Sunday, December 21, 2008

I have to vent.

So last night I had a real good time at my friend's Christmas party. Everything was really nice and relaxing and we were enjoying a good performance by the Sabres. Ryan Miller was standing tall once again. Andrej Sekera was playing great. Chris Butler was showing people that he's ready to be a defenseman in the NHL. Derek Roy was showing that he's continuing to roll by scoring a goal. Cool. Then I see Ryan Miller get interfered with and then we get scored on. How cute. I would mention all the rest of the shit show officiating I saw but I'm sure you remember. So after I saw a lights out peformance by Miller with another 40+ save night, along with the rest of the team working their asses off....I see Montreal win in overtime. So I'm pissed. I wasn't going to let the loss ruin my night and I decided to get my drink on and go downtown with my friends and have a good time. So that's what I did. Despite having a 4'11, 70 pound drunk Asian girl step on my foot (I can't believe how much that shit hurt, she was so tiny but I have the bruise to prove it), I did have a pretty good time.

But then I woke up this morning and I'm even more mad than I was last night. The officiating has become a joke. I know being an official in pro sports is often a thankless job and they can't always be perfect, but seriously. Are these clowns really being paid? They should be ashamed and embarrassed to call themselves NHL officials. I'm sick of it. And this isn't some homer crying over her hometown team getting screwed, I've seen it all over the league. What about that Smith shootout incident? How can 4 officials be watching a 1-on-1 play yet still get the call wrong? Unbelievable. I think everyone knows that there is a bias when a team is coming into Montreal to play a game. Especially if the officials are from Quebec. It should not be allowed, it's an obvious conflict of interest. Maybe if the officials can show that they aren't biased in favor of their hometown team, then there wouldn't be a problem. But they haven't showed that. It only took a 5-on-3, a 4-on-3, and goaltender interference for the Habs to take a win from us. I bet it's comforting for Habs fans to know that the officiating will help their team earn a win whenever they are playing in their building. Here's a quote that stuck out to me, it's from the ref that was honored at the beginning of the game...the one from Montreal:

“For all the times you miss something, I had a pretty good view of this one,” Jackson said. “I was in my hometown and Montreal scored in overtime, but you’re paid to do a job, so I did my job and disallowed the goal.”
Seriously? You're trying to get credit for disallowing a blatantly obvious no-goal? Yay? You did your job? Good for you. He also makes it no secret that he was rooting for Montreal. Surprise, surprise.

It's just frustrating knowing that your team deserved to win but the officiating helped take a point away. It pisses me off. I know teams have to play through the officiating, and the Sabres have (Pittsburgh Penguins games anyone?), but it's kind of hard to win a game when Montreal gets a 5-on-3, two 4-on-3's, and a goal scored due to our goalie being interfered with. Look, I know that the Sabres still need to learn how to be more disciplined, but I just want to see an evenly officiated game so the most deserving team can leave with a victory. Dare to dream, right?

5 comments:

Cari said...

Look, I know that the Sabres still need to learn how to be more disciplined, but I just want to see an evenly officiated game so the most deserving team can leave with a victory. Dare to dream, right?

You and me both, toots.

Jill said...

Good post... bravo.

Caroline said...

Thanks you two.

TheRick said...

Last night's game the officiating was terrible. Calling 2 penalties in OT? That is a bit ridiculus. I feel that the team needs to buckle down a bit, to avoid those calls all together. Watch these three teams Leafs, Habs and Pens. You will see a big difference in how the game is called for them then the majority of other teams in the NHL.

As for the no goal, with TB the ruling was Smith threw his stick which results in a goal. Technically that would be the right call, except the rule states that as soon as the puck is stopped the play is over. Smith clearly stopped the puck before he threw his stick, so the play should have stopped then and there. The throwing of the stick should not have factored. It was a judgement call by the ref. Either way he would have gotten grief over it.

Caroline said...

I agree calling 2 penalties is pretty ridiculous. It was pretty brutal to only have 39 seconds left in OT and then have one called against us...

You know, I don't think Smith threw his stick at all. He dropped it, but there is no rule against dropping your stick. It looks like he makes the save with his blocker (some people think it deflected off his stick first) and then he drops his stick. But I see no way how anyone can think that Smith intentionally threw his stick at Hedjuk.