Are Referees Calling Habs Games Differently?

It’s poor sportsmanship to blame the referees after a loss.

For most fans blown calls are greeted as insults. A personal affront to their existence. Reacting accordingly. Shouting, cursing, finger gesturing, taunting, ironic chanting. Hell hath no furry like disgruntled sports fans buzzed on warm, $10.50 beer.

Not all penalty calls are bad. In fact, most of them are good. But mistakes do occur. Hockey is a fast sport that demands a lot to grasp a full assessment of what’s happening on the ice,  both physically and mentally. The most utilized players still play only slightly more than half the game. Referees and linesmen spend the complete 60 minutes on the ice. Many, from all over the hockey world, advocate for an extra referee in the stands able to call penalties or over turn them should evidence support that decision. Even with the fatigue factor aside, point of view alone is enough to miss something or see it worse than it actually is. Technology has made a world of difference to the way the game is sold and portrayed but yet changed very little to the way sports are regulated. Hockey could use high definition cameras for a lot more than to check if a puck crossed the goal line or not. Even an archaic sport, firmly holding on to its tradition like baseball has embraced video reviews in the form of coach challenges to overturn calls. Something that should be a no-brainer in hockey, yet barely even talked about. GMs bring it up sporadically at league meetings but the discussion never goes beyond that point.

Every fan, of every team, in every sport, has a list as long as your leg of what they judge to have been blown calls.  It happens. Referees are human and no one is perfect.

 

http://youtu.be/zERfGR7MoIc

Last night, Max Pacioretty got slammed face first into the boards. Montreal’s leading scorer was helped off the ice and sent to the hospital as a precautionary measure. He is now listed as day-to-day and most likely will sit out Saturday’s game against Ottawa.

No call was made on the play.

The reason given was that the replay shows Stoner hitting Pacioretty’s side and the referees judged the puck had not left his stick long enough to call a late-hit.

In a game against the Vancouver Canucks on October 30th. Habs defenseman Alexei Emelin was taken to the ice by a blind side hit to the head by Alex Burrows. Burrows was later suspended 3 games by the department of player safety.

No call was made on the play.

In the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals last May, New York Ranger Kris Kreider tripped at full speed and finished his course in the opposing team’s net, going through Carey Price’s knee in the process.

No call was made on the play.

No calls were made because those hit were all on that limit, that edge where the referees believed arguments for calling a penalty were equal to the number of argument not to call it. Therefore, a wash.

If you want to take a Canadien out of the game, do it subtly enough and you’ll get away with it, or so it seems.

I’m not saying the decisions on these plays come out of malice. I’m not saying the referees are petty enough to put their personal biases, negative or positive, over the impartiality their job requires. That they turn tone deaf to coaches they don’t like and put organizations in situations where it has no choice but to fire their coach. Those are sexy stories and we all remember the 2007 NBA scandal but I don’t have any proof to further any claim of the kind.

What we can all agree on is that NHL games are officiated the very same way, no matter which team is playing which. A deeply flawed way. Changes will need to be made. Let’s just hope those changes don’t come at the expense of a player’s health.

 

27 thoughts on “Are Referees Calling Habs Games Differently?”

  1. Good job, for once someone making sense. Forget about those sore looser that only wish they a had a team like Montreal. It is true that some Refs don’t like Montreal because the habs fans show their discontent for bad calls and people do not like to be told how to do their jobs. Most of the other team don’t have a fan base or they have a fan base that don’t care. But for people in Canada, this is our sport.

    And yes they should be at lease a ref outside the ice watching video replays to call penalties or cancel them. What is this egotesticale view that a refs does not make bad calls. Wake up people.

  2. “I’m not saying the decisions on these plays come out of malice. I’m not saying the referees are petty enough to put their personal biases, negative or positive, over the impartiality their job requires.”

    Except that’s exactly what I’m doing. -Bobby Pelletier

  3. Really, complaints about biased referees from the team that is in the top 3, or 5, every year in power plays?

  4. First I want to state that I would rather see that no player ever got injured. But thankfully the replays of some or all of the above incidents are available online so we can refute your logic that the Canadians are being picked on. I like Pacioretty and wouldn’t mind seeing him in my team’s jersey. The Pacioretty hit appeared hard but legal on first view. He was hit from the side just after he released the puck and then turned into the boards. The replay showed that after the hit Clayton Stoner finished the hit pushing him with the stick or fist closed on the top of the stick. Since this was not easily picked up by on ice officials (the announcers missed the hit) the league may want to review the play for possible suspension. In the Kreider incident, his leg was poked from behind by Alexei Emelin which appeared to send him off balanced and his momentum put him through Carey Price. It appeared that Kreider tried to twist his upper body away from Price and he slammed into the goal post while his skate hit Price in the knee. Kreider was also slashed in the arm by Dale Weise as he was starting to go down. Since neither Canadian was called for a penalty in this situation it looks like the Canadians actually got the benefit of the doubt.

    You sound like a fan who only watches the game from your team’s point of view. Try watching the game from time to time from the opponent’s point of view. It’s interesting to pick up other teams nuances and that they may have figured out some of your home teams patterns and have adjusted to neutralize them. In particular pay attention to face offs and break outs.

    Finally you deserve an insult for second guessing medical decisions to evaluate the possibility of a concussion. What would happen say if there was a fractured skull or vertebra, or a brain contusion that could get out of control without treatment? Or maybe a preexisting problem (tumor or brain cyst) may be adding to side effects? I would rather the trainer or other medical professionals err on the side of caution instead of taking the advice of “Dr.” Bobby Pelletier.

  5. This is a first.. someone claiming Montreal is getting unfair treatment by the refs AGAINST them. Generally the feeling is that they constantly get preferential treatment.

  6. You’re kidding, right? This article is a joke, right? From what I’ve seen over the years, games with Canadian teams do get called differently, there is a different threshold for calls against the US based team. Lots of ticky tack calls on the US team (diving almost always nets a PP for the Canadian team). So stop whining about the poor Habs don’t get enough power plays. On the west coast, we all hear the same blubbering from Canucks fans.

  7. Yeah great article.. The Canadiens are in the top of the league for most power plays ever year so they must be getting screwed when they are flopping all over the ice like soccer players.

  8. True article. Montreal leads the league in penalties this year, and at the bottom in power play opportunities. So, where is the “favoritism” that is being discussed by the other posters? Look at the stats and the tapes of these hits. I was watching the Anaheim broadcast of this game on NHL Center Ice and they were saying that a penalty should have been called. Then when Subban gets called for two separate interference penalties in the third period, these same announcers said that each was a bad call (which I agreed with). As a former official I see the disparity and believe that Montreal ends up on the doo doo end of the stick (no pun intended) then not.

  9. if ever there was a team that gets favorable calls its pittsburgh. slewfoot cindy and the rest of her crowd have been getting away with murder for years. they are always one of the least penalized teams in the league while committing the most blatant fouls, many of them the dangerous sort. this is because cindy is bettman’s bitch. he lives for the day he can hand the cup over to cindy and utter the words ‘cindy crosby come get the stanley cup’. it’s really a joke and makes it difficult for the league to be taken seriously.

  10. Great article…Habs are where they are in the standings through hard work..period. The hit on Pacioretty was a major on any other..The hit by Krader on Price was a major and suspension easily no brainer..Imagine the same hit on Johnathan Quick with the same injury results and there would have been a major and a suspension. The Habs are a dynasty is built on hard work period..nay sayers are jealous.. Go Habs Go

  11. Please, every team gets calls like that, and feel they’re unfair. There’s no one team that gets unfavorable treatment, except maybe to keep an eye on those with diver reps. And you guessed it, Montreal has quite a few of them.

    You also neglect to mention that Montreal got a few favorable calls in the games after Kreider’s accidental crash into Price. Convenient to forget that Prust got a no call when he broke Stepan’s jaw. There were also a couple of blatant dives that got them PP’s during the series as well.

  12. Oh the poor Canadiens,are they b treated unfair? how about all those phantom stick to the head penalties they draw? or the hooking where they act like someone shot them in the kneecap? What a stoopid article. Any chance you are from Canada?

  13. This article is a complete joke. A Montreal lover complaining they don’t get enough calls… RIDICULOUS. Everyone who knows hockey, knows that Montreal gets favorable treatment from the refs and the league. It happens every game. It’s amazing how when they are getting smoked after the 1st period that they will then get 5 or 6 power plays in the 2nd period to change the game around. The Canadien players dive all over the ice like they are European soccer players, and they get away with a large majority of the time. Away from the play they take cheap shots against other players and then will never drop their gloves when confronted. Any Montreal win is always tainted…. they can not win without owning the refs and the league. I say we move league offices to a neutral site and take all Montreal affiliates out of the decision making process. If the ice was a level playing field, Montreal would not have won all the Stanley Cups they have and they would not be winning as many games this year as they have. Everyone knows what a joke Montreal truly is

  14. CHRIS Kreider, not Kris.

    Also, you argue about the calls on the ice, then you argue about suspensions. Those are made WITH the benefit of reply and by the DOPS, not the on-ice officials. Refs don’t cover suspensions.

  15. If any team can claim “unfair treatment” in regards to PP opportunities, it’s the Bruins. Yeah they’re last in the league in Power-Play opportunities, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The progression from the top team in the league (123, Red Wings) to the second-to-last team (88, Montreal) is relatively constant (each team has about 2 power-plays less than the next, on average).

    Then come the Bruins, at 77. That’s a whopping difference of 11, which is more than double any other difference in the league. What type of difference does this make? Well, about half of the Bruins’ losses have been one-goal games.

    While the B’s have some real scoring issues right now and find themselves in the middle of the standings for a multitude of reasons, things would likely be a little better if they were given another 30 or so man-advantages.

  16. If any team can claim “unfair treatment” in regards to PP opportunities, it’s the Bruins. Yeah they’re last in the league in Power-Play opportunities, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The progression from the top team in the league (123, Red Wings) to the second-to-last team (88, Montreal) is relatively constant (each team has about 2 power-plays less than the next, on average).

    Then come the Bruins, at 77. That’s a whopping difference of 11, which is more than double any other difference in the league. What type of difference does this make? Well, about half of the Bruins’ losses have been one-goal games.

    While the B’s have some real scoring issues right now and find themselves in the middle of the standings for a multitude of reasons, things would likely be a little better if they were given another 30 or so man-advantages.

  17. In my opinion that definitely should have been a penalty and a suspension. I heard the announcers say the hit came one second after the puck left the stick — that’s 500 ms too late. I’m not suggesting he is expected to come to a complete stop in one second (a feat, by the way, that most bantam house league players have mastered) but what I do expect, in 1/2 second or less, is a realization that “separating the man from the puck” is no-longer a possibility and to back off on the hit. Instead, Stoner extends his arms and throws an off-balance Pacioretty into the boards.

    All that said, however, the Habs of late have been known to not only dive, but exaggerate injuries. This very case in point — Pacioretty is now a game-time decision for tonight’s game against the Sens. Who sends a player to hospital overnight to evaluate a possible concussion? You send a player to hospital overnight when he *has* a concussion. Or on that hit a few years back by Chara. There were reports that 2 days after the hit Pacioretty was seen going to a movie — the second last thing you want to do when you have a concussion is go see a movie in a theatre (the last thing would be going to a rocj concert, probably).

    There is no doubt in the minds of fans of all other Eastern Conference teams that Habs dive. I’m sure that attitude is also common among the refs.

    • Every team has there embellishments. Look at Malkin last night. He had 2 or 3 penalties called against him for diving. The habs do take dives sometimes, the bruins take dives, the rangers take dives, the kings take dives…every team uses it. But now there is the embellishment penalties which are being called. I hope embellishment and diving gets out of the game but it has been there for decades. But its important to remember every team dives in every game even though its a cheap play.

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