Quote:
Originally Posted by John F
See, this is why I have such a big problem with Colin Campbell and think the problem is broad.
Rule enforcement has to be standard from the start of the season to the end of the playoffs. Instead, you see on ice officiating strict the first couple of weeks, then generally loosen up as the season goes on as the Refs think they've got control on ice -- they stop enforcing the rules because it's a game of ego between them and the players. "Respect me or I will call you." That's not rule enforcement, that's a pissing match.
And then you get to March and something like McSorely, Bertuzzi and Simon happens (hell, Mark Messier pulled this stunt just after the Bertuzzi incident but he got off lightly with thanks to it being his farewell tour). As I noted in the Tootoo thread, attacks like these with intent to injure have been happening all season with little or no reprocussions from the league office. Now the heat is on and now is when Campbell and Bettman will do something about it.
Where were they when Ovechkin attacked Briere and shoved him into that ice door?
It's a refs job to call a game and penalize a player for an infraction. It's supposed to be a players fault if they get caught -- they broke the rules and have to pay the price. And it's the leagues job to step in and prevent outlandish, over-the-top incidents on ice like this from happening by leveling fines and suspensions to players ALL season long, not just during the playoff push.
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I think you have great points here. What I take from it though, is that this is what they were trying to do with all the new rules. They cracked down on everything. I think when they thought up this new plan, they had these kinds of things in mind, but somehow when it got passed down to the refs/linesmen, it came across as call everything.
Now we have a league where they call every little ticky tack penalty ( which drives me NUTS ), but these incidents still happen. I cringe every time I hear someone saying something about the officiating because I'm scared its going to turn into even more of a crackdown and soon we'll have no touch hockey.
I hate most of the new NHL, and I know it's farfetched to think of the above scenario, but if it stays in the hands of Bettman, he's only going to come up with some other hare brained idea to make things even worse.
I miss fighting, damnit.
I also agree 100% with you on the season long penalties. It definitely gets skewed the farther we get into the season. I wonder if they take a look and realize what time of the year a lot of these things happen. A season of frustration over not calling stuff right boiling over perhaps?
I don't know. It's just an opinion I'm throwing out there. I'm just so scared they'll pussify the league even more.