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Sharks Score! (Oh, wait - never
mind. It's been overturned.)
New rules to ensure
goals are "valid" are frustrating
| 2/12/17 - By Paul Krill -
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These days, NHL hockey is becoming more like NFL
football - and not in a good way. What I'm referring to is the increasing
incidence of goals being overruled - via after-the-fact offside calls or goalie
interference rulings, which can be very subjective. It's similar to NFL
football, where after a touchdown is scored, you have to wait to see if there
were any flags on the play that could overturn the score. No celebrating until
that determination has been made. The other day, the Sharks managed to score
the first goal against the Flyers, only to have it overturned on a coach's
challenge.
The Flyers gambled on getting a goalie interference call
and the gamble worked in their favor. During that play, Kevin Labanc's stick
barely touched the Flyers goalie and then seconds later the puck goes in. Like
Sharks broadcaster Jamie Baker said at the time, there is a lack of consistency
in these calls. The Sharks ended up losing in overtime by, of course, one goal.
We've also seen goals being waved off for offside after the puck is
already in the net. But I think Christina Marleau, Patrick's wife, had it right
in a tweet after a goal her husband scored was waved off: If the refs don't
catch the offside during the game, then the goal should be counted. This would
have been Patrick's 499th career goal on January 31 against Chicago.
Maybe the NHL could implement some old-time "technology" to help manage these
situations. Like Cavity Sam, the holed character in the board game,
"Operation," goalies could have a red light and a buzzer on them. If a goal is
scored when the light and buzzer are on, it doesn't count; it's goalie
interference. (Only the opponents could set off these alarms, so that would
have to be factored into this effort as well.)
For offsides, re-institute the famous Fox glow puck
and tweak it so an alarm is set off if a pair of attacking-team skates crosses
the blue line before the puck does. Play is immediately over if the alarm
sounds.
This Sunday, I was in church during the early morning
Devils-Sharks game, when - OK, I admit it - I checked the score on my phone and
found the Sharks were losing 1-0. But I thought I should check back a couple
minutes later - you never know; the score could have reverted back to 0-0 on a
coach's challenge. There seems to be a lot of that happening.
Of
course, the Sharks could benefit from all this. A goalie interference call
against the Sharks on February 2 was overturned. In fact, the Sharks might
somehow become the benefactor of a wave of goalie interference and offside
calls. But I think we can all the get the point that taking all these goals off
the board on questionable calls is not exactly good for the NHL, where goals
are at a premium, anyway. Let the guys play.
Contact Paul at at
paulkrill@letsgosharks.com
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