I write this as I watch one of the worst officiated hockey games I have ever seen. Some "traditionalists" would say it was the best game they have seen. Certainly, Don Cherry was crowing about it. What is it about this game that some would love and I loath? It is the situation where it is a seventh game or overtime and the referees "put away their whistles".
Those who love it think that you are letting the players decide the game. No questionable penalty call or game full of power plays to spoil the action. What I see is an opportunity for lesser players or players that have been cleanly beaten, to grab, hold, hook and slash their way back into the game. The whole point of the new rules was to enable skill players to showcase those skills. When penalties are not called, the point of the rules is lost.
I just watched Mike Milbury say that a penalty is a penalty regardless of what game and at what point in the game the infraction happens. Kelly Hrudey also pointed out that when you don't call anything it becomes river hockey. This is my point exactly. When the rules are not enforced, it cheapens the game. I have been disappointed in this game because I wanted to watch professionals, not a bunch of pond hockey players mugging each other until the ref decides that he saw an infraction of the rules that he has not enforced the entire game.
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