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I will share something with you, my readers, that I have told many young officials that I have trained, mentored and/or supervised over the years: Positioning sells calls.
When an official is on top of the play and gets a good angle, even a controversial ruling on the ice on a bang-bang decision has a higher degree of acceptability than one where the official lucked himself into making the correct ruling -- according to slow-motion replays after the fact from various angles -- but his positioning was poor.
Recently, I wrote a blog here on HockeyBuzz about the evolution of the rules pertaining to pucks that get directed into the net off the skate of an offensive player. One of the readers on message board asked me what I thought of a controversial goal from several seasons ago (2008-09) in which Manny Mahotra scored an apparent game-winning goal in overtime.
The ruling on the ice was that it was a legal goal but upon replay in the War Room in Toronto, the call was reversed and disallowed.
This play is a good teaching tool, so I will use it as example of why I sometimes take issue with the NHL's replay system. Under the way the system is supposed to work, there has to be conclusive visual evidence to overturn the ruling on the ice.
However, the on-ice officials themselves get no input in the final ruling -- describing what they saw and their rationale for the initial call. Additionallly, the video replay guys in Toronto can miss the mark about what they consider "conclusive evidence" to reverse a ruling.
Here's the play in question:
Now, it is easy to go back after the fact and say something was the right or wrong call after endless replays. However, positioning sells calls and this was great positioning: 10 feet away with a perfect angle to see the play.
In this case, the referee making the call on the ice is more believable than eight unseeen guys eating Chinese takeout 500 miles away in Toronto.
My own on-ice call on the play would have been the same as the ruling on the ice. I would have allowed the goal. I see no intent to kick by Malhotra. Rather, I see momentum and inertia, E + MC squared, objects in motion tending to stay in motion and all that other high school physics stuff.
In ECAC hockey, we include the on-ice officials' input in the final decision on video reviews. I think it works better that way.
But, hey, what do I know?
Incidentally, the Malhotra play and video review reminds me a bit of the series winning overtime goal by Vancouver's Greg Adams in Game 6 of a 1993 playoff series against Winnipeg. There were several controversial plays in that game that ended up going to replay, including one at the end of regulation where it had to be determined if time had run before the Canucks Sergio Momesso scored a potential game-winner. Adams scored two goals in that game, and both went to replay and both stood.
The flap from that game cost supervisor Matt Pavelich his job. Officiating director Bryan Lewis let him go after the game.
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Recent Blogs by Paul Stewart
Good Morning, Montreal! Know of a Good Dry Cleaner?
Lion Tamers, Staged Fights and Bissonnette
Gettin' Your Kicks
Hockey in the Great Outdoors
New Years, Broken Whistles and the Ol' Goal-in-the-Pants Trick
From Body by Dunkin' to Body by Smitty
The Red Line, O'Rourke Injury and the Two-Ref System
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the only American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials, while also maintaining a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.
Stewart is currently working with a co-author on an autobiography.
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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