Too many penalty calls are followed by little theatrical interludes: The guilty hockey player gazes about innocently, discovers he is the culprit and assumes a slack-jawed look of shock and amazement. He throws his head back with a scowl and glides slowly to the penalty box, protesting his innocence the entire way. He pauses at the door to scream a few choice obscenities before slamming it shut and slumping on the bench, shaking his head at the sad state of justice in this world. If it's a close game or a particularly embarrassing infraction, he may stand up, lean over the glass and continue yapping at opponents and referees.

Across the ice, the coach makes a big show of glaring at everyone, throws his arms in the air and calls the ref over for a consult. Team mates show their solidarity by skating in slow circles and delaying the resumption of play for as long as possible, as if making us all wait an extra 15 seconds will somehow improve the quality of NHL refereeing.

Then there are the supposed missed calls: Theoren Fleury of the Rangers is knocked on his butt by Zdeno Chara, the huge Senators' defenseman. Fleury bounces up off the ice and looks to the referee, expecting Chara will be sent off for two minutes. The referee doesn't see it that way and play continues. Rather than accept the decision and move on, Fleury takes up a spirited and useless argument. Perhaps he believes that someday, if he pleads his case well enough, he can convince an NHL referee to change his mind about a penalty call. No one has ever seen this happen, but there's a first time for everything.

Fleury is among the worst complainers, but the scene is hardly unusual. Almost every NHL game is punctuated by the spectacle of millionaire hockey players trailing referees all over the ice, whining like teenagers who have just been refused the car keys.

Hockey referees are hardly flawless. Inconsistency, missed infractions and debatable penalty calls are common to their work. But one of the first lessons a hockey player learns is that justice is imperfect. NHL players are professionals. Is it too much to ask them to behave like it?