Why the Delay?

An event occurred in the Bandits vs. Knighthawks lacrosse game Saturday night that perhaps irritates me most about referees. Unfortunately, this event occurred several days ago so I might not have the player right but I believe this occurred near the end of the second quarter. A Rochester player was running with the ball and a Buffalo player (Brett Bucktooth I think) gave him a wicked two-handed slash to the legs as if he was trying to cut down a century old tree with one swipe. To my surprise, no penalty was going to be called, that is until the Rochester player fell to the floor. The incident occurred at the ball so the ref had to have been watching so why did it take the player falling down for the penalty to be called?

In the occurrence described above, the play should have resulted in a penalty but I have witnessed several other occasions, in lacrosse but mostly in hockey, where there should not have been a penalty but one was called because the player was injured or acted as such. Many of these instances in hockey occur close to the boards and include an awkward fall of some sort while an opposing player is closing in. On rare occasions, the penalized player does not even touch the injured player at all. Hey refs, if the play does not warrant a penalty or you are not watching the play, do not call a penalty solely based on the players’ reaction; most athletes dabble in the dramatic arts during the off-season and know how to act hurt.

Another variation of this type of ignorance includes the basketball style skirmishes behind the play. Unless the punch, slash, or shove is even seen or if they are intended to cause injury, there is no need to stop the game to call a penalty. I have seen some officials allow play to continue by skating between players to encourage their separation. If the skirmish begins to escalate into something more aggressive, then by all means call a penalty but quit giving penalties on hits or slashes by players who hit their teammates harder in celebration of a goal.

While I am on the subject of bad officiating, it seems NHL’s priorities need to be adjusted in respect to the types of penalties called. The focus this year, and in the recent past, seems to be on the ‘small stuff’ that happens behind the play while almost entirely ignoring the head shots and hits from behind. It is time for the NHL to protect its assets, all of their assets and not just the stars, and put an end to head hunting and hits from behind. Referees seem to give two minute boarding penalties instead of five minute checking from behind penalties and charging penalties instead of boarding. It is time for this practice to end and a check from behind should be penalized as such. Unfortunately, it is going to take a player like Sidney Crosby to be killed on the ice before the NHL takes illegal hits seriously.

One further thing that I think the NHL needs to do better is to protect the goalies. In the limited amount of hockey I have subjected myself to this year, I have seen the goalies being abused with no repercussions. I think the NHL needs to implement rules similar to the NLL of previous years; any contact of the goalie by the opposing team while the goalie is in the crease is a penalty. I felt the rule in the NLL was a little ridiculous but I think it is exactly what the NHL needs for the goalies to get some respect back.