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On The McDavid Crosscheck and Reffing |
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At some point today we are going to hear about whether or not McDavid will receive a suspension for his cross check on Conner Garland from Saturday night's game. In my opinion, the cross check is absolutely suspension worthy.
Of course, there is far more conversation that needs to be had.
For starters, here is the full incident for those who have not seen it.
Conner Garland commits several infractions on this play; holding, interference, take your pick. At any point during that time, a referee should have raised a hand and called a penalty. Instead, no penalty is called, the clock continues to tick down and what could have been a 6 on 4 for the Oilers in the final 15 seconds of the game ended as a 3-2 loss.
After the play continues and no penalty is called, Conner McDavid decides to take matters into his own hands, crosschecking Garland in the face. 100% suspension worthy. As all the other players begin to gather around, Tyler Myers cross checks Evan Bouchard in the face. Also 100% suspension worthy.
Two suspensions, as a result of the refs deciding to put the whistles away and let the teams "play on."
I've seen some people comment that it wouldn't have mattered. That in order to get the powerplay, the Oilers would have to have given up possession and then risked the ensuing faceoff to try for one last chance. That is entirely true... it also has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not the refs should have called an obvious penalty.
If Garland wants to hold McDavid and force the Oilers to make a split second decision on whether or not they give up possession to take the powerplay, that is a smart move by that player. But in order for that to happen, the ref needs to make the call in the first place.
In terms of what McDavid did, I personally have zero issue with it. Over the past week McDavid has gotten slew footed by Kempe (who received a fine) and dragged down by Garland with no call on the play. McDavid has every right to protect himself and show players around the league that he isn't afraid to get dirty if they try and pull that type of move. At the same time, McDavid will have to accept the consequences of his actions.
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My opinion has remained consistent, it doesn't matter if it is McDavid, Crosby, MacKinnon, Barkov, Eichel, go down the list of elite players in the NHL; the NHL does a terrible job at protecting it's elite players and a big part of that is failing to call obvious penalties. Perhaps two suspensions occurring as a result of the refs failing to do their job will make the league take a long look at their officiating but sadly, we all know that will not happen.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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