Fans remain shocked at what took place in Vancouver on Saturday night when Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Calvert was involved in a horrific incident, in which he took an Elias Pettersson shot directly to the face from close range. The Canucks were clear possession of the puck in the offensive zone and Petterson himself even motioned to the officials that Calvert was badly hurt. However, referees Justin St-Pierre and Garrett Rank and linesmen Kiel Murchison and Shandor Alphonso allowed play to continue…
And we all know how it ended for the Avalanche…
Under Rule 8 that deals with injuries, the NHL rulebook states that, “If the player’s team is in control of the puck at the time of the injury, play shall be stopped immediately unless his team is in a scoring position.” But then it goes on to say, “In the case where it is obvious that a player has sustained a serious injury, the Referee and/or Linesman maystop the play immediately.”
We were almost certain that the NHL would want to go over this at the GMs meeting in Toronto, but… they didn’t!
They could have just told referees that they must stop play if they believe a player has been seriously injured! And it seems like the referees on the ice that night won’t be penalized for their poor judgement. Here is what Darren Dreger had to say on Tuesday nights’ Insider Trading:
“Stephen Walkom, the director of officiating for the National Hockey League also made a presentation to the general managers and he brought up the incident involving Matt Calvert where Calvert took a puck to the head recently in a game against the Vancouver Canucks. The message to the on-ice officials is pretty clear, if you think the injury is serious, blow the whistle. Some would like it to go a bit further and apply common sense to it, yes if a player is struck in the head and goes down for one-second or ten-seconds whatever it is, the time doesn’t matter blow the whistle and call it dead.”
Any thoughts?
