A lot of people will watch an ice hockey game and see someone get tripped and wonder why it's not a penalty for tripping.
Hockey officiating is based a lot on judgement and there are generally four criteria that race through an official's mind before calling a penalty:
1) Was a scoring opportunity lost or gained?
2) Was there a change of possession?
3) Was it obvious?
4) Is there injury potential?
The No. 1 criteria, however, is that the offending team cannot gain an advantage by making a play that breaks the rules.
The NHL is letting this slip and needs to make some changes, one minor and one major.
A pet peeve of mine is watching my team win a faceoff only to see the linesman blow the play dead because the other team cheated on their positioning. Then they re-do the fa ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Brian Winett
Comments Off on NHL Officiating: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime