** Re-posted from Thursday for those who missed it. **
I hate writing about officiating.
And for the most part I think I’ve managed to stay clear of that topic in this space.
I strongly believe that hockey teams win and lose games and not the referees. But I also don’t think that a little consistency isn’t too much to ask for.
There have been some calls in the playoffs that I felt were absolutely terrible. And the truth is I can live with that until the league finishes building the robot-ref who will make every call correctly. We’re all human. So I was able to get past that brutal hooking call on Steckel that put the Caps down two men in the first period of game seven and I trusted their judgment when perhaps there could have been a case made for goaltender interference on the Flyers’ second goal (it probably wasn’t but based on other calls recently one could have an argument).
The tripping call on Poti in OT really got me angry though. And not because I cared about which team was going to win the series, but because I wanted the players to determine which team would go on and which team would go home. Game seven overtime is what fans and players hope for all season. I didn’t want the game to end.
Not like that.
So was it a penalty? Well under the rulebook yes, but does anyone truly know what a penalty truly is in the National Hockey League? Well it depends on the referees, the teams involved, the game situation, the players involved, the referees’ positioning, the ability of the player to sell the penalty, the magnitude of the game…
I’m from the school of thought where if you’re in a game seven overtime situation, you only call a penalty if it’s a blatant infraction on a scoring opportunity and up until then it looked like that was how the refs around the league had been calling things.
Why would that specific trip be singled out as an infraction when there had been a total of 75 minutes and 2 seconds of overtime hockey played over nine games with just one minor penalty up until that point?
And if you’ve put the whistle away for the last 30+ minutes of hockey then don’t you dare take it out and potentially ruin a fantastic game and series with a tripping call in the neutral zone.
That got me to thinking that if I was sitting with somebody who had never watched a game before and was trying to explain the rules to them I don’t think I’d be able to explain what constitutes a penalty. And then I started doing some research to see if the rules really are applied consistently. And they’re not - not even close
I charted out every penalty call that led to a shorthanded situation in the first round of the playoffs. I admit that it’s a small sample but I believe it shows some extremely interesting information. (Click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized charts)
A late powerplay in a game can turn around or help decide an entire series – 31% of all playoff goals have been scored with the man advantage and goals have been scored on 18.5% of all powerplays. In the first round there were nine games decided in overtime. There were two minor penalties called in those overtime periods and both resulted in powerplay goals (Kovalev and Lupul).
In the 48 games played there were 427 powerplays:
• 154 in the first period (3.2 per game) = 36%
• 157 in the second period (3.3 per game) = 37%
• 114 in the third period and overtime (2.4 per game) = 27%
In the 14 ‘elimination games’, the numbers dropped across the board:
• 42 in the first period (3 per game) = 40%
• 36 in the second period (2.6 per game) = 34%
• 28 in the third period and overtime (2 per game) = 27%
There is certainly evidence that in close games the referees have been putting the whistles away, calling just 24% of total penalties in the third and OT in games where there’s a one-goal margin or tie in the third. In games where there is a greater spread (2 goals+) that percentage jumps up to 35%.
So referees do seem to use greater discretion in the third period of close and important games and that’s great.
But the discussion doesn’t end there. Although I’m ok with inconsistencies from situation to situation as long as everyone is aware of them and that the inconsistencies are consistent. I’m not ok with significant inconsistencies from ref-to-ref, which is exactly what we see in this chart:
There you can see the pairings who put away their whistles in the third period (VanMassenhoven/Hasenfratz – 15% and Pollock/Larue – 16%) and those who treat the third/OT the same as any other periods (Devorski/Leggo – 40/25/35, Fraser/Marouelli – 34/34/31, McCauley/Watson – 32/37/32) and some who take more of a middle-ground approach. I imagine it would be tough to play in a series where the standard of officiating by period varies each game.
I find it a little strange that the league keeps its pairings together through the entire first round up until Game 7, splitting up guys who have worked together regularly for the last couple weeks. I understand the desire to have the best-of-the-best but there’s also something to be said about chemistry and maybe taking the best pairing instead of the best individuals.
This all gets even more interesting when you start to break down the penalties even further.
For example, it seems more than a little strange that Joanette-Peel pairing called a combined 14 slashing and cross-checking penalties while McCauley-Watson called just three, with each team working 5 games.
And the Devorski-Leggo duo handed out 45 powerplays for obstruction (holding, holding the stick, hooking, interference, tripping) and stick (cross-checking, high sticking, slashing) fouls while VanMassenhoven-Hassenfratz called 20 less in one less game.
The more you break it down it appears that the only thing that the officials are doing consistently is applying the rules inconsistently.
Now I know that referees have an extremely tough job and I know that they are evaluated frequently on surely a much more complex level and I know that it probably isn’t fair to do an analysis using such a small sample size.
One thing I can say with much certainly. Too many times I was watching games and shaking my head at calls that were made.
The officials can and must be better in the next round.
And now back to your regularly scheduled program.
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REMEMBER FIGHTING?
I don’t think a lot of people would argue with me if I called this the best first round in a few years – at least since the lockout.
Last year we had 43 first-round games and the year prior there were 44. This year we had 48 – 3 game sevens, nine overtimes.. the only thing missing was one of those really long OT games.
Oh ya, and there was something else missing too.
Something that is so important to our sport, yet it can disappear and nobody notices.
Of course I’m talking about fighting.
In 2007 there were 12 fights in the first round.
This year - just four in 48 games.
I really believe that most of the arguments from the pro-fighting crowd fall apart when you look at how good hockey is in the playoffs and in International tournaments. I’ve always said that those emotion-filled, spontaneous fights are fine but that the enforcers who can’t play don’t belong in the game.
And over the last two weeks we’ve seen once again how valuable guys like Riley Cote, George Parros, Colton Orr, Krys Barch, Eric Godard really are.
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LAST WORDS ON ROUND ONE:
We’ve still got another six weeks of playoff hockey but more than half of the series (8 of 15) are already complete.
And what was fantastic about the first round is that while the young stars and superstars were getting the headlines and producing (Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, Richards, Carter, Backstrom, Semin, Price, Kostitsyns, Phaneuf, Weber, Kessel etc) it was the veterans with something to prove who absolutely stole the show. Here’s my top twenty-something, in no particular order.
Jeremy Roenick – I’m not embarrassed to admit that I thought he was done in LA and I was sure he was done in Phoenix. And although he used to be one of my favorite players to watch, I’m sure I made a few sarcastic comments along the way about his skates or the time he walked out on his team to get a steak dinner. What JR has done has been nothing short of remarkable - especially in game seven when he scored more points in a seventh game than anyone since Gretzky’s dominant performance at MLG in 1993.
Owen Nolan – scored the game winner in game three and six and temporarily put the Flames ahead in game seven. At times Nolan looked like the OwNo of old – I was sure he was going to point and call his shot as he came in on Nabokov on the breakaway in the final game.
Jaromir Jagr – this one I saw coming as he’d been heating up going into the playoffs. With all the talk about that other guy on the Rangers, a lot of people may have missed the fact that JJ is playing at an elite level, even shooting the puck with great frequency (20 shots in 5 games).
Alexei Kovalev – his hair flowing in the wind like The Flower, you can see that Kovy is on a mission to get that day with the Cup that he never had in 94. There were some questions as to whether he could lead the team with Koivu out and he proved that he can.
Dan Ellis – here’s a guy who almost lost his job not too long ago, playing against the team with the best record in the regular season and gave the Wings a huge scare, posting a .938 save percentage. Not bad timing considering his contract status.
Joe Sakic & Peter Forsberg – recently I’ve heard the ‘R’ word come up a few times in regards to Sakic. But he’s not done – not even close and can I still contend that he’ll be productive enough in 2010 to lead Canada. I wasn’t so sure that Forsberg could get healthy enough to make an impact in the playoffs. Let’s hope he stays healthy as the Avs reacquaint themselves with some old friends.
Gary Roberts – made a huge, huge statement in game one, showing the young Pens what it takes to win in the playoffs.
Evgeni Nabokov – Despite a great regular season I know that some have questioned whether the Sharks traded the wrong goalie. Nabokov made some huge saves at crucial times in the series and in my opinion can definitely take the Sharks to the Cup.
Marc Savard – blah, blah.. never played a playoff game.. blah, blah.. not a big-game player – he was even ripped by Harry Sinden. Savard came back quickly from a tough injury, scored the biggest goal of the Bruins’ season and proved he’s more than able to thrive in the playoffs.
Mike Modano – after all this time, he’s still an important member of that Stars team.
Chris Osgood – made the All-star team, lost his job once again and then allowed just one goal in 154 minutes (0.39 GAA, .981 SVP). Of course he’s definitely not good enough to win a Cup. Oh wait..
Marty Turco – probably the goalie with the most to prove in the first round and they end up facing the defending champs. No matter what happens in round two can we stop talking about his past playoff ‘failures’ and start talking about him as one of the best goalies in hockey?
Joe Thornton & Patrick Marleau – seconds away from being tarred and feathered by the San Jose media (or at least by Ryan Garner), Joe Thornton showed that he could come through in the clutch. For much of the series Marleau was the best player on the ice (along with Iginla) and he proved that he could get off the canvas to lead his team after getting knocked down.
Vaclav Prospal - when Philly picked him up, I wasn’t at all impressed. Prospal had just 6 goals and 21 points in 43 playoff games going into the series and he was excellent playing on a line with Briere (who always steps up his game in the Spring).
Tim Thomas – one of the most unlikely success stories in recent memory, Thomas showed that he could play at a high level in the most difficult of circumstances and took his team to within a game from an absolutely huge upset.
Kimmo Timonen – really established himself as one of the top two-way defensemen around in this series. I think most knew that he had the offensive skills but I admit being a little surprised at how well he played against Ovechkin.
Mike Ribeiro – somebody give this man a huge contract. Oh that already happened? Jokes aside, Ribeiro has stepped up and so far has done something he’s failed to do in the past – produce in the playoffs. If he keeps this up he’ll have earned every penny – all 2.5 billion of them. I still would have rather waited to see how things went but the move certainly looks great so far.
Jose Theodore – if Thomas is the unlikely success story, Theodore is surely the most shocking resurrection story around. The last two seasons he had a save percentage well under .900. In the first round against Minnesota he stopped 94%. I’m shocked – completely shocked that he’s proven the ability to lead a team between the pipes and have success at this stage in his career.
Derian Hatcher – you probably sense a recurring theme to this list as there are quite a few names that I counted out that have risen up to prove me wrong. I thought Hatcher was finished a while ago, unable to keep up in a sport that has trended younger and faster. But he’s proven - just like Chelios - that there’s still a place for experience and intelligence. I’m not a huge fan of the +/- stat but here’s a better number. Hatcher returned from injury and was on the ice for 108 minutes and 13 seconds in the series. When he was on the ice, the Caps scored just two goals – one on the powerplay and one at even strength.
Curtis Joseph – I didn’t agree with the call to throw him in mid-game seven and he did give up a weak one but let’s forget about that and focus on game three. If that ends up being CuJo’s last great performance in the league, what a nice way to go out.
Patrice Brisebois – not long ago, the odds of him coming back to Montreal and scoring one of the biggest goals of their season seemed about as strong as the possibility of Dimitri Khristich and Bobby Reichel teaming up to carry the Leafs to the Cup. Kids, never burn your bridges..
Marc-Andre Fleury & Henrik Lundqvist – Both goalies had something to prove coming into these playoffs and both were stellar in the first round. Fleury is still young enough to not be on this list but had he struggled in the playoffs I think his long-term position on the team would have really been questioned, especially in the light of Conklin’s strong play during the year. Lundqvist should be the guy that everybody talks about in New York. He’s played three seasons and has been nominated for the Vezina in each. And he has a twin brother in the league. Why don’t more people talk about him instead of that other guy?
Most impressive performance by an underrated player: Stephane Robidas
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FIRST WORDS ON ROUND TWO
I picked Minnesota, Anaheim and Washington in round one, which I think gives me the same record as Maggie the Monkey.
Predictions bore me anyways – why do I care who someone else is picking and why should you care who I pick?
For the record in case you do care, I did pick San Jose over Pittsburgh at the beginning of the season (and I also picked John Paddock to win Coach of the Year) so I’ll stick with those two teams, along with Colorado and Montreal:
(San Jose in 7, Colorado in 6, Pittsburgh in 7, Montreal in 6)
If your team was recently eliminated and you’re now starting to watch more games involving other teams, here are some underrated players to look out for on each team:
MON – Chris Higgins, Mark Streit
NYR – Brandon Dubinsky and Daniel Giarardi
PHI – Scottie Upshall, Braydon Coburn
PIT – Ryan Malone, Jordan Staal
COL – Andrew Brunette, Ruslan Salei
DAL – Loui Eriksson, Stephane Robidas
DET – Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall
SJ – Ryan Clowe, Craig Rivet
There isn’t a lot to say that hasn’t already been covered in regards to these match-ups.
Although it will be a distant fourth on the hype-meter, I’m really looking forward to San Jose-Dallas. All four series should be great though.
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RANDOM THOUGHTS & A CONTEST
Congrats to Pat Quinn and Canada’s Under 18 Team. I wonder if Quinn will soon be getting a call from Ottawa.
Great job by the NHL with the second-round schedule - very little overlap so you’ll be able to enjoy all the games.
I’ll come back to the Burke & Gillis stories at a later date. I do think it’s possible that Don Meehan will gain momentum with the Canucks hiring a former agent and with the apparent lack of that big-name GM available.
I know I’ve mentioned Bob Nicholson in the past as someone who would be perfect to run a high profile franchise but you have to think that he’s going to stick around with Hockey Canada at least through 2010.
Why does nobody ever mention
Dave Taylor?
Not surprisingly the Caps have locked up Bruce Boudreau. By all accounts the success couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
WIN A HOCKEY BOOK CONTEST
I mentioned a while back that I’d be writing about hockey books and over the past few months I’ve probably read about 30 of them. In the near future I’ll be writing about all the books I’ve read, but in the meantime I was able to get three extra copies of a book I think you guys will really enjoy from author Timothy Gassen.
His book is called “Red, White & Blues, a personal history of Indianapolis Racers Hockey 1974-1979”. If you were a fan of the WHA, Gretzky or would like to learn more about it, I encourage you to pickup or order a copy. The book is written from a fan’s perspective and Tim’s passion for his team and hard work putting together this book really shines through.
You can learn more about the book and watch some old WHA videos here:
www.wharacers.com
To win a copy of the book, post your predictions in the comments for the Pittsburgh-New York and San Jose-Dallas series. Include:
* Which teams you think will win
* How many games the series will go
* How many total goals will be scored in the series
The three who come closest will get copies of the book. If more than three people pick the correct two teams we'll go to the # of games and then to total goals. In the event of a tie in all three categories there will be a random drawing. The lottery will not be televised.
I chose those two matchups so that everyone has time to get their picks in. Entry deadline is Friday at 7 PM Eastern.
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Lastly, I hope everyone had a chance to read the column written yesterday by Bob McKenzie, titled
“True Hockey Heroism in Whitby”.
A little while ago an inspiring young man named Jeff Preston came to visit my office. Jeff was born with Congenital Muscular Dystrophy and next month he’ll be traveling on his electronic wheelchair from London Ontario to Ottawa to raise awareness on how the public transportation systems in Ontario remains inaccessible for those who need it most. (For more information on the Mobilized March, here’s his site:
www.getmobilized.ca)
Too often we use words like hero to describe pro athletes and forget that hockey is just a sport.
I admit that Mini-Kipper is cute and it seems like a nice father-son bonding story but when your kids are looking for people to admire, make sure you tell them about Joshua Liscio and Jeff Preston. There are a lot of people like them fighting extraordinary battles every day that can inspire others to do great things.
Danny –
[email protected]
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