Former NHL officials share their thoughts on the Dennis Wideman hit.

Former officials don't hold back their feelings.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 8 years ago
Former NHL officials share their thoughts on the Dennis Wideman hit.

The hit Calgary Flames forward Dennis Wideman delivered to an NHL official has been one of the biggest stories of the week, and now former officials are speaking out and they aren't pulling any punches.

Sportsnet's Mark Spector had several officials speak to him, on the record and here's a look at what one of them had to say.

“It doesn’t matter if he got hit before, or if he was not in full (consciousness),” said former long-time NHL referee Denis Morel. “No less than 10 games for sure. That was, in my books, a cheap shot."

One linesman who spoke off the record gave the most damning account of the hit however.

“He looks for a call and doesn’t get one. So, in my mind he’s pissed off at the referees at that point,” the ex-linesman said. “I read what he said, and I know he apologized. However, he’s looking straight ahead. He’s not dazed, just a little bit hurt in my opinion. Then he sees Hendy, he’s pissed off at anything in stripes, and he whacks him.

“What else could it be? He doesn’t try to get out of Henderson’s way. Hockey players are pretty good skaters. Even if he sees him at the last second, does that mean he has to cross check him in the back?

“It was a dirty thing, and he knew what he was doing in my mind.”

Even one former official who spoke highly of Wideman's character found the play difficult to defend.

“I know Wideman’s a good guy, I always loved him on the ice. But he made a bad decision,” the ref said.

For all of the comments from former officials you can view Mark Spector's full report here.

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