Interesting take on the officiating in the finals. I don't think I agree with it completely (other than the horrible non-call on Datsyuk at the end of the game and that charging call on Drake was pretty weak, though there were a number of calls and non-calls both ways throughout, always are in a series).
http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=573430
Officials tipped toward Pens' favour in final
Tony Gallagher, Canwest News Service Published: Sunday, June 08, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Now that the Stanley Cup has been awarded to the Detroit Red Wings and any emotion from any one particular game has faded, we would be remiss if we didn't seriously ask some questions about what actually took place in that final series with respect to the officiating.
Having been around the NHL pretty much since the dawn of man, I have watched a lot of games and have seen a lot of good and bad calls by good and bad referees, and I rarely address this topic.
By and large the NHL officials are outstanding individuals whom any corporation would be thrilled to have represent them in almost any situation.
When the way the game was officiated swung back and forth in pendulum fashion over the years, you knew that these guys were always just doing what they were instructed to do by the New York office.
And when the most important games were played, the most experienced, senior officials were front and centre.
And even though the referees of the day would frequently call virtually nothing once the third period began and the game moved into overtime, there was never any sense of anything fishy.
The breaks involved in officials' judgments always seen to balance out over a series of games. There was no such feeling at this year's final.
While nobody really wanted to say so, how could you have possibly watched the calls in that series and not had the feeling that somehow, consciously or more likely unconsciously, there was a slant toward favouring the Pittsburgh Penguins?
While it seemed to be prevalent most of the series, at times to a far lesser extent, the final 20 seconds of Game 6 illustrated the problem perfectly.
With Detroit just having given up a power-play goal that allowed Pittsburgh to get to within 3-2 with under two minutes to go, the Pens had their goalie out and the Wings under siege.
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.
No call.
Pittsburgh then got the puck, stormed the other end and nearly tied the game in the last second.
This call wasn't missed. There is absolutely no conceivable way it could have been missed.
But the officials chose not to end the Penguins' season. In fact, for the first time in all my years of viewing hockey, I was overwhelmed by a sense that there existed a desperate need to keep this series going for the good of the game, no matter how far rule interpretations had to be stretched.
The most difficult part came once the series began to gain momentum and it became abundantly obvious the television ratings in the U.S. were building with every game and the league was sending out press releases to one and all that this was the case.
That's when things began to get a touch malodorous. With Detroit leading 2-1 in the third period of Game 4, the 1:26 of five-on-three time awarded Pittsburgh comes to mind.
In OT of Game 5, with the series a goal away from extinction, the two goalie interference calls that had Detroit head coach Mike Babcock steamed enough he felt compelled to complain to the media the following day didn't seem to pass the smell test.
There was Dallas Drake's charging penalty when in fact he was scarcely moving and barely made contact. The fact that one team had virtually all the five-on-three time, often for extended periods, was troubling.
And then there was the Datsyuk no-call, one that would have set off an absolute firestorm for hockey had the Pens sent it to overtime.
Of 10 experienced media types consulted about the officiating after the series, not one said they thought it was all right.
The responses of most can be summed up with a simple head shake and the response "not good."
Much has been made by some of the fact that the league didn't seem to use the most experienced people, but instead those who were vigilant about calling the touch stick fouls that have improved the game. And that may have been a factor. But the fact remains the officials who were used are generally very good at their craft.
Sorry, but there was something just not right about the way that series went down.