Here's the situation: Tampa Bay and Colorado skate to a 1-1 tie through regulation and overtime, leading to a shootout. The first three attempts result in no goals, setting the stage for Colorado's Milan Hejduk to take on Lightning goalie Mike Smith.
As you can see in the video above, Smith makes the save on Hejduk, only to have the officials huddle up and award a goal to Hejduk -- the game-winning goal, as it turns out -- because Smith "threw his stick."
Seriously? Are we watching the same video?
Judging by the replay shown, it appears that the stick comes out of Smith's hand after he makes the save, and even so, it doesn't appear as if he's "throwing" the stick at Hejduk or the puck.
Here's what rule 26.4 in the NHL rulebook states: 26.4 Infractions – During the Course of a Penalty Shot - A goal will be awarded when a goalkeeper attempts to stop a penalty shot by throwing his stick or any other object at the player taking the shot or by deliberately dislodging the goal.
Did any of that happen during this series of events? Uh. No. Normally, I tend to shy away from blaming refs for a team's loss -- I hate it when people do that -- mainly because there's probably an event earlier in the game that you failed to capitalize on, which also led to your defeat. But, man, what an absurd call.
Is this the only reason Tampa Bay lost? No. Of course not. The Lightning scored one goal. You're not winning with one goal on a consistent basis, but that doesn't change the fact Tim Peel and Brian Pochmara wet the bed with that call.
Obviously, as you can see in the video, Tampa Bay head coach Rick Tocchet was livid -- and for good reason, that call sucked -- banging a stick on the boards, looking like he wanted to eat the referee standing in front of him, while Smith offered up his frustration following the game.
"I know it's a quick game and things happen fast, but there's four refs on the ice, not one," Smith said. "They have the angles covered. I made the save and then I had to drop the stick because my stick was going to come up in the air. You can't make that call at that point in the game. The save was already made. "I guess if you're winning, if you're up in the standings, those calls seem to go your way."Mike Murphy, who happens to be the NHL's senior vice president of hockey operations -- translation: some guy in a suit -- cited rule 24.6 as the reasoning behind the call, and admitted that he told Peel and Pochmara not to speak to anybody after the game because, "I don't think any good can come from it."
Awesome.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-19-2008 @ 10:23PM
Kyle said...
Unbeleivable. How much do you think Barry paid the ref's to call this one? For the Lightning to play as good as they did last night, and how this is by far the must struggling season they hae ever had, for the ref's to make a call like that is absolutely bull.
Hope the sex was good Barry Melrose, Tim Peel, and Brian Pochmara; congrats, you got your way.
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12-19-2008 @ 10:23PM
Kyle said...
And did you hear what the head coach of the Av's had to say?
"It was a gutsy call, but it was the right one."
Yeah lets see you repeat that sentence when your put in that situation.
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12-20-2008 @ 1:03PM
Scott said...
The goalie obviously threw his stick, whether on purpose or not. It's not reviewable and was indeed a judgement call. I saw it different. From the actual replays on a big screen, it looks like the puck may have hit his stick as it left his hand. Avs would have won the shootout anyway so get over it.
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12-20-2008 @ 10:26PM
Kyle said...
So what your saying is that because the Lightning arent good at the shootout it gave the ref's the right to call that bull**** of a call? Your an idiot.
If he didn't drop his stick he would have hit Hejduk in the face with it when he moved his glove over to make the save. Dropping is much different than throwing; especially when its dropped AFTER the save is made. You would think with four ref's on the ice they would have seen that.
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12-20-2008 @ 10:31PM
Kyle said...
So what your saying is that because the Lightning arent good at the shootout it gave the ref's the right to call that bull**** of a call? Your an idiot.
If he didn't drop his stick he would have hit Hejduk in the face with it when he moved his glove over to make the save. Dropping is much different than throwing; especially when its dropped AFTER the save is made. You would think with four ref's on the ice they would have seen that.
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12-21-2008 @ 11:18PM
thomas said...
the stick was out before the save
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12-22-2008 @ 3:34PM
Debby said...
He lost his balance and lost his stick. He did not throw his stick. Bad call.
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12-25-2008 @ 6:22PM
JERRY said...
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I GAVE UP BEING A HOCKEY FAN. WHILE OFFICIATING IS BAD IN MOST SPORTS, IT TOTALLY IS THE WORST IN HOCKEY. EVERY PLAY SHOULD BE REVIEWABLE.
THE PLAYERS SHOULD DETERMINE THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME, NOT A BLOWN CALL BY THE REFS.
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