Whistled!!!

I have said it many times, no sport's outcome is affected by the referees, and umpires, like hockey is. Remember last years playoff? A goal was taken away from the Rangers that cost a game and sometime in August the NHL admitted the mistake. Big deal. Okay guys. Come back from golf and fishing and we will continue the game. Yeah, sure.

Last night was another one of those doozies. Original six battle for two teams that have faced each other for 89 years and another 1-0 outcome. Remember we won the first 1-0 in OT in Chi town. In a scramble in front of  Blackhawk goalie Scott Darling, Matt Hunwick seemingly put the puck in the net. However, the ref behind the net blew his whistle before the puck went in because he lost sight of the puck. The ref was behind the goal. In front of Darling it looked like a mad scramble to get on board a number 4 train to the Bronx. How can the ref see the puck from behind the net? What about the other ref? Where was he?

BTW, where was Toronto and the video replay? So the ref blew the whistle. I thought all goals were reviewable in Toronto. Also, the other three officials, one ref, two linesmen, lost the puck too. What were they doing? Checking out the babes in the front rows? Oh yes, the ref behind the goal lost sight of the puck. The other three main sports have all kinds of replays and reviews. Sorry, those are all major sports.

So how did we lose this matchup? The way we have lost since 1950. A Dan Boyle shot rang off the crossbar, the Hawks came down, Richards was left alone in front of Talbot and there it was. Game, set, match. This was the number two defensive team, Chicago, against the number three defensive team, Rangers and it was an okay game. It wasn't as exciting as the first game but it was good.

This was the Rangers first regulation loss in March. The team is still afloat with three big injured players: Lundqvist, Klein and St. Louis. Big test til all these guys come back. But lets fix the stupid whistle to stop play because one ref can't see the puck.

ICINGS: The T/Birds lost their last game of the season to first place Smithtown 2-1. Playoffs start next week and the T/Birds are playing their best hockey going into the playoffs.

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