Sharks captain Joe Pavelski comments on the state of officiating in the playoffs.

This ladies and gentlemen I guarantee is an example of why this man was chosen to wear the "C" for his team.

On Sunday afternoon the San Jose Sharks suffered what can only be described as a completely demoralizing defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Blues in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final. Outside of a brilliant play in the opening moments of the game that resulted in an Evander Kane shot ringing off the goalpost it never truly felt like the Sharks were in this one and by the time the score was 5 - 0 in the 3rd period they truly were not.

No one would blame any human being for being frustrated to the extreme after suffering such a defeat, and in such an important game no less, but following the game San Jose Sharks captain Joe Pavelski showed true class and great character when speaking to members of the media. During the game Pavelski was sent to the locker room by a hit from St. Louis Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo and there was no call on the play, a hit from which Pavelski would not return. Given that the hit happened right in front of a National Hockey League official Pavelski was asked about the officiating in the playoffs and how he felt about some of the calls that had been, or had not been, made.

Now again it would have been very easy for Pavelski to lash out or to complain after his team found themselves so frequently in the penalty box during Game 5, but if anything he did the complete opposite. Pavelski leveled absolutely no blame on the officials who were overseeing this game or any other game during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs and in fact he seemed to come to their defense quite a bit during his comments. Pavelski made it clear that regardless of whether or not a blown call was made or a call that should have been made was missed, it was on the players at the end of the day to overcome those hurdles if they want to be crowned champions. 

It was a rather positive message after such a brutal defeat and you can listen to it yourself in the short clip below.