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The Danger of 'Fix It in Replay' Comes Home to Roost

February 8, 2021, 9:46 AM ET [5 Comments]
Paul Stewart
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As regular readers of my blog are well aware, I am very concerned about the mentality that has pervaded hockey at every level of officiating that replay is nearly a fail-safe way to ensure that correct calls get made if missed on the ice. As we just saw in the embarrassing situation that unfolded in the Columbus vs. Carolina game on Sunday.

Let us count the failures in decision making, technology and communication:

1) Even to the naked eye in live full speed, Vincent Trochek appeared to offside before the puck entered the attack zone. The onside ruling was a significant enough missed call for John Tortorella to risk a delay of game penalty for an unsuccessful coach's challenge. The odds of an overturned goal seemed pretty high.

2) Somehow and some way, per the NHL's own admission," during the review, a miscommunication occurred between the Video Replay Booth in Columbus, the Linesmen and the Situation Room and play resumed before all replays could be reviewed to confirm the off-side." Cue the song, "Communication Breakdown" here. This was a biggie.

3) The challenge was deemed unsuccessful without a proper review, so the Carolina goal stood and the Blue Jackets were assessed a minor penalty with 1:15 left on the second period clock. Thankfully, Carolina didn't score on the power play before the period expired or there'd have been an even bigger controversy here.

4) During intermission, a proper video review was implemented and it was, indeed, determined that the play was offside. The remainder of the delay of game penalty was canceled. However, the offside goal was allowed to stand. That's because, using pretzel logic, the proper replay was implemented too late to take the goal off the board.

Wait, what???? Pray tell what would have happened if the Hurricanes had scored on the power play before the end of the period? Take THAT goal off the board but let the other stand? Disallow TWO goals because the second was the fruit of the poison tree?

What, exactly did any of this solve, except trying to appease both sides -- with Columbus still obviously getting the short end of the stick, because an admittedly offside goal was still on the scoreboard. It was a fly by the seat of the pants decision and yet the most important component was still erroneous.

This, my friends, is what happens when we don't consider all of the pros and cons of replay rules and procedures. It leaves loopholes open. It leads to overconfidence and hurts sound judgment. While this is a rather extreme exception, much smaller mistakes happen all the time due to being overly reliant on replay as the final arbiter.

A more logic-based on-the-fly solution here would have been to take the goal off the board, replay the final 1:15 of the period at 5-on-5. Sound the horn. Switch sides and play the third period. Instead, further human error was layered upon human and technological failure errors.

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A 2018 inductee into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.

Visit Paul's official websites, YaWannaGo.com and Officiating by Stewart.
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