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Canucks coach Vigneault calls out referee O’Halloran

Alain Vigneault

Vancouver Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault had some interesting comments in the wake of Duncan Keith’s elbow on Daniel Sedin, taking umbrage not with the Chicago defenseman, but rather the referee that issued only a two-minute elbowing minor.

“We got a big two-minute power play off that hit from the same referee -- remember last year when Daniel got punched six times in the face in the Boston series?” Vigneault told the Vancouver Sun. “I seem to remember it was the same guy.”

Vigneault’s referencing Dan O’Halloran, who worked Wednesday’s game against Chicago and Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals -- the game where Marchand speedbagged Sedin:

Sedin and Marchand both got 10-minue misconducts while Marchand got an extra two for roughing. Vancouver’s beef was that 1) Sedin got penalized for doing nothing, and 2) Marchand wasn’t given more.

Now, to be fair -- O’Halloran was working Game 6, but wasn’t exactly involved in the Sedin-Marchand incident. As the video shows, Kelly Sutherland was the guy trying to break it up and signaling to the penalty box; O’Halloran arrives late and just sorta stares at what’s transpired.

Not that the Canucks care about semantics. In their eyes, O’Halloran worked two games where Sedin was on the receiving end of controversial hits and questionable penalties.

It’ll be interesting to see what comes of Vigneault’s comments. Unlike Stephane Auger -- another referee that’s been publicly scrutinized by the Vancouver organization -- O’Halloran is a veteran official with a wealth of postseason experience (and international, working the gold medal game at the 2010 Olympics.)

There’s a good chance he and the Canucks will cross paths again, quite possibly in the playoffs.