STRIPES

Charlie Schmiedchen

The NHL referee. Never loved, always hated. Being an NHL ref must be one of the most stressful jobs possible. Not only do you have to keep up with one of the fastest games on earth and constantly make quick and accurate calls, you have to keep your cool as you call them. Because no matter what you do, you will always receive backlash. Call a penalty on one team and the team’s fans go ballistic. But miss the call and the other team’s fans do the same.

Nobody ever cheers for the referee. Nobody ever bats an eye when they make the right call. But as soon as one mistake is made, the boos come raining down. “But it’s okay” you might say, “The referee is supposed to make the right call, not the wrong one.”

This is true. However, the amount of harassment and abuse that officials receive from players, coaches and fans is a lot to take on for one person. That being said, are the referees in the NHL really that bad?

Every call that is made can be seen from different points of views both literally and figuratively. The referee does not play for either team. They are not supposed to be biased towards any individual. The teams and fans that are complaining, do have bias towards a team. It is important to remember this when judging whether something was called correctly or not.

It is also crucial to remember that the referee is on the ice with the players. They are in the moment. Unless something is reviewed, the literal angle that the play is seen from will almost always be different for the ref and the fans or the viewers at home. Let’s take a look at oneof the more controversial calls in this year’s playoffs.

Justin Holl - Interference

In Game 7 of the first round between Toronto and Tampa Bay, John Tavares scored what would have been a crucial, game-tying goal for the Maple Leafs in the 2nd period. However, just before the goal was scored, a penalty was called against Leafs defenceman Justin Holl for what the referees called “setting a pick” on Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli, getting in front of him and not allowing him to pass through to continue defending.

Although this is the correct call- as it is illegal to set a pick on another player in the NHL, the referees still received some backlash from Toronto fans. The complaints were less focused on the actual penalty, and more on the fact that a similar play had occurred in Game 6 of the series involving Ondrej Palat setting a pick on Auston Matthews. The argument was that if the refs didn’t call that penalty, why did they call this one?

Personally, I don’t think that’s a strong argument. What most likely happened was that the referees simply just didn’t see it since it was very quick and they didn’t have the best angle. I would like to mention though that this is not an excuse for every missed call. There is always talk about how playoff hockey is different from regular season hockey and that penalties are called less often in the postseason. While this may be true, and that’s not the end of the world, that isn’t the problem.

NHL referees are constantly called out by fans, teams, and even sports networks because of the lack of consistency in their calls. Consistency is key. It is everything. Standards must be set by referees and then followed. Similar to MLB, in which the home plate umpire might have a different view of the strike zone, but attempts to make consistent calls according to their standards.

It’s true, NHL referees do have a large impact on the outcome of a game and they always will. But until they are more consistent with their calls, the effect they have on the game will not decrease. The NHL needs to hold the referees accountable for bad calls and decisions. This isn’t house league, it’s the show. Fining players for commenting on the officiating and not doing anything else will not help. Once more, it’s okay if a referee misses a call, nobody’s perfect, but the NHL has an officiating problem, and something has to be done.