Are NHL Refs Being Fair? Should they be Accountable?

There are a lot of different people that determine the outcome of a hockey game, but some individuals that should never contribute to a win or a loss for a particular team are the referees. NHL referees are there for one thing — to make calls based on the actions of the players. Penalties should never be the ref’s fault, but just a call that was made in consequence of an action. And referees will never score a goal, but they will make the call when one is made. Lately though, it’s been a different story on the ice, and players and coaches are starting to get upset.

Bad calls have always been an issue in the NHL, and will be until they can figure out a different, completely unbiased method of calling hockey games – so for a little while longer at least. But lately it’s seemed to have gotten to the point of ridiculous. At the end of January, Burrows made a statement to the press about referee Stephane Auger, saying that Auger had told him in the pre-game skate he was going to penalize him for an incident in a prior game, and Auger received two crucial penalties that game. After an investigation by the NHL, it was found that not only had Auger done nothing wrong, but Burrows was fined for making the statement.

Also in the past few weeks, the Ottawa Senators have been having a problem with referee Dan O’Rourke. O’Rourke was the referee for a string of Sens’ games at the end of January and beginning of February. All the games O’Rourke refereed for, the Senators lost and at the end of each game, questions were raised about calls made on the ice. Still, even with fans and critics asking questions, the NHL backed up their ref, saying that he was a “Stanley Cup, top-notch official” and that they were certain he had “an impartial perspective.”

Most recently when the New York Rangers played the New Jersey Devils Tuesday, a Rangers’ goal was waved off by the ref, saying that Anton Volchenkov had interfered with goaltender Marty Brodeur. Volchenkov’s stance is that the call was unfair and the goal should have counted, because he was pushed into the goalie by Jersey forward Marian Gaborik. The Rangers ended up losing that game 1-0.

So the question is, how can the NHL make the referees more accountable for their actions? Or do they even want to? It certainly doesn’t seem fair to the players, having to take unfair calls that determine outcomes of close games, and then aren’t even allowed to say anything about it for fear of consequences by the NHL. If the NHL won’t allow players to answer questions about bad calls made, why doesn’t the NHL make the refs responsible, and put them in front of the microphones after the games?

Categorized in: NHL