For those of you who think some of our beat-writers lack objectivity and are giant fanboys, I give you this...
Scroll to the bottom portion for the best part (referee critique)!
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/201...rvi-to-injury/
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Referees Tom Kowal/Steve Kozari, 0. The refereeing was so bad in this game that it broke the scale. Some of that was on the linesmen – Taylor Hall was whistled on an icing play which clearly should have been negated – but mostly it was on the referees. The entire Flyers team was out looking for blood after a clean hit by Corey Potter on Scott Hartnell midway through the second period, with many of them confronting Potter. The referees easily could have called a roughing penalty; they didn’t. Then, Magnus Paajarvi’s stick was slashed into two piece by Nicklas Grossman; a penalty should have been called and would have eased the bloodlust, but wasn’t. This led to Hartnell’s kneeing call, a dirty hit that ended Paajarvi’s night and based on severity probably should have been a five minute rather than two minute call. Of course, the whole play could have been avoided if the referees were doing their job in the first place. After that, the game descended into comedy – on three different occasions, Ales Hemsky was cross-checked, with two of them coming away from the puck. No call. Ryan Smyth was mugged away from the puck; Taylor Hall was mauled with the puck. No call. Commentator Louie DeBrusk described the game as being played by “prison rules,” which was the order of the day until late in the third period, where Hall was whistled on a comparatively chintzy slashing call. It was an ECHL-level performance, and reflected very poorly on both men. Of note, the two referees have combined for 783 regular season games, and zero playoff matches. Based on tonight, that’s a trend that seems likely to continue.
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