On Refereeing Decisions: "You just don't make that call in that situation"

[Lanky Livingston]

This is based on an article in Puck Daddy last night, about a call made in the Red Wings/Blackhawks game 6 last night. There was a penalty shot awarded in the third period, which resulted in the Hawks going up 4-2 (they would eventually win 4-3, making it the GWG). There has been a lot of outrage over this shot - mostly based on the reasoning "You just don't make that call in that situation."

Puck Daddy brings up the great question of "What do we want from the officiating?" A lot of people complain about poor officiating, but when the correct call is made in a tight situation, the call is blasted. I'm not a big fan of that reasoning, and I have even used it before (if this was Caps/Rangers, my opinion would have depended on who got the call - sorry I'm not sorry for being a homer) - it mostly applies to the NFL in hail-mary situations to end the game; no way you call defensive PI on a desperation bomb; but what if the defender tackles the WR before the ball gets there? At what point DO you make the call?

There was one in the Heat/Pacers game the other night as well - Wade got called for a foul on a game-tying three, which allowed the game to go to OT. The Heat still ended up winning, but it was a very interesting call.

I just thought this was an interesting debate to have in the offseason, while waiting for camps to start. So...what DO we want from officiating? Situational based calls? Very even calls, so the same call is made in any situation?

 

[Win4us]

I was watching that period and a few others lately and I thought the call was okay. Granted, I don't care about either team and there has been a lot worse not getting called throughout the games. I suppose in hockey I just want to see balance on the penalties, consistency.

As far as the skins go there's no way in hell officiating against us has been even keel over the years. Most notably is our entire defensive line getting molested on EVERY pass rush with nothing but blind eyes from the zebras. Check the tapes cause Rak, Bowen and especially Cofield are practically held on every rush.

 

[tshile]

I didn't see the game, so I'll speak in general...

That's a tough one. The 'ticky-tack' calls as people like to dub them. What I want is stuff called that alters the game. PI and holding are probably the two easiest in the NFL - You can probably call them on every play if you want; so if you're going to call them it better be because it' affected the play somehow, and to not call it would be to let the other team 'get away' with something (cheating.)

There's no hard and fast rule, which is why people get so upset when a close one is made in a playoff game. You can't just say call it the way you do in regular season either, because (at least in football) there are some penalties that can be called every play.

At the end of the day I can live with whatever the refs decide to do as long as it is called the same for both teams. Don't let ticky-tack holding and PI go all game then call it in the last 2 minutes of the game for one team trying to put together a game winning drive...

The best example would be the orakpo holding against dallas to end the game a few years back; that would be one that needs to be called. The one against Minisota in the NFC championship game for the saints was bs - it sent them to the super bowl.