A regular season botched call is much more forgivable than a botched call in an elimination game; Thompson vs Coleman
By now, I'd imagine that most have seen the videos circulating of Blake Coleman's third period goal in Game 5 to put the Flames ahead by one in the late stages of the game. You'll also likely know that referees Wes McCauley and Eric Furlatt called the goal back due to a "distinct kicking motion". In the event that you're one of the ones who has yet to see the play, here's various angles of it, showing that clearly there was no kicking motion was made, but rather a redirection by Coleman on a puck that may have crossed the goal line anyway.
In my opinion, when these types of calls happen in the regular season, it's a much more forgivable offence. When they happen in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in an elimination game, something's gotta give. The NHL has shown time and time again an unwillingness to hold its officials accountable. What's worse is that the League has essentally put a gag order on its players, coaches and executives in the form of hefty fines for criticizing the decisions of the officials publicly to almost eliminate any possibility of officials being held accountable by people outside of the NHL offices.
There's a video from earlier this season circulating of a goal by an Ottawa Senators player clearly kicking a puck into a wide open Leafs net, completely unimpeded - a goal which was allowed to stand, despite the fact that there was much more of a kicking motion than the one displayed by Coleman on Thursday in Calgary. This one from last season by Nate Thompson is far more egregious, and also counted. AGAINST THE FLAMES.
I'm sorry, but what are we doing here? Is the League seriously okay with pretending that these types of botched calls are acceptable? Like I said, regular season, fine. It's marginally more forgivable. But in an elimination game, where you have a chance to bring in an additional game's worth of revenue, these types of calls have to be made correctly. Full stop.
| POLL | ||
MAI 27 | 241 ANSWERS A regular season botched call is much more forgivable than a botched call in an elimination game; Thompson vs Coleman What should the NHL do about Wes McCauley and Eric Furlatt? | ||
| Fine them both | 13 | 5.4 % |
| Cut them from officiating round 3 games | 48 | 19.9 % |
| Acknowledge the botched call publicly | 48 | 19.9 % |
| All of the above | 132 | 54.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
