Not only did the National Hockey League on-ice officials miss an egregious high-sticking call against the Washington Capitals for an incident that resulted in a broken cheekbone for Andrew Copp, but they also drew the wrath of New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette.
During last night's game at UBS Arena between the Rangers and the rival New York Islanders, Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad was nailed by Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech in the neutral zone, clearly shaking him up and causing him to leave the contest, though he would later return to the bench.
The Rangers coach was angry afterward:
“He came back at the end from that vicious hit,” a clearly agitated Laviolette explained afterward. “He came back. That vicious shoulder, elbow to the head. Watch it.”
Meanwhile, forward Vincent Trocheck gave the officials a frank piece of his mind after there was no penalty called when he was hit from behind by Noah Dobson:
“I think we owned the game,” Laviolette said. “The puck was on our sticks the entire second and third periods. It was hard out there tonight having to get through all of that. What we’re talking about, it was hard, but our guys kept fighting and battling until the end."
What is it going to take for these on-ice officials to be held accountable for their blatant screwups on the ice?
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