Four minutes for looking so ugly

Last night's debacle at the 'dome did little to diminish my love of the "new" NHL, considering that the awful refereeing did not get in the way of what proved to be an exciting divisional match-up. At the same time, while I am an adamant believer that officiating does not win or lose games for teams, they can certainly make a fan leave the rink with a bad aftertaste in the mouth. Case in point: I have never heard a louder chorus of boos than the ones which resounded the rink during the defeat of the Flames at the hands of the Canucks in their first tilt of the new year. It wasn't anything to start a fundraiser over but it was definitely worth commentary.

The referees in question, Brad Watson and (of course) Mick McGeough, are probably the two worst in the league and should never be paired together again. An example of their artful display would be an incident in the first period, where Canucks' d-man Wille Mitchell looks as if he'd like to spread butter over the entire body of Flames' winger Kristian Huselius with his stick. Mitchell is rightfully called for the hook. Strangely, however, Huselius, who was already off-balance when Mitchell illegally checked him, was also called for the dive where no such dive occurred.

What made matters worse (though not for Flames' fans) was during the second period when Huselius was sweeping in on a forecheck and, as he approached the Vancouver crease, he incidentally caught the foot of goaltender Roberto Luongo and performs perhaps the sweetest impersonation of Greg Louganis I've ever seen. Watson hesitates, hears the thunderous booing from above and calls the penalty -- on Luongo. It was embarrassing to see a man crack so easily.

But it got even worse: missed holds, arbitrarily picking out the wrong man in a scrum, completely missing obvious infractions in front of the net -- McGeough and Watson made a mockery of the game.

As George Johnson put it: "McGeough and Watson couldn’t have been more conspicuous if they’d skated out onto the ice in the buff."

There is one instance where I will give them credit, and that occurred following Matthew Lombardi's first goal of the evening, when Canuck's d-man Kevin Bieksa gave a pitchfork to a Flames player. Calgary d-man Andrew Ference came into the fray and started a fight with the larger Bieksa (call it a draw) and was assessed a four-minute penalty for as the instigator (Bieksa, who was burned bad on the play, got the slashing call). Fans were livid; After getting the shaft all game and after a big goal which could have swung the momentum in their favour, why was Ference receiving the extra two minutes? How the hell does a player get four minutes for instigating?

The answer: a recent rule change has it now that, "If a player penalized as an instigator of an altercation is wearing a face shield, he shall be assessed an additional Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty." Ference, who wears a visor, fell under this ruling, as seen in the game sheet. So, even though I don't like the instigator rule in general, in this case, McGeough and Watson got it right, and I take back all the nasty things I said about them at the time of the call, and I should also apologize to those kids sitting in front and to the right of me. (The little gaffers probably don't know what a douche-slurper is anyways).

Like I said, the officiating wasn't anything to start a fundraiser over, but the NHL has got to begin to demand more consistency in their on-ice officials. The linesmen are generally wonderful, and the refs are generally good, but once you get a pair of substandard refs out on the ice, it diminishes the experience of all the fans (save for the dipshit wearing the Bertuzzi jersey sitting behind us; that guy was in asshole heaven).

I get to go to about one game a month, and this is at considerable expense, and I don't need to be leaving the game pissed off at the refs. Let the other team do it for me instead.