The Refereeing Crisis That Wasn't

Penalty boxes are jam-packed as the NHL follows through on its promise of fastidious officiating in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

After a dozen playoff contests, the average is about 13 power plays per game. Out of 69 total goals scored, 29 have come on the power play. What does it all mean? Depends on who you read.

A columnist in Delaware calls the penalty parade "outrageous... a joke... it's ruined the game." Also fuming is this guy in Virginia, who says namby-pamby penalty calls turn playoff hockey into "some sort of light skate that must make old-timers cringe." (Guess he didn't see the Umberger hit.)

Others found the officiating too lax. According to Boltsmag, there are "no rules enforced whatsoever" in the Ottawa-Tampa series, resulting in "anarchy on ice." And Colby Cosh says the Red Wings got away with murder in game one of Detroit-Edmonton.

"I don't think this issue about the reffing is going to go away anytime soon," concludes Eric McErlain at Off Wing Opinion.

But as controversies go, this one is barely breathing. I searched over an hour before finding the above complaints, and for the most part they're no different from what we hear every spring. "Kill the ref!" is among the oldest phrases in the hockey handbook, right up there with "Shoot!" and "Hit him!"

So why is opposition to the current crackdown so tepid? Probably because most folks understand that, for all its maddeningly imperfect execution, better rules enforcement is a sound idea. What's surprising about the current rash of penalties is how obvious most of them look when you see the replay. And habits have already changed: players on the rush have more freedom of movement than they had two years ago.

This law-and-order campaign is slippery as an eel. There’s no telling who will be getting away with what a couple of weeks from now, or a couple of years. But for now, at least, it's up to the players to keep their sticks and hands to themselves. "We knew they were going to be looking to call penalties, so we've got no one to blame but ourselves,'' said Predators' goalie Chris Mason, after San Jose racked up a trio of power play goals in game two. "You can question a couple of them, but that's the same every game."

The same every game, every night, at every rink for time immemorial. No, the refereeing issue won't go away anytime soon. Not as long as people play games and other people watch them.