Comments on: NHL names officials for 2011 playoffs; Will they actually use their whistles?

By: homelanddefense

homelanddefense — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:00:59 +0000

wait until you see how many calls the Canadiens get up in Montreal. Its bad enough that they are divers, but now the Chara thing will make people more sensitive.

By: emperor83

emperor83 — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:31:16 +0000

Refs tend to get VERY whistle happy, as long as they get to penalize Sabres…

By: balewsquare

balewsquare — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:33:23 +0000

The most noticeable change to me is on dump-ins. Watch how the near-side Dman hinders the forward’s progress, then, to avoid a penalty, turns towards the puck. At this point he just decides to slow down, because he must have forgot that the forechecker is behind him trying to get into the zone. This gives plenty of time for the weak-side Dman to retrieve the puck and start a breakout with very little pressure in his face.

It’s minimal, but for a while it was not allowed at all, so it’s just one step closer to once again allowing the first defenseman to flat-out manhandling the forechecker like he’s a gunner in football.

By: cshearing

cshearing — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:32:49 +0000

I have a huge problem with your basic assertions here. I have noticed little to no change in how the game is officiated with regards to obstruction calls. Scoring is decreasing simply because defensive players and coaches are getting used to the new rules, and finding ways to defend intelligently within them.