That’s one way to describe the officiating in Game 3. Horse shit is another, and if you’ve been a reader for a while, you know how I like to reserve that kind of language for times when I’m white hot livid.
The men in striped uniforms tonight put on a horrifying and disgusting display of stupidity and lack of judgment in virtually every way possible. From the linesmen blowing offsides calls or faceoff violations to referees all but making up calls to the final display of complete deficiency in the intelligence department: the early whistle on the tying goal.
This isn’t just about the Wings losing. It’s been a problem all post-season and beyond around the NHL. There is a serious, serious lack of credibility as far as officials are concerned in this League and while the average sports fan may not notice it immediately, it’d certainly be a major turn off once they star to get into the game and actually care about a team.
These men may be good men, but they are failing to do their jobs properly and it’s really damaging the sport. The NHL runs the risk of not only alienating new fans who were looking for a fair sport, but long-time fans who are simply fed up.
Brad Watson’s early whistle tonight was an appalling show of bad judgment and may have cost the Wings a playoff game. Had it gone to overtime, it could have gone either way, but now we’ll never know. All because Watson wasn’t competent enough to keep the puck in his sight.
I’ll go into more detail about the rest of the game later, discussing how the Wings could have avoided the situation with a better effort through 30. But for now, the cold, hard fact is they scored the tying goal with 1:04 left and could have taken this one in overtime despite the slow start except for one Brad Watson, incompetent referee.