For me, defending and siding with the Carolina Hurricanes is like pulling teeth. I will always have a robust hatred for the Carolina Hurricanes as long as Cam Ward, Eric Stahl, and Rod Brind’Amour play for that team. When the Sabres lost to them in 2007 I was devastated on a level I’m ashamed to admit.
With that said, there’s something that happened during last Suday’s game between Boston and Carolina, that I have to address and that I felt strongly enough on to take Carolina’s side. It was literally less than an hour after the game was over before this video of the play was posted on Youtube.
Now…
I’m just going to throw my opinion out there right away. That was a goal even though officials ruled it otherwise. The fact that it wasn’t ruled a goal after it was closely review is laughable. But before I get into that, I just want to bring something up.
About as recently as twelve years ago, the National Football Leauge was an unfair mess. Years prior (1993), the league abolished replay review because they felt it slowed the game down too much. It was a mistake. They didn’t figure officials would miss so many calls but because the field was so big and there were so many small details that were tough to see in real time, the NFL eventually changed it’s policy. Video replays and coaching “challenges” were instated and consequently, officiating in NFL games improved significantly. Aside from a few situations, like the NFL not allowing challenges on penalties or on plays that are prematurely whistled dead, I wouldn’t change the way NFL games are officiated at all. That’s why I think the NFL is the fairest league and has the best officiating system of all major sports.
How is that relevant in what happened in the Boston and Carolina hockey game? The NFL adopted this style of interpreting plays where unless there is conclusive evidence to overturn a referee call that occurred at the moment the play occurred, the result of the play remains as initially called. That makes a lot of sense in football because in many situations, a referees line of site is a lot better than any camera view. In a situation where a referee made a wrong call, the multitude of different camera angles serve as evidence to the contrary and the result of the play is overturned.
I’ve noticed that in the years after the NFL adopted this policy where conclusive video evidence is required to overturn calls, the NHL, as well as the NBA, started to use that same logic. The problem is that type of interpretation simply doesn’t work in the NHL. The speed of the game is too fast and the puck is too small. It’s ridiculous for the NHL to copy the NFL’s policy in this instance especially since the NHL doesn’t seem to have the camera angles required to disprove incorrect calls.
In this particular case late in the second period of the Boston and Carolina game, the overhead camera, which strangely is not in position where the cross-bar overlaps the goal line, makes it impossible to prove, based upon conclusive video evidence, that the puck crossed the line. However from that camera angle, any objective person can see that even though the puck isn’t visibly across the goal line, it is indeed across the line. The NHL rule is that unless the puck is clearly across the goal line, as in unless there is white ice in between the red line and the puck, a goal should not be awarded. If the camera was directly over head where the cross bar and the goal line overlapped, there’s no doubt in my mind that the puck would be clearly over the line.
It’s a judgment call and when it comes to determining whether or not a goal should be awarded, I’m in favor of reducing any ambiguities involved in making that decision. More than that though, I’m principally in favor of getting the call right as I think everyone is. At a certain point, the decision makers should be given the freedom to decide for themselves and not have to adhere to the conclusive evidence rule which essentially handcuffs their honest interpretation.
The NHL needs to change this rule. I’m tired of all the formalities. There shouldn’t need to be conclusive evidence. Just get the call right, is all I’m asking. There seems to be too many situations in hockey where every player, broadcaster, viewer, and official knows the correct call, but because there isn’t a camera angle that shows proof of what really happened, the missed call stands.
I especially can’t stand the fact that the NHL instated this ruling because the NFL has had success with it. Doesn’t the NHL have it’s own identity? And what about how the referees are made to announce the result, using similar diction, just like they do in the NFL. This is a copy-cat world though, I get it.
I know I’m not alone in my feeling that the conclusive evidence policy doesn’t work in hockey. So can we please get rid of it before something crazy happens and the outcome of a game or series is incorrectly determined because of this stupid rule.