Was the officiating "fixed" during the SC finals?

Question

One of my friends sent me this article about possibility of the officiating being fixed infavor of the Penguins. I hadn't really given it much thought (since the Wings won) but the author makes some interesting points.

http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=573430

"But with about 18 seconds left, Pavel Datsyuk of the Wings

managed to skate free with the puck, skate it out over the blue-line, but as he readied a shot toward the open net, he was hauled down with an abundantly obvious stick foul so blatant that Helen Keller would have been forced to raise her arm."

What are you thoughts?

Answer 1

No, this is not the NBA, and anyone who actually takes the time to look at the numbers, the breakdown by period and the timing of the calls with an objective mind would also realize that this guy is fishing and coming up empty.

Over the 6 game series, the Penguins were assessed 41 penalties.  The Red Wings were assessed 36.  

Personally, I believe the series was called more evenly than that, so let's take game 2 into account. That was the only game that was particularly chippy and also the only game where the Pens received far and away more penalties than the Wings.  In that game, the Red Wings scored a power play goal at 8:48 of the 3rd period to make it 3-0 and the game went downhill from there.  That was the point at which the Penguins lost their cool after that.  The penalties assessed before 8:48, Pens 7, Wings 5.  The penalties assess after 8:48, Pens 8, Wings 3.  Let's take it to the point of just dropping those penalties since the Pens stirred most of the trouble and all of the Red Wings penalties were retaliatory.  

That leaves our total, during the remainder of the series when both teams played hockey, at 32 penalties for the Penguins and 33 for the Red Wings.  Now let's address the specific instances that the author addresses.  

Game 6, 19:40, 3rd: Trip in the neutral zone that should have been called.  He makes a valid point, it should have been called.

Game 5, Overtime: 2 goaltender interference calls.  One was borderline, one was a black and white call, neither was a horrible call.  There were two other calls made in the OT, one on each team.  

Game 4, 10:10 3rd: The Penguins get a 5 on 3 advantage for 1:36.  I will quote the author, "The fact that one team had virtually all the five-on-three time, often for extended periods, was troubling."  There were a grand total of two 5 on 3 situations aside from game 2 which were against the Red Wings, but there were still only two aside from game 2.

My point to this novel is that statistics can be spun in any direction necessary to make a point.  The officials in every sport are under extreme scrutiny, even more so since the incident involving the NBA official was caught fixing games.  The officials are under as much pressure as the players, working these games mean as much to their futures and careers as they do to the players.  There is no way that they are going to fix a game.  If the league wanted to force the Penguins to a win in this series, it could have been done.  If they wanted to force a game 7, it would have been done far early and the game would likely have never been in question.  Do the officials make mistakes, without question they miss calls every game and some of them appear so blatant to us that it isn't even funny.  There is no way that I can buy the line that this guy is trying to feed us though.

Answer 2

There were bad calls for sure. But if you watched the regular season the same bad calls were made.

There are too many refs making calls from across the ice just because they see someone fall to the ice. If you don't see the hook, but you think it was possible, and someone falls, you don't have to make a call.

Answer 3

I don't think you can call it a fix but it was some bad calls and at times in both directions.  If the refs were really fixing the games then the penguins would have won not the wings.

Answer 4

No, it was not "fixed." The notion that there was some conspiracy against the Wings is ridiculous. I don't see how any unbiased fan who watched the series could think so. The calls and missed-calls were consistently bad for BOTH teams. I realize many fans around the NHL passionately dislike the Penguins, but to suggest that the referees were intentionally conspiring against Wings is just silly.

Answer 5

i agree. but we won anyway, so it just makes me happier. As Chris Osgood said, we beat the Pens and the Refs

Answer 6

The officiating "fixing" - NO

The officiating doing a S****y job with penalty calls - YES

Answer 7

That quote comes from an article by a sportswriter. It should not be confused with an unbiased viewpoint.

I watched the entire SC myself, and noticed no unfair officiating.

Answer 8

No, not "fixed" just awful.

Answer 9

I agree that the officiating was poor.  It's a struggle to say yeah it was "fixed" but I think maybe subconsciously something might have been going on with the ref.  It happens a lot and in a way it's good that with hockey there is as much video replay as there is.  In soccer for example there is no video goal replay and refs can and do make or break a team all the time (like we are seeing now in the championship.)

Answer 10

STOOOOP WHINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

That's what I think! The games are not "fixed" if anything was "fixed" for the Penguins they would not have lost!

Honestly, none of the games are actually "fixed" we may find little details that make us think for example....did you know 4 out of 5 of the games the Penguins lost were offciated by the same two idiots? Hmmm, sounds kind of odd.

Maybe we should all stop whining about the refs. What's done is done. And actually I saw a lot of obstruction coming from the Wings that the refs didn't call. And there was a lot coming from the Pens they didn't call.

The refs aren't perfect....they never have been.

You know the refs don't win the game. Sometimes you have to make your own luck. If the refs are calling your way...make your own luck!

Stop the whining pleeeeeeease.

Answer 11

First place. Haley got it almost right. Look at the guy would you buy a used car from him. Not only that he's from Vancouver. In Vancouver when somebody comes up with that kind of a comment, they don't ask him what have you been smoking, they ask where have you been breathing. Air in Vancouver is thicker than at a sixties sit in.

Answer 12

If you could research some of my YA posts you would see that I have mentioned that the officiating was slanted in this series towards the Penguins (meaning - the Penguins should have won game 6). It's nice to finally see a newspaper have the balls to report this.

I also mentioned that I honestly believe that the Wings were supposed to lose game 6 and that they are now on Bettman's sh.it list because they won the game instead of listening to Bettman.

The veteran hockey fans should have noticed the craptastic officiating calls by OHallihan (aka Bettman's b.it.ch). It was painfully obvious that Bettman's intention was to make as much money as possible by stretching this series as long as possible in an attempt to take game 7 back to Detroit.

This series would have been a sweep by Detroit if it were not for Bettman's chronies (aka referees and OHallihan being the kingpin).

Answer 13

No, it's over and done with. It's not a big deal, officials make mistakes, they're human. They have a very difficult job that no matter what they do, they get people angry at them. They always get ripped on right call or not. I don't catch half of the penalties that the Refs catch, for the most part.

Answer 14

i am a wings fan, and happy they won. but i do believe the calls or lack there of were horrendous.

personaly i think it is becuase crosby is the golden child of the nhl. he was supposed to win to bring hockey back into the everyday household. so they did what they could to stack the odds in his favor. he is a good player but the nhl has put too much hype into this kid. i think ovechkin is a better player .

too much hype in crosby. even when detroit scored a monumental goal at a pivitol moment they showed more replays of a goal he almost scored then the actual goal from detroit.

Answer 15

Cornpuff, you are smarter than that...do you trust his face?

http://www.faceoff.com/hockey/columnists...

My thoughts are.........the scorecard says Detroit won the Stanley Cup.  If the refs were trying to let the Pens win...they did a VERY bad job of it.

Edit:  Yep, not really a looker.

Answer 16

This isn't basketball.

Answer 17

who cares/////// DETROIT BEAT THE PENS,THE REF'S AND THE HIGH UP'S IN THE N.H.L. ALONG WITH THE T.V. GUYS    (watched hockey for over 50 yrs and NEVER saw a ref call those cheap a$$ calls they call in over time like they did and then let the one go that was on pitts ,,so what do you think??

Answer 18

No home skillet. You have it all wrong...

In Fact everyone who thinks the NHL is fixed has it all wrong. It is not fixed. It doesn't have the money, Nor would it be accurate. Its not fixed. NO NO NO NO.

Answer 19

I realize that what follows will make me seem like a hypocrite, but it doesn't if you consider the possibilities.

Many times have I posted questions and answers that stated players determine outcomes of games. I've been consistent in that belief in all the sports categories that I frequent.

However, there are things going on that my 48 years of experience with humans tells me that the "goings-on" related to Tim Donagey of the NBA isn't an isolated incident. Given how much money is involved in big league sports and how much can be lost or gained at stake, I don't easily dismiss the possibility that outcomes are determined by people other than the players.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I am a pragmatist. I try to reason my way through any such notions. And that is why - on a reasonable level - that I find it likely that officiating in the NHL is beset with favoritism.

A long time ago, one Edward Snider complained that the officials and the NHL in general were out to get the Flyers. This was before the clear offsides that a referee missed during the 1979-80 Finals vs. the Islanders.

Again, I was skeptical. Refs are people who are capable of mistakes and yet I often questioned the intelligence and quality of NHL management. There isn't enough to convince me either way that the NHL fixes outcomes or not.

And that is the problem.

Answer 20

the only reason that author wrote it is too try to get the pens like kicked out cuz they too gud becuz they gunna win next year