Officials Need to be Held Accountable

 

I am not going to go through each period of last nights game simply put the Leafs lost 6-3 in Winnipeg and they were chasing the entire game, Joseph Woll let in a few goals that he would obviously like to have back. It was their second game without Mitch Marner hopefully he returns to the lineup when the Leafs host the Columbus Blue Jackets tomorrow night. What I am going to talk about with this article is the total lack of control that official Brad Meier had in the third period of last nights game.

 

It started four and a half minutes in when Auston  Matthews and Pierre Luc Dubois got into a wrestling match in the corner but then while the play was down at the far end Dubois was literally rag dolling Auston Matthews and all of this was going on while Meier just stood there and watched when the linesmen finally came in and broke up the scrum they decided to give both players a minor penalty for roughing, ok that’s fine. Next up we see with the Leafs down 5-3 in this third period by the way, but Rasmus Sandin would skate into the zone and then be taken out by a blatant knee on knee hit by Neal Pionk. I understand that the job of an NHL referee is a difficult one because the speed of the game is obviously high but with four officials on the ice there is absolutely no way that neither of them saw this happen. The NHL rules that if there is an incident where a player clearly tries to injure an opponent a five-minute major penalty and ejection is the necessary action, we saw it in the Edmonton game last night where Connor McDavid the face of the Edmonton Oilers got ejected from the game where he boarded and injured the LA Kings player. Last night though Meier chose not to give Pionk any penalty for the hit.

So, naturally the Leafs bench reacted to their teammate Rasmus Sandin getting injured and because no penalty was given the veterans on the team chose to take it upon themselves. Spezza on his next shift while Pionk was falling to the ice went to throw a hit but ended up kneeing Pionk which led to Jets players reacting and going after Jason. Sheldon Keefe would then just ice his tough guy’s Wayne Simmonds, Kyle Clifford, and Nick Ritchie. Paul Maurice the Jets coach was not happy about this but anyone with a brain knows that if the shoe was on the other foot and Mark Scheifele was taken out from a dirty hit, he would have done the exact same thing.

This morning the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Wayne Simmonds was fine $2,250 for a cross check he threw during a faceoff and that Jason Spezza was offered an in person hearing but because of Covid the in-person hearing will be a zoom call. This will take place tomorrow afternoon at some point. An in-person hearing carries a minimum of five games for a suspension. Hockey Insider Chris Johnston announced earlier tonight that the Leafs had announced Rasmus Sandin will miss at most three weeks which I am sure that news has both the Leafs and their fans breathing a sigh of relief because we all know knee on knee hits can end much worst then this one fortunately has. Lastly, Neal Pionk was given a two-game suspension for the hit on Sandin. Now here is where my first question comes into play, Pionk was offered a phone hearing, now for those who are not aware a phone hearing comes with a minimum of three games for a suspension according to the NHL and their rules but for some reason Pionk only misses the next two games for the Jets instead of the standard three games minimum.

The biggest issue I have with the discipline handed down is how come there is NOTHING for the official? How come Brad Meier walks away from this game unpunished? Remember no penalty was given to Pionk on the ice meaning the four officials working that game two referees and two linesmen not one of them put their arm up for a major penalty because they believed it was a clean hit. However, despite no call being made on the ice the league felt Pionk should miss the next two games. How come Meier faces no discipline for the NHL having to do his job? Look at the NBA, after every game their officials must sign off and hand in a game sheet with all fouls that are called and all decisions on coach’s challenges that their officials make. The league then reviews the game and can overturn a referees decision meaning if the NBA if they feel a call that was made was in fact wrong, they can remove the foul or add one. The NBA in doing this also has a chance to evaluate which ever official called the game and he or she in this case can be removed from future games as a form of punishment.

How come the National Hockey League does not have a system like this in place? Every year the NHL tries to improve their game to attract younger viewers which I get, the game has more and more young stars you want to attract younger viewers but in doing all of this they are driving away the fan that has stuck by the league and continued to watch despite how many lockouts and rule changes. This league every season comes out with a statement explaining to fans how rules and their wording have changed and how they are going to “crack down” on infractions to set a precedent. Then once the season starts the “new rules” and new penalties are called for the first month and then suddenly it stops. After the first month or so the game goes back to the way it always is, it goes back to the referee calls a penalty when he feels like it. All long time fans of this league ask for is to call the penalty when it happens so last night when the official sees Pionk extend his leg in a dangerous knee on knee collision then penalize the player for the infraction because if that penalty is called none of the other incidents happen, Spezza does not then try to knee Pionk in the head, Wayne Simmonds does not try to break his stick over the backs of Winnipeg Jet players and you do not have Sheldon Keefe sending out his fourth line fighters to police the game because the four men in striped jerseys chose not too.

The National Hockey League really needs to consider evaluating their officials and holding them accountable when clear penalties go uncalled. Remember Tim Peele was suspended by the league for getting caught swearing on a hot mic because he “felt like giving Nashville an F’ing penalty” and in my opinion the league punished Tim Peele because he was caught on a live mic admitting he wanted to give a team a penalty. If the NHL held their officials accountable the fans of this league would not criticize the referees every single season. If the officials began to consistently call the infraction on the ice when they happen the long-time fan that gets frustrated every single game because the leagues rules change by the period.

If you want to see a game that is called consistently and by the rules every single minute of the game, then wait a few weeks when the World Junior Championships start on December 26^th. The IIHF and its officials call their games by the rule a crease violation for example is called every time a player enters the goalies’ crease regardless of when it happens in a game IIHF officials call their games consistently because if not the IIHF will remove an official from working future games if they feel it is necessary. The IIHF holds their referees accountable maybe the NHL should do the same.

That’s all for this article thanks as always for reading our Leafs take on the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night hopefully Toronto finds their way back into the win column. To the fans that are beginning to worry because the Leafs have lost their last two games, trust me I know you’re out there this Leaf team is 15-2-2 in their last nineteen games the Leafs are one point out of first in the entire league this team will rebound.