Neil bumped to 4th line... and other Sens news

PKC wrote:Just the one ref? Hahaha...Tim Donaghy has written a book ousting almost the entire officiating ranks in the NBA for being complacent with throwing bets. You can read excerpts of the book online and see some truly scary Dung.

Even worse. I don't follow B-Ball, but I knew of that one nerd who threw a game. Maybe there should be a quick and tidy investigation into the reffing this year. Not just us, most teams and fans appear to be questioning it.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm not sure we're "taking" those penalties as much as the refs are handing them out to us.

Clouston was right about "opportunities" for calls on opponents were being missed. The fact that he spoke up about it only defeats the purpose. You can bet the Leaf-loving refs are going to stick it to us twice as much since he had the nerve to say something.

It's both I think. We're doing things that warrant penalties, but the idiot refs seem to conveniently miss when the other team does the exact same thing. It's really getting annoying to be perfectly honest. Call us, by all means, if we're guilty, call the penalty, but don't sit there and 'miss' all the same calls for the other team. That means we're gonna need to check your bank accounts - soon. The NBA had one ref that was proven to be throwing games - and if that isn't enough to begin some serious pondering in the NHL, I'm not sure what is.

It's been bloody horrendous this year. Horrendous.

Here's the problem: This isn't about the refs. It isn't new. The refs are just a little more blatant than they used to be and fans are finally starting to catch on.

This goes all the way to Bettman---what a name for this discussion, huh? But in reality its not individual game bets that matter. It's the whole season. Fans forget that this is a multi-billion dollar business. Gary Bettman doesn't. Is it a coincidence that we're in a recessionary year and we just happen to be witnessing the most questionable reffing in recent memory? Is it a coincidence that they missed a call on Gretzky just as the league was trying to expand throughout the US west coast? Is it coincidence that Anaheim was given the green light on the dirtiest play in history for an entire season, and after winning it all, it stopped?

Believing in the spirit of the game is all well and good, but believing in the bottom line is just realistic. This is a money game and Bettman doesn't place bets he knows he can't win. That's why Phoenix will stay where it is.
The fortunate part for us is that his strategy might just end up working, at which point we can get back to some evenly called games.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm not sure we're "taking" those penalties as much as the refs are handing them out to us.

Clouston was right about "opportunities" for calls on opponents were being missed. The fact that he spoke up about it only defeats the purpose. You can bet the Leaf-loving refs are going to stick it to us twice as much since he had the nerve to say something.

It's both I think. We're doing things that warrant penalties, but the idiot refs seem to conveniently miss when the other team does the exact same thing. It's really getting annoying to be perfectly honest. Call us, by all means, if we're guilty, call the penalty, but don't sit there and 'miss' all the same calls for the other team. That means we're gonna need to check your bank accounts - soon. The NBA had one ref that was proven to be throwing games - and if that isn't enough to begin some serious pondering in the NHL, I'm not sure what is.

It's been bloody horrendous this year. Horrendous.

I believe the term horra-awful covers that. Horrible and awful at the same time. Heh heh.

Kudos to Shaq for that one.

MurderOnIce wrote:

marakh wrote:

MurderOnIce wrote:I really think the last thing we need right now is less of what Neil brings. We need to be banging bodies and throwing other teams off their game.

After what he did in the last game, this feels totally ok to me. Ruutu and Neil for 10 min each in the 3rd period is unacceptable.

I am not sure that you can blame either for those calls. Neil brushed by Clarkson (who I normally like) and he went down like he was shot. Poorly acted but accepted by the refs. And then Ruutu got 10 for allegedly sticking his fingers in that douche bag Peters mouth. I am sorry but those are bad calls all around.

If you look back to the Tampa game... Neil's hit on Hedman was a real momentum builder (and clean). Why would you want to lose that? And Ruutu has the most points per minute of any player on the club, plus he is killing penalties for half of his shifts.

Ruutu just got 10 min(I was ok with it), then you get a penalty for delay of game, and 3 seconds later you pull that Dung? The Hedman hit was fabulous, doesn't mean you can make stupid plays to even the situation

http://www.silversevensens.com/2009/11/8/1121572/senators-penalty-woes-continue

Quick summary: Neil has taken 10 minors to lead the team; Alfie (with all the extra ice time) has taken 1. Neil has also drawn something like 5 (but those numbers may be a little stale*).

In any case, Patrick Kaleta has taken 1 minor penalty and drawn 13. He probably leads the league in that respect, but Ruutu has taken 8 minors and drawn 3 (again, the "drawn" numbers may be stale).

So, yes, I would like a little less of some things from our guys.

*http://www.behindthenet.ca/2009/5_on_5_pens.php?sort=8&mingp=5&mintoi=5&team=OTT&pos=
The above site tracks stats like penalties drawn. Their numbers show Neil with 7 penalties taken, which is out of line wiht SilverSevenSens' blog, so the numbers may be a game or 2 behind.