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Theatre of the Absurd: Jets fall 5-4 in SO |
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There was no reason for anyone on the Jets to take the game seriously right? It was a game between two bottom feeders, one that no one wanted to watch, one void of superstars and sure to be absent of excitement.
Cue the officials, they were not going to miss a rare opportunity to take centre stage.
I'll be up front I missed most of the first period but what I saw after was more than enough to have me believe gross injustice probably occurred then too.
What we saw tonight from Gord Dwyer and Don VanMassenhoven, or dumb and dumber, was as poor an effort as anything in recent years and one that should be enough to warrant a review by the NHL. It was abysmal.
The first example was was at the end of the second when Dustin Byfuglien led a skirmish by holding onto two Flames and pulling them and the linesman around the ice for a few minutes. The officials were clearly upset with Buff at this point and wanted him gone at the end. Buff did nothing other than make his presence known while providing an inconvenience two a crew who was probably looking to beat the rush to the Main St Earls.
The third period had Montoya run over by Stempniak if my memory serves correctly, where the goalie had his head rattled and no call whatsoever. That's when the boos and chants rained down from the stands if not the streets across Winnipeg. It was loud.
The Jets fought a battle and while Calgary kept scoring the Jets seemed to find a way to answer. After Oli Jokinen tied the game on a shot where Flames goalie Reto Berra must have been double screened by his defence the fireworks of officiating ineptitude were about to take over.
The Jets earned a power play and the Flames were valiantly holding off the attack when the play turned up the ice toward the Jets lead by Stajan. Lance Bouma came in across towards Stajan and crashed right into Byfuglien knocking him down before going to the net and taking a pass from Stajan to wrap it around a sprawled and certainly shocked Montoya.
No call.
Go watch that video again and explain how that is not a penalty let alone seen? If you think Dwyer or VanMassenhoven weren't thinking about Byfuglien making them wait longer for some Albino Rhino beer at Earls I don't believe you. Yeah, saying officials are biased and practically accusing them of acting on bias is pretty low. Ask Alex Burrows if that happens.
The redemption for Buff happened later on during the power play when from close in he wired a slap shot that fell Blake Wheeler like a tree. Still being alert he came up and ripped the rebound before it was covered up by the falling bodies, casually stepping over the carnage below looking defiant.
That equalizer would not last as in another strange series of events the Flames tied it up as Hudler scored from a sharp angle as Montoya was some how sitting down for no apparent reason.
It appears Montoya thought a shot was coming and fell, never able to recover as he followed the play. The heart of fans sank and the anger level rose.
However all was not lost as with Montoya pulled and time running down after a failed rush by the Jets, Evander Kane got the puck in deep and had the presence of mind to get it to the net. He ripped at the net simply to get it there and with a rebound machine like Berra it was a gift to Bryan Little who also had the smarts to go to the net. Tie game 4-4 with four seconds left.
In OT the theatrics of officiating continued as after Wheeler was skating up the ice he had his stick slashed out of his hands while a Flames player had possession of the puck 20 feet from him.
No call. In fact Wheeler was then unable to join the play because he had no stick thus creating an odd-man rush for the Flames.
It only got worse though when Wheeler took what may be the worst cross checking call of all-time. It was bad, more importantly the call seemed vindictive and petty much like the refs behaviour for most the night. It was a turn going behind the Flames net and Wheeler already had his stick up when Wideman began his turn, taking it too low and sharp before the big Jets forward caught him. Wideman was on his way down before Wheeler touched him but that simple contact, no more than a pat on the back sent Wideman careening into the boards on his butt.
In the end it was a battle in the shoot out which last for eight rounds and 16 shooters before the Flames finally won it. Just like the game it was far from a display of skill and puck mastery although there were a few clever moves. But that did not overshadow the only story of the game that mattered- officiating.
"I never said a word, I just kind of shook my head at him going to the bench," said Bryan Little when asked by Sara Orlesky in her post game interview about what he did to take a ten minute misconduct and make himself ineligible for the shootout. The guy who scores the game winner takes a ten minute misconduct for shaking his head? Petty and vindictive.
Grant Clitsome was asked about the experience as well, "I don't want to get myself in trouble," he explained in his good natured manner, a sly smile on his face.
Andrew Ladd had a more logical explanation about the game when he said, "we gave up too many quality chances, that's what it came down to," to answer the question. But it didn't take long for Ladd to be asked by the media in the room about his thoughts on the refs. "Uhhh yeah you know what there are things you disagree with as a player with calls. It was tough losing one of our best players to a misconduct for the shootout," was all he would say about the debacle on Donald. Water off a ducks back was the way the team was going to manage what they experienced.
Claude Noel was just as elusive but all too aware of what he saw about the game and the referees charged with officiating it. "Fairly strange game in my books," was his first comment as he spoke into the podium microphone. "We'll take the one(point), it's not ideal but we'll take it," he said we when referring to the result while probably realizing there was just as much a chance that they could have ended up with nothing.
I"I wasn't settled all night, I was uneasy all night, I wasn't comfortable," was his description of his experience on the bench. He followed it up with a classic description of "It was very difficult to manage," when referring to the game.
When he was finally pressed about the officials and what the players saw he chimed in saying, "well I don't know, they wouldn't be alone. I don't know what to tell ya?" He was just as confused by what he saw but not unaware of it. "I don't have a comment on it because I can't," was his answer to what he thought. Following that up with "I don't want to talk about the officiating, or the calls that got made. I won't benefit, it wont benefit anybody".
That pretty much sums up the scenario. It was that bad and while you can bet Jets fans would pass the hat for collections to pay for the fines, just as they did in '96 to save Jets 1.0, true feelings were not to be known. It won't benefit anybody.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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