Horrible Call Against the Red Wings Explained (Somewhat)

“After I shot it I didn’t see it go in, but (goaltender Alex Auld) was trying to pull his foot out and clearly it was in the net. I just saw the highlight of it. I have no idea why that’s not a goal.”

—Wings forward Brad May.

Neither do I Brad, neither do I.  For the 2% of you who haven’t been witness to the uproar in Motown, the play in question occurred this past Wednesday, in Detroit’s 3-1 loss to the Stars.

Without hyperbole, it was one of the worst calls in NHL history.  OK, maybe there was a little hyperbole, but there’s no doubt that it was a ridiculously bad call.  Trailing 2-1 in the third period, the Wings thought they had tied the score on May’s goal.

But they were wrong.

The puck had clearly crossed the goal line, before (way before) the ref had blown the whistle to cease play.  After conferring with the boys in Toronto, referee Dennis LaRue waved the game-tying goal off.  His explanation?  He had “intended to blow the whistle,” which is all that is needed to blow the play dead.

Confused yet?  Me too.

Maybe Mike Murphy, NHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations, can explain it better.

“In this case Dennis LaRue was clear with what he saw and clear with what he interpreted and that was, ‘I had killed the play before the puck entered the net.’ When we scrutinize it and go through video review I think everybody would concede that the puck was in the net, and Dennis didn’t see that unfortunately.”

Right.  Makes sense.  Except that LaRue hadn’t killed the play--he had intended to kill it. Explain that one Mr. Murphy.

“In this particular case, what would happen is we (in the League’s video replay room in Toronto) would see the puck in the net and call the video goal judge and say, ‘Please blow the horn and get the referee over here. We see a puck in the net that hasn’t been ruled a goal,’ ” Murphy said. “At that point the referee would come over and we would have the discussion. Usually the referees know exactly what’s happening and they would come to us and say, ‘Listen, I blew the whistle or my intent to blow the whistle was there. I’ve got this play dead before the puck crosses the goal line.’ No more need be said. Once we hear that, basically video review is now out of the process. We step aside and say it’s a call made on the ice and it’s a non-reviewable call. It’s a whistle blown by the referee and it was blown or the intent to blow it was before the puck crossed the goal line.”

If reading Mike Murphy’s convoluted explanation made any kind of sense to you, then quit reading this and call your doctor.  Right now.

The bigger problem here is not so much that the refs blew the call--it’s that the goal was not reviewable, because of LaRue’s intent to blow the whistle.  And that’s a league problem--one that needs to be rectified immediately.

But hey, at least Murphy admitted that it was a blown call.  That’s gotta be worth something, right?  A moral victory of sorts.

Although I doubt that Murphy’s admission relieves any of the bitter taste in the mouths of May, his teammates, or the Wings fans.

And I’m not trying to be mean, Red Wings fans, but here’s the video.  Enjoy?

Some Other Articles That You May Enjoy:
Horrible Officiating Costs Detroit Much Needed Road Win
Horrible Call On Kronwall Mars An Otherwise Great Game
Detroit Red Wings
5 For Writing – Other Great Hockey Blogs
Blue Jackets Hold Their Heads High
Lidstrom’s Late Power-Play Goal Lifts Wings Over Phoenix

We hope you enjoyed this post. As always, leaving a comment below is both appreciated and encouraged. Thanks!