Mike Chen puts up a few comments regarding early exhibition play and penalty results in those games:
As expected, the pre-season has led off with some teams not understanding the crackdown on obstruction. The LA Kings have been one of the early consistent offenders with 11 penalties against San Jose and 12 penalties against Anaheim. Amazingly, a Minnesota/Chicago game had a grand total of only 3 penalties. On the other hand, Chicago was in the box for 17 penalties against Calgary, so what works for one pre-season roster may not necessarily work for another….that or one ref squad is calling games a certain way and another ref squad is calling games entirely different.
It’s the same-old-same-old in the league, or at least that is what I am fearing. While we’ll see a strict enforcement of rules at times, that will slowly fade and what once was called will be overlooked. It happens every year, every single frigging year and when the playoffs commence? Rules are out the door…
I got livid during the 2003-04 playoffs because it was a mockery what wasn’t being called. It’s detrimental not only to the game being played but the future of the sport when someone watching a game sees two different interpertations of a suspected infraction… In one game? It’s called, in another? It’s overlooked for the sake of “letting them play” or not interfering with the rhythem of the game…
It’s coaches jobs to make sure their players don’t interfer with the rhythem of the game — play smart or bench the guy for infractions – and the refs job to call penalties so players know not to do that kind of crap on ice! It’s that simple, and yet it’s been incomprehensible for some reason…
