First post of the season…
My first post of the season comes after watching the Montreal Canadiens home opener against the Colorado Avalanche thursday night. I sat down to watch this game pretty content with the state of the habs and of the nhl, but after the game, when I sat down at my computer to write this post, I was full of questions, and I’ll admit, a lot of anger.
I ask my first question, not as a Habs fan, but as a hockey fan, and someone who wants to see this league do well. My question is: what is a penalty? Every hockey fan wants to see consistent reffing for every team, but that was not displayed tonight. It’s the third period, tied 2-2, Gomez goes for the puck in the corner and Cody McLeod comes out of nowhere and unleashes himself on Gomez’s head along the boards. Now, Gomez didn’t get hurt or anything. He wasn’t even dazed. But why should this mean anything?
Everyone always talks about hits to the head, and the impact they have on players and games. This one had a large impact, because Mcleod proceeded to pass the puck to a wide open Ryan O’Reilly in front of the net (left wide open because the person covering him was irate that there was no penalty called) and he proceeded to put one past Price, giving the Avs a 3-2 lead. At this point, there was still about 5 minutes left in the period, and on the next sequence, Pacioretty came racing down the wing, getting held up by an Avs player the whole time and getting forced offside. No call on the play. There is nothing legal about holding a player up through a whole zone, I don’t care what you say. People might see this as the ranting of a Habs fan who is mad to see their team lose, but it really isn’t. I like to see consistency with the refs, as I’m sure every hockey fan does.
The Avs went on to win this game, and I congratulate them on their 5-1-1 start, but the outcome could have been very different had the refs stuck to the rulebook.
