Before a horde of Anaheim fans or the fans of "old-time hockey" take umbrage, understand the following:
I have been a consistent critic of the inconsistency, subjectivity and childishness of NHL officiating and discipline for some time.
What we are seeing— from the terrible decisions made on the ice to the "make it up as you go" rationalizations of Colin Campbell et al— is a case for a major house-cleaning and revamping of NHL officiating and discipline.
Last night's game in Anaheim was clearly a case in point.
There were two (at least) separate incidents that bear discussion. First, was the James Wisniewski hit on Brent Seabrook.
In my opinion, Seabrook was—perhaps—selling the hit, as the Anaheim announcers theorized.
That said, maybe those announcers should become more aware of the injury reports throughout the National Hockey League. If they were, they would have known that Seabrook was out for a number of games this season for a concussion. So, really, the only person who knows is Seabrook.
And, that said, the fact that his helmet had to be screwed back together on the bench would indicate Seabrook took a severe shot to the head. And that is indisputable.
Most importantly, the only thing the refs should be evaluating are Wisniewski's actions: Wisniewski ran Seabrook from fifty feet away, left his feet and raised his elbows. Sorry, folks, that's intent to injure and merits an immediate ejection from the game
And that is an unacceptable "missed call" by two referees.
Not to mention the fact that Seabrook's hit on Corey Perry did not call for that kind of retaliation.
But let's assume Seabrook's OK and boys will be boys— which we can do now in the cold light of morning.
Clearly, Joel Quenneville got on the referees after that. And if he's not going to, who can? My belief is, doing so caused the refs to conveniently overlook an obvious, plain as day, cross check on Brent Sopel (by Perry) that literally led to the game-winning goal.
And this is where, no matter what team you root for, NHL officiating needs to change. NHL referees need to call penalties, especially ones as obvious as that, regardless of their personal feelings or bruised egos for being called out by coaches.
Not doing so is unfair to players and fans and makes the league look like professional wrestling.
It was a hard fought game with tons of effort and sparkling play—especially by Jonas Hiller— why mar that with this kind of nonsense?
Why do the referees continually get away with making themselves—through subjective calls, make-goods and recrimination— more important than the game itself?
What this is about is not really two points last night, but an ongoing problem with the league.
Fish rot from the head down. NHL officiating and discipline is broken. Time to clean house, Mr. Bettman.
Thanks for reading and fire away.
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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