The NHL idea of putting it’s most tenured referee’s instead of it’s best referee’s in charge of the nationally televised Stanley Cup Finals is making it fall flat on it’s face. TV rating are down almost 20% over last year, and one of the first places to post that the ratings are down on their website was ESPN. For those of you who don’t know, ESPN is one of the places that the NHL and Gary Bettman has been courting for a new TV contract. ESPN: “Ratings down for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals”
The Referee’s Bill McCreary and Paul Devorski are the old dinosaurs of the NHL from the 80’s who do not call interference, clutching, or grabbing. How embarrassing is it for the NHL when one of their announcers goes on 5 minute rants about the interference not being called in the game, not just once, but at least three times and he was right. Even more embarrassing is that during what is supposed to be the NHL’s golden hour, the top scorer in the regular season and the top scorer in the playoffs gets into a fight because he has no recourse because the old farts would not call a penalty.
A prime example of the NHL being backwards is the “Phoenix War” that Gary Bettman is currently waging. Here is a place that does not support hockey, a team that the NHL has been pumping money into for years, a place that has one of the lowest TV ratings around and Bettman is trying to save it for what? Hamilton is a place that can not only support a team, it would bring in a owner with tons of loot who loves hockey and it would create a huge rivalry. It has been said many times that Toronto could support two teams like New York City’s 3 teams.
The NHL owners need to sit down and vote in a new NHL. Bring in younger more dynamic thinking individuals to run the league, pay off the old dinosaur referees and send them on their way, then enter into a new age of a fast, hard hitting, fun to watch NHL.
During the years that we were filing for our (third?) Bankruptcy and the team looked like a bucket of crapola the attendance here wasn’t good either and the NHL poured bucks into it. A little bit of difference being that this really is a hockey town, obviously. But… Balsillie has pretty much been stonewalled from getting a team. I think it’s because of two things: The first being Toronto and Buffalo who don’t want a team in Hamilton and now a lot because of Gretzky’s investment about to go down the toilet.
In my opinion (and the hockey purists hate this) if the NHL would expand all at once in Houston, Kansas City, Seattle, Winnipeg, Quebec City, Las Vegas, Hartford, and Cleveland (that’s right, Cleveland) it would shake up a few teams and also create more jobs and put a bit of a crimp in the KHL at the same time. If each team had to offer-up 6 to 7 players off their current roster for a draft and let the new ones go after free agents the league would not only be larger and attract more markets but also would finally put a rest to teams moving. This would be adding jobs the right way.
Boombastic for President – I’ll show ‘ja stimulus. Boom -Boom -Boom
I read somewhere that rating for game 2 was up, but I can’t remember the exact number. They need a better rating system for the refs and if they refuse to make the calls – especially during the prime time games, toss them out on their keister.
The whole Phoenix thing, I’m torn about because they probably should have never put a team there, yet that Bastille SP?? idiot tried to take our team also, and look how well we are doing.
Blame the officials! Always the last bastion of a loser.
I’m sorry but these games have been action packed and thrilling.
You are so wrong. This is not my last bastion. It is my first! 🙂 (hopefully not the first of many)
This is a tree that I’ve been barking up for a long time. You can check out: https://penguinpoop.com/ppoops/2009/the-nhl-let-them-play-mentality/
Detroit is working a style created by Babcock that they’ve been playing for as long as he’s been coaching, the players come down to fore check and the Detroit D for a split second interferes just anough to take away their momentum. The refs don’t call it because it is so slight.
It is like in the 70’s the Steelers line men used to up and pop the other guys at the line real fast just to get the edge, they didn’t make it illegal until the 80’s and they figured out what they were doing, by then we had 4 superbowls.
Anyhow, while most refs have been calling the stuff I mentioned up top, a certain older few don’t. Just so you know, 1 of Eddie O’s 3 rants were about a Penguin interfering with a Detroit player off of the faceoff.
The Red Wings are clutching and grabbing our players. Basically, because they are to old to keep up. Nothing to do with the refs, just something everyone has noticed.
The refs are old as well, so they probably have trouble keeping up with the plays as well.
GO PENZ!