(Yes I know that is Laviolette! Just the only ref/coach image I had!)
Quick blog before the main event this afternoon...
The quick answer is "yes." (When does anyone ever have a question as a title that isn't answered "Yes"?)
There are two things I have heard during these playoffs by players and coaches in locker rooms and press conferences...
#1 Everyone is saying "We could just as easily be leading in this series."
#2 Coaches are ripping refs in the PC manner of blaming the other team for getting away with murder...
As for #1 Well, you aren't.
But for #2...I am beginning to sense that this is just coaches doing their jobs.
And this is not a busting on NHL refs who I think for the most part do an unbelivable job...But they do have one uncompromising flaw.
They are human. And in that split second between deciding if a tug should be permitted or a team should pay the price I do believe that the circumstances seep into their self-conscious.
How could it not?
We tend to see close games reffed one way; where the refs are "letting them play" and then we have also seen teams that are getting beat pretty soundly suddenly receive more power plays once they fall down by 2 or 3.
We have seen a remarkable number of comebacks in these playoffs that had their Genesis from a call that would have likely been let go in a 1-1 game...
So there are situations that subtly change the style a game is reffed and also I can't help but think that the coaches feel at this point that there is a need to say something after a game that may help sway the opinion on a close play that happens the next time around...
What do you think?
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