An Open Letter To NHL Officials

When NHL Refs didn't see an obvious penalty call, they confer with each other like this, as if we don't know they missed the play entirely

Having watched more NHL hockey games on TV in the last 5 years than a lot of people and several a year in person, I feel the need to write a letter like this to both the league and it's officials as the way the game is being officiated over the last few months has been appalling and something needs to be done about it during this Olympic break. To put it bluntly; NHL Refs need a wake up call.

Coming out of the lockout in 2005-2006, the NHL adopted rules changes that immediately brought back the speed and skill of the league and made slow, plodding players a thing of the past. No longer were these "Pluggers" allowed to grab on, hook, hold, use the "can-opener" move (where a defenders put his stick between the offensive players legs and either slowed him down entirely or tripped him up without a penalty a la Bryan McCabe throughout most of his time with the Leafs). The new emphasis on having the officials calling the rules more stringently led to an increase in scoring and players with skill being able to use their skill more then any time since the 1980's.

The fact that every fan base in the league has issues with the officials speaks volumes about the current crop of Refs

The removal of the red line and the inclusion of the shoot out after overtime were great and really brought back the fans in droves as well but the biggest changes was having the refs calling things much more by the book. Over the last 8 or 9 years, we have seen 2 things occur that have started to drag the sport back down to where they were before 2005 directly as a result of the officiating; The refs themselves slacking off on calls during the game and players purposefully turning their backs to the ice near the boards trying to draw boarding penalties. It's time to change things and you have 17 days to do it.

In the last week alone, we have seen Brendan Gallagher get mugged by 2 Jets defenders in the last minute of a game and get no call (should have been at least coincidental minors on that play), Nazem Kadri hit Codi Ceci from behind (mostly because he put himself into a prone position, but still) without a penalty leading to a key Lupol goal, and then last night when it appeared as though the officials in the Blues - Sens showed a severe amount of favoritism and were unprofessional in the way they officiated the game (Blues had 7 power plays to 1 for Ottawa). Even in the Leafs game, there were numerous plays that went uncalled against the Panthers and, if you go back over the last few weeks, there have been more and more missed calls (or plays where the refs "let the boys play") that call into question the integrity of officiating in the league as a whole.

....And the jokes keep on coming....

With that said, there is one kind of penalty which has been increasingly called over the last few years that needs to have an added wrinkle added to it since more and more players continue to put themselves into the same vulnerable position over and over again. I am talking about the increasing amount of players who turn their back to the ice when they are within 3-5 feet of the boards hoping to be hit by a player hard enough to then embellish their dive into the boards to draw a penalty. Look back on games played all the way up until US college hockey started becoming a bigger source of NHL players in the mid 1990's and you will see that players knew better then to EVER turn their back on the ice when they were anywhere near the boards.

Hitting someone who has his back to the ice, resulting in this unnatural physical reaction has become an all too common occurance that will end up with someone getting seriously hurt one day

It might have been the combination of no fighting in US College hockey along with the full cage every player is mandated to wear but the back to the ice tactic to protect the puck along the boards is used so much so now that the best way to stop players from embellishing when they are hit (as it appeared Codi Ceci was when he unnaturally seemed to dive into the boards when he was hit on the hip by Kadri Saturday night), 2 penalties need to be called on the play. The hit is in the books already as boarding, so to is the 2nd penalty: Unsportsmanslike Diving. If this starts getting called enough times, players will stop using this puck protection tactic near the boards and we will all be better off for it.

Of course, there will be times when players are not diving when hit from behind and only one call is justified. While nothing is perfect, unless the players start to realize that they should not be putting themselves in such a dangerous position, this issue won't go away.

...Because getting hit hip to hip should NOT result in someone diving head first into the boards

The tougher problem is getting the officiating back up to snuff. The challenge systems needs to be instituted similar to how it works in the NFL, but that wouldn't take effect until next year at the earliest. For right now, Mr. Bettman and Mr. Daly, you need to place a call to the head of the officials union and give them some new marching orders to revert back to calling games like the way they were called right after the 2005-2006 lockout. You need to weed out these refs who seem to allow personal feelings to cloud their decisions (as it appears was the case yesterday when the officials in that Ottawa - St. Louis game seemed to not appreciate the Senators anger due to their lack of consistency with their calls).

The only reason there isn't more of a fuss being made about that game was the fact that Ottawa found a way to somehow win the game in a shootout. Had that not happened, you might have the entire city of Ottawa itself up in arms over the way their last 2 games had gone with penalties (both called and not called). Its gotten to the point where you start to wonder if the NHL is on the verge of possibly having an officiating crisis on their hands like the one the NBA went through (and still seems to be going through given the way the Raptors game ended last night in Sacramento).

In the NFL and MLB, both Leagues have taken sufficient steps to help out their officials while the NBA and NHL are (surprisingly) lagging way, WAY behind

It is time to get the officials to all adhere to one version of the rules, not allowing them to pick and choose what rules they can and can't over look. A small hook on the hands that doesn't cause a turnover isn't a penalty but a hook on the shoulder of a player (Lupol a couple of games ago) that happens right in front of an official, makes him turn entirely around and lose the puck IS a penalty and SHOULD ALWAYS be called.

Its time to call NHL refs on the carpet and make them accountable for their errors, in fact ALL refs should be forced to answer media questions about why they called things the way they did. When they screw up in a game, they are essentially allowed to "skate" by without anyone being allowed to confront them about their game performance. Multi-million dollar athletes are forced to face the media after each and every game and the officials who earn less then 10% of what the players earn, can walk away Scott free.

When soccer refs are starting to look more competent then NHL refs, then you have issues.....

So to conclude, the NHL needs to tighten the way games are being called so that the true skill of the game is once again at the forefront. At the same time, their needs to be a better distinction made with regards to true "boarding" calls by trying to eliminate the "fake" hits from behind and the officials need to have to face the music after each and every game as well by having their own post-game press conferences.

Justin Bieber, Rob Ford, Super Bowl Pick and More

A couple of quick notes on 2 Canadians that seem to be the butt of every joke on US TV this past week.

Justin, you are 19, we all get it, you have money and all that, now wake the hell up and focus on your music before you blow it all

Justin Bieber is 19. He grew up in a single parent home and, for the most part, was brought up incredibly well adjusted. It has taken all of 4 years for him to go from unknown to superstar and, it would appear, half that time to turn into an idiot.He is clearly out of control and the person to blame is Usher and the management team that essentially pulled him away from his mother and left him living alone in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills (when he wasn't in studio).

When you take a kid who grew up barely scrapping by with his mom at his side and suddenly throw him into a completely different lifestyle, 3000 miles away from her and with more money then he will ever know what to do with, he was bound to start screwing up. Throw into that mix the fact that he has millions of adoring fans that think he can do no wrong and you suddenly have a teen with raging hormones and a suddenly huge ego as well who is being told by everyone around him that he is awesome and "egging" him on to do whatever he wants and you get what we have seen lately. Let's not forget the suddenly back in the picture dad, who seems to be more immature then his own son and helping him spiral even more (allegedly blocking off streets in Miami to help him in his Fast & Furious inspired drag race) and you have a receipe for arrests in 3 different cities (2 actual arrests and 1 police raid and house search in LA).

Pattie needs to kick Justin's father to the curb and get Justin straightened out, fast

The person who needs to take control of this situation is his mother. She needs to walk into Usher's offices or whomever it is who is supposed to be managing his affairs and fire all of them and take her son back to Stratford for a few months. Get him out of the limelight and let him try to figure things out without all the media and music industry constantly in his ear. It would certainly appear that even his own management company doesn't seem to have his best interest at heart as only 2 days after his Miami arrest, he was in Panama shooting a music video instead of being pushed into resting and trying to fix the issues that are pushing him out of control.

One last thing about Bieber, this bullshit petition that was started on the White House website to try and have him deported is really pathetic. You have the music industry and American record labels milking the cow that is Bieber for all he and his fans are worth, he gets snubbed by the Grammy's despite selling millions and millions of records and you have someone (or 100,000 people for that matter) who have the audacity to think he is "bad" for America and should be deported? You, America, turned him into what he is and now you want to give him back broken? Just like Americans to break something and blame someone else for it and try to give it back after you took it forcibly from us in the first place.

Given the options, Mayor Quimby from the Simpsons would be a better choice right now then Ford

Rob Ford, you are a mess. Another incident from Vancouver recently unearthed that he was ticketed for public drunkenness and J-walking when he was there. This after a video was posted on You Tube of him using a mock-Jamaican accent, blubbering on incoherently at a local steak house. It's time for an intervention here. He needs to go to rehab as he has no clue how to control his drinking and, despite his cries to the contrary, he needs to get out of public life for the time being and take a month off. Let his brother fight the good fight for now and go get yourself healthy already. He is ruining the image of Toronto around the world and it's time he was forced to get help.

I was disgusted with the fact the Broncos beat my Patriots. Despite the questionable hit of Wes Welker on Aquib Talib (and who truly knows how much of an effect that hit had on the game as a whole), the Broncos won and are now about to get their asses handed to them by the toughest team in the NFL, just ask Richard Sherman, please. In case you missed it, throughout the Seattle - San Francisco game, the 49ers stayed away from Sherman, the top corner back in the Seattle secondary and their plan seemed to be working as they were marching down the field in the final minute seemingly about to score the game winning touchdown. On first down from the Seattle 20 yard line, they inexplicably changed tactics and decided to go for a questionable fade pattern to Crabtree, one of their best wide receivers, as he was being defended by Sherman. The result was a tipped ball by Sherman to his teammate. Game over.

He is cocky, arrogant, brash and a loud mouth but calling him a "thug" is a clear attempt to denigrate him

But that wasn't the end of the drama as Sherman went racing up to Crabtree, slapped him on the ass and seemed to be mockingly offer to shake his hand, resulting in Crabtree punching Sherman in the head. Undaunted, Sherman then proceeded to run up to Colin Kaepernick, the 49ers QB, with both hands firmly around his own throat calling him a "choker". His interview with Erin Andrews moments later was epic in that it was so non-nonsensical for him to go off like that on TV (at the same time, pulling an athlete right off the field after a huge game like that, full of emotion and testosterone, is bound to result in an interview like that much more often than it does).

Calling Sherman a "thug" for what he said is racist. He wasn't a thug. He was an arrogant prick which is one of the reasons he is one of the best at his position in the game of football. His extreme confidence. Justin Bieber is acting like a thug. Rob Ford IS a thug (and apparently, another revelation about him was that he allegedly hired 2 "thugs" to beat up his sister's ex-boyfriend) but calling Sherman a thug is, as I have heard others state. another way to call him the "N" word without actually saying it. Funny how the most common place he was called a "Thug" was Fox news.

Back to the game for a moment. I can't believe that there are people out there who would put money on Denver to win this game. Seattle will win by double digits. They have the top "D" in the NFL, their running attack will be unstoppable and Russell Wilson will finally be let loose to use his feet as well as his arm. Final score: 31-17 Seattle.

Well, well, well. It turns out the Leafs are back in the hunt to be among the top teams in the East again after their recent 8-1-1 surge. They head into tonight's game against the Ottawa Senators 5 points back of 2nd place Tampa in the Atlantic Division and in a position to start chasing down the top teams in the East. They have David Clarkson and Bolland both due back in the coming weeks if not right after Olympic break which will mean that they will only get better with more depth throughout the line up.

Kadri seems to be silencing the critics with his play of late. Even Coach Carlyle has been giving him props lately

Despite the fact the team has been playing much better of late, their is a looming goaltending controversy brewing as it seems as if despite how he plays, James Reimer does not appear to have the confidence of the team or the coach. It would not surprise me if during the Olympic break, Reimer and his agent ask the team to quietly start looking for a trade for him so that he can have a real chance at being a #1 goalie again.

Congratulations to Paul Maurice and the way he has turned the Jets around. After their win last night against the sinking Vancouver Canucks, the Jets are now 6 points back of the Canucks for the final playoff spot in the West with 1 game in hand. Funny how for previous coach Claude Noel, they couldn't get key saves and now suddenly, Andrej Pavelich is on fire.

Look for this scene to be replicated in Sochi

With the Olympics about to start, the only important event that matters is Men's Hockey and it will be an amazing tournament. Here are my predictions. 1st, Steven Stamkos will NOT play as he will not be ready to go clearing the way for Steve Yzerman to make amends with his captain and include Martin St. Louis on the team. my next prediction is that the final 4 will be Canada, USA, Sweden and Russia with the final being Canada vs Russia. Last prediction, Russia will find a way to loose it in the last minutes paving the way for the mass exodus of Russian hockey players this summer from Russia back to the NHL as they will be ostracized in the Russian media over and over again about this "crushing" loss.

That's it for me. Until next time...