Referee offers very strange reason as to why a penalty wasn't called
This week, NHL officials have been very busy with announcing called back goals, good goals that should have been called back and providing reasons as to why or why not the call on the ice was confirmed or overturned. Last night, we got to hear one of the stranger explanations as to why a penalty wasn't called.
During last night's game between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars, Mason Marchment delivered a high stick to the face of Josh Manson. Manson immediately fell to the ice and play was stopped. Expecting a penalty, the Avalanche weren't exactly happy when they heard there would be no penalty on the play because it was missed entirely.
After the stoppage, the referee skated to center ice and gave fans a very puzzling explanation saying, "The play was killed due to an injury, there is no injury and no penalty." The reason for the no call is because none of the officials saw the high stick during play and that is not a reviewable play, so because there was no injury to Manson (lost teeth, cut) they could not award a powerplay to the Avalanche.
We often see this happen in the NFL, where a flag is thrown on the play, but after a brief huddle with the officials, an announcement is made that there is no penalty on the play and the down is played over. I think it's just such a rare occurrence in hockey that, when it does happen, it seems entirely odd.
