. Get rid of the rule enforcing referees who can only be watching one direction at a time, and replace them with people whose sole job is to drop the puck and break up fights. Staff up the war room with people who can watch the game from many different angles at a time. Have a button in the war room that signals a whistle / immediate stoppage immediately. And for god sakes, get rid of goals being waived off or bogus penalties by people who can't even see the whole game at once or review it themselves in slow motion.
When will something finally be done about the state of the officiating? When will teams and their GMs finally speak out against the NHL? I hope it's soon, because I'd really like to enjoy some hockey again.
