The Blackhawks played like a “good” team on Saturday night. The result was a win against the Predators. The Hawks played short a couple of starting defensemen and still played well enough in their own end to get the victory. We did benefit from a couple of soft goals, but we do have breaks coming. The Savard Hawks are playing the Yawney Hawks defense with more effective offense. Khabibulin continues to play impressive hockey, which is a big plus. Tallon has built a fine skating team, parlay that with good defense and we can hang in there against anyone. This was our 3rd straight victory over Nashville, so we didn’t catch them by surprise.

I have a problem that I have been wanting to bring up for awhile. I don’t want to whine about the officiating, and I have never used that as an excuse for the Blackhawks poor play. The NHL is trying to tinker with the rules and is trying to make changes to bring the fans a better game. That sounds great but in some ways the opposite is happening.

While trying to increase scoring etc. the NHL mandated officials to call games in a certain way. The increased observance of interference, hooking and holding has caused more power plays in many games. Has it really increased the scoring? Teams seem to be not scoring at a higher rate on the power play, if anything I think it is lower then it was in the past. I know the Hawks are not the perfect example, but I don’t think we have scored with a 2-man advantage yet this year. As I flip through the channels and watch and listen to other games I see the same. In the age of video availability, defense against power plays has improved in my opinion. So we have increased penalties in many games, with really no increase in scoring.

The NHL didn’t think that more penalties wouldn’t mean more scoring. Now less interference, hooking and holding should lead to more scoring in itself. That seems to be the ultimate end that was sought after, but has it? The Hawks are not the best example because for the most part we have had trouble scoring goals this year. Let’s look at another way. In the first 22 games this year the Hawks have had an opponent score more than 4 goals against them 3 times. Hmmmm... For whatever reason I don’t see many high scoring contests.

So what has resulted from the “New NHL” officiating? Well in my simplistic world not more scoring. Certainly the removal of the center line off side has increased the pace of the game somewhat. Certainly calling penalties in the 3rd period leads to more comebacks in games. Although guys are allowed to hang right in front of the crease on power plays untouched, it still doesn’t lead to any great increase in power play effectiveness. Also keep in mind that is was unwritten rule in hockey that penalties weren’t called in the 3rd period of games. This is not a rule change but rather forcing a consistency to be followed all 3 periods. That is a great change, as it leads to a more exciting game. Really regular season hockey before was a 2 period game many times, no one came back to win a game in the 3rd period. Now even 2 or 3 goal leads aren’t safe going into the last period. Taking away the center line offside is also a good change; this helps with the flow of the game.

I think their needs to be an adjustment made in some other areas. Power play hockey many times doesn’t mean an automatic goal. The beauty of hockey was its spontaneity, not a lot of set plays, just great creativity and fast action. That is what needs to be stressed now, not more penalties to create more power play hockey. Technology has advanced so that teams are well prepared for set plays, they also can adjust their defense between periods of their current game. So NHL it is time to reassess a few things, especially when apparent outcomes are not what were expected.

The next reassessment is a big one and has to happen soon. The instigator penalty has to go, as soon as possible. Change the actual rule after the season, but mandate officials to not call that penalty in most cases now. Fighting solves nothing now in the NHL…0. Nothing.

You can’t really beat anyone up, too many players wearing shields. Also those that need to aggravate know one thing for sure, how to protect themselves. If a certain teams "sheriff" sees a situation he needs to take care, the timing has to be right also. If it is late in a game and his team is losing he can’t afford to get an instigator penalty. So now it is not only tougher to beat someone up, it also has to be done at the right time. If it is not a division game then that time may also be a long way away. Once again not an effective deterrent to stop any abuse.

The only way now for a team to really defend itself to is to throw the body around and finish their checks. The Hawks need to do more of that I feel. An example of not being able to protect your teammates was apparent during this weekend’s game against the Preds. Nashville was smart; they knew we were without 2 starting defensemen. So what did their designated aggravator Jordin Tootoo do? He was able to get Seabrook to fight with him. Great idea, he took one of our best players off the ice. Now what the Hawks should have done was to forget about Tootoo. Fighting him accomplishes nothing; as a matter of fact he only played another 5 minutes or so in the game anyway. What the Blackhawk players should have done right after that fight is to plant every skill player on Nashville, every chance they could. This may have stopped Hamhuis from taking a very cheap shot at Ruutu later in the game. He skated about 20 feet toward Ruutu, who no longer had the puck and stuck his leg out and got him with his knee. A terrible scumbag move, so what happens next? Seabrook sees it and starts a fight with Hamhuis; the result was not good for the Hawks. Seabrook was given a 2 minute instigator penalty and 5 for fighting. Now mind you he had to fight in that situation, if not him someone because that play was done with the intent to injure. I watched it more than 5 times; it was a very dirty play. Ruutu was just fortunate that he was able to shift his weight off the leg that was hit, or it would have been a bad injury for him again. It was even worse than AO hit on Briere, which was also not good. Either way both plays illustrate a need to reevaluate the way games are officiated.

So much attention seems to be spent on calling all of the “required” penalties that the obvious dangerous plays are being missed. About 10 days ago off of a faceoff, Vrbata almost had his eye taken out with an inadvertent high stick. The intent doesn’t matter it was an obvious penalty, as it happened while he was at the faceoff circle. The play was completely missed on the ice, no call at all. The kneeing to Ruutu was also missed. It was an obvious kneeing penalty, and even more apparent it was also interference. Ruutu was hit without the puck while he was skating into position for a pass. All that was missed, but not the instigator penalty to Seabrook, they got that one on the books no problem.

I know with changes come adjustment. NHL you cannot afford to wait to adjust to what I have just illustrated. If I were a coach in the NHL I would send a player out to fight only if he was smart enough to take a better player off the ice with him. Also those skillful at this like Tootoo don’t get called for instigating. He is perfect for this role because he is the smallest guy on the ice most of the time. If I were a coach I would tell my team the only way to protect your teammates is to hit the other team often. Also in the old NHL a bigger player rarely hit a smaller skill player. Denis Savard was the best player on the ice for years, he was also the smallest. I seldom remember him getting hit very hard. Back then there was a way to deter that type of play, now there is not. What is going to happen, and is already starting to happen is more cheap hits. Also everyone is going to get hit, especially the smaller skill players. That is the way it is going to have to be until the game is officiated differently.

To referee a hockey game is a very tough job. Hockey is a fast spontaneous sport; this is what makes it special. Now it appears that refs are so concerned with getting the required usual calls correct, hooking, holding, etc. that they seem to have lost a feel for the game. The flow of the sport is interrupted often, and this doesn’t result in more excitement. So it is time to adjust. Also with the other changes it is time for the instigator penalty to be dropped. The official change can wait till next year, but start now not calling that penalty unless absolutely necessary. When a player commits an obvious dirty infraction, is it absolutely justified to penalize the other team more for responding? Fighting may not happen as much now, but other far worse actions will take place. What is going to happen is that everyone will be fare game all of the time. With that comes scum bag dirty plays also, not just good clean checks.

The NHL wanted the better players to provide the entertainment and be able to show case their skills. That goal is a great one. The course of action that was implemented to get that result is wrong, seriously wrong.

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