GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Florida Panthers - 7:30pm ET - Wed. Oct. 28th, 2009

PKC wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I'm glad that game is done. The next penalty that was called, I was gonna lose it for sure.

You think that was bad? The officiating at the Raptors home opener almost sparked a riot bigger than the LA race one.

It was genuinely disturbing how lopsided the officiating in that game was in the second half...I don't believe in conspiracies, but it was clear something was going on.

The league should review refs every month. Some of them suck - and as we know, some of them in basketball cheat (and got caught).

SpezDispenser wrote:

PKC wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I'm glad that game is done. The next penalty that was called, I was gonna lose it for sure.

You think that was bad? The officiating at the Raptors home opener almost sparked a riot bigger than the LA race one.

It was genuinely disturbing how lopsided the officiating in that game was in the second half...I don't believe in conspiracies, but it was clear something was going on.

The league should review refs every month. Some of them suck - and as we know, some of them in basketball cheat (and got caught).

Players are allowed slow starts. Are refs?

asq2 wrote:

Players are allowed slow starts. Are refs?

Perhaps to a degree. I wouldn't want to see another boneheaded performance like that tonight though if I was Director of Officiating (Van Helliman?)

FYI, it's Terry Gregson who's the Director of Officiating. He took over last month from Stephen Walkom.

N4L wrote:The broadcast was BRUTAL. That was literally the worst I have ever heard. The only way it could have been worse if it was in black and white with the anouncers speaking Spanish.

Have you tried watching it in Punjabi? If you're on Rogers they sometimes have that on one of the CBC channels. It's not B&W but still.

Well, the reffing was awful. I don't care how many of those 7 minors we deserved, by the sounds of it only 6, but even when the count was something like 5-1 -- a perfect opportunity for an even-up call, don't you think? -- Spezza is mauled trying to enter the zone. Hooking, holding, you name it. No call. And it went on and on like that all night. Horrible, and it's a trend.

The Sens have one of the worst PPs in the league and teams know that, so they take advantage by being overly aggressive, lifting that stick a little higher and so on. You would surely *expect* the Sens to be in the top half in terms of penalties drawn per game. Instead they have the 4th-lowest average of powerplay opportunities per game.

On the flip side, they are tied for 2nd in the league with Anaheim for most PIM's handed out per game. Ana-freakin-heim! And they are tied for the league lead with Carolina (the overall PIM/game leader) in misconducts. That's probably a pretty good indicator of what the refs think of you.

The Sens have never been a "truculent" team. They've always relied on skill over pugnaciousness. So why this discrepancy?

Alfie may have had 2 points, but so did Fish. He did half the work on Alfie's goal by separating the player from the puck with a great hit against the boards.

Spezza must be suffering from the flu. He was horrible on the face offs. Worse even than Kelly. He was still effective, but not nearly as much so as the last couple of games.

SpezDispenser wrote:

asq2 wrote:

Players are allowed slow starts. Are refs?

Perhaps to a degree. I wouldn't want to see another boneheaded performance like that tonight though if I was Director of Officiating (Van Helliman?)

But to the point where they were blatantly calling the game in favor of the Cavaliers, where just in two calls there was a seven point swing for Cleveland?

That charge that Bosh was trying to draw and the foul they called on Jarret Jack while Gibson was shooting the three were absolutely the most ridiculous calls I've ever seen.

I swear to God, they actually waited to see if Gibson's shot went in before they blew the whistle, and even on the replay, Jack may have glanced Gibson's hand in the slightest way. So slightly actually that you have to watch the replay and strain to see where he touched his hand.

I don't usually condone witch-hunting referees and blaming them for the outcome of a game, but if the fans at the ACC would have started peppering them with bottles and such, I might have been slightly satisfied in a perverse way.

wprager wrote:

N4L wrote:The broadcast was BRUTAL. That was literally the worst I have ever heard. The only way it could have been worse if it was in black and white with the anouncers speaking Spanish.

Have you tried watching it in Punjabi? If you're on Rogers they sometimes have that on one of the CBC channels. It's not B&W but still.

I have seen the channel there on Bell, but never attempted to watch it, would be interesting if I could understand it to see what their take is on how bad the Leafs stink, since they only seem to broadcast their games.

wprager wrote:Well, the reffing was awful. I don't care how many of those 7 minors we deserved, by the sounds of it only 6, but even when the count was something like 5-1 -- a perfect opportunity for an even-up call, don't you think? -- Spezza is mauled trying to enter the zone. Hooking, holding, you name it. No call. And it went on and on like that all night. Horrible, and it's a trend.

Ever since the "new" NHL the refs have been told not to provide teams with even up calls. The problem is refs seem to deliberately call games one sided as to appear as though there not trying to make the number of calls approximately even for each side. I say just be fair. If the calls legitimately turn out to be 5 a piece then so be it. If they're lopsided fine but make it fair.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

Ever since the "new" NHL the refs have been told not to provide teams with even up calls....

If refs called games according to the rulebook of the "old" NHL there would have never been a need for a "new" NHL.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

Ever since the "new" NHL the refs have been told not to provide teams with even up calls....

If refs called games according to the rulebook of the "old" NHL there would have never been a need for a "new" NHL.

They still don't call the game according to the rule book. Below the hash marks has one set of rules to allow for the "battle" of the game to continue. tapping a guy on his waste with a stick is called but smearing his face into the glass is just a good hockey play or banging his back with your stick behind the net is just a good "battle" for the puck.

I never played the game in any organized fashion so maybe I see the game differently than others on this site but, as far as I'm concerned the game should be called according to the rules no matter where you are on the ice. It also shouldn't matter if it's the last 30 seconds of game 7, triple OT or the first minute of the first game of the regular season.

Also, the Senators are the natural enemy of Leafs fans and since most refs drivers licences bear mailing addresses in places like Mississauga, North York, Don Mills, Scarborough, Markham...

Well, you get the idea.

SeawaySensFan wrote:Also, the Senators are the natural enemy of Leafs fans and since most refs drivers licences bear mailing addresses in places like Mississauga, North York, Don Mills, Scarborough, Markham...

Well, you get the idea.

are you accusing the NHL refs of something there?

SensFan71 wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:Also, the Senators are the natural enemy of Leafs fans and since most refs drivers licences bear mailing addresses in places like Mississauga, North York, Don Mills, Scarborough, Markham...

Well, you get the idea.

are you accusing the NHL refs of something there?

The refs are the victims here!!!

If you listened to Jeremy Roenick yesterday on the radio, he concurs.

I'll guess Elliott gets the start tonight, Lee gets the call, and I wouldnt be super shocked to see Cheechoo sit down tonight in faour of Shannon... he was brutal last night. He's struggling in a big way.

shabbs wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:Also, the Senators are the natural enemy of Leafs fans and since most refs drivers licences bear mailing addresses in places like Mississauga, North York, Don Mills, Scarborough, Markham...

Well, you get the idea.

are you accusing the NHL refs of something there?

The refs are the victims here!!!

agreed, besides, they wouldn't be Toronto biased anyway, not after colton orr shoved one of their brotherhood to the ice.