Eric Bailey's

The NHL should hang their heads in disgust after Vancouver was eliminated tonight because this was one of the worst cases of refereeing I have seen. With the "new rules" that they have preacher for the past while being thrown out the window except for a couple of times (one interference call against Vancouver and one against Chicago). It was a mockery of hockey to see the cheap shots, the high sticks and yes a tonne of interference prevent Vancouver from chasing the puck in the attacking zone. It was horrible and I do not think that these refs should be paid by anyone except maybe Chicago. What a way to decide a series and deliver the knock-out punch to Canada's last team. At the end of the game with the Canucks pressing a Vancouver player gets in behind a defenceman and gets slashed at just as happened to Vancouver earlier in the game but suddenly no call! This game was decided before the puck was ever dropped. The worst of it all is that the Chicago team thinks they accomplished something, they think they deserve something for cheating and getting away with it. If the game was like the previous one I would have just glumly slipped into my little depression saying I had bad luck with players falling at the wrong time, but no this was a poorly ref-ed game. It's too bad that the NHL seems to want to go back to the clutch and grab hockey of the past ("put the whistle away and let them play" - is code for not calling penalties when players break the rules). I'm not sure yet if I will be able to watch much hockey after seeing this game and being broken again. Especially without something competitive to play and use up this anger that builds when I watch clutch and grab, hack and slash hockey.