v_seven 0 Posted May 12, 2004 After forty minutes of play Calgary is leading 2-1...this is the worst reffing I've seen in the playoffs this year.....the penalties are sooooo one sided, I am a true hockey fan and I appreciate talent even in the opposition, and I usually don't whine......but the ref's sure seem to be out to make sure a Canadian team doesn't make the Stanely Cup playoff......it could ruin US TV ratings and cost someone a lot of money.....JMO!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jack_Bauer 1 Posted May 12, 2004 Well, I second your opinion v_seven. There is no way Bettman wants Calgary in the finals. Heck, Bettman doesn't want any of the teams left to be where they are except Philadelphia. Bettman can not allow small market teams to do well because it weakens his case about all teams not being able to thrive under the current CBA. If teams like Tampa, Calgary and San Jose are successful it would appear the current CBA can work. Whereas a big market team like Philadelphia winning will only strengthen his case. Therefore, Tampa will not likely get many favourable calls so Philly can succeed and Calgary will not get any breaks because they're a Canadian team and if they succeed it will be no good for US TV ratings (which are already behind Arena football so who the heck cares). It is my opinion that Bettman should resign because he has run this league into the ground. He has expanded the league beyond its capacity and he is not qualified to run this league. Someone new is necessary and the new person should be Canadian. It is our game and we should be the ones running it. Not some American lawyer who got his training from basketball. Personally, I think Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux would be an ideal choice but anyone else along those lines would be best. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrPsychic 1 Posted May 12, 2004 Personally, I think Bettman should leave, it was his one sidedness that shortened the 95 season. I'm a huge Penguins fan, and that's why I don't think Lemieux should be the commissioner. He's too ego maniac...that's why he got rid of Kasparitis and all the other czech players, that they don't play the way he likes it. And money... But must you really criticze the refs? I mean, lets see you do your job where if you make a mistake or don't see something, 20,000 people yell at you. I used to be a soccer ref, and I can see why you could get upset about them, look at where they are in relation to the camera, it's easy to see or not see something from a different angle. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jack_Bauer 1 Posted May 12, 2004 (edited) Ok, maybe not Lemieux. But about the refs. I can accept that they will miss a few things but not when it happens right in front of them. They just stand there and do nothing. I could even accept one ref missing a call but not two. Why the heck are there two refs if neither one can see the penalty? I think the two referee system is so stupid. It just puts more people out there to get in the way and the quality of officiating goes down because they have to have twice as many refs and it becomes twice as easy to become a ref because they need twice as many. Well, we won't need as many refs after the lockout because there will be fewer teams. I don't care what anyone says, teams will disappear or move to better markets. and in all likelihood, your Penguins will be one of them Mr. Psychic. Well, I guess it all worked out in the end eh v_seven? 4-1 Calgary. I didn't see that coming. I thought for sure this series would be tighter but San Jose is in real trouble now. The one thing that still floors me is that Calgary missed the playoffs for 8 years and are now half way through the Conference finals. That's a huge leap forward. Darryl Sutter better win the Adams trophy becaus ehe has done an outstanding job. I'm slowing thinking about cheering for Calgary. It's not that I didn't want them to win, its just that I picked Detroit and San Jose to beat them and that doesn't seem to be panning out. Oh well, I do have Iginla and Kiprusoff in the pool so I guess I should be hoping for a Flames win. If they get by San Jose, I think I'll be picking them to win it all <knocks on wood as to not jinx the Flames>. Edited May 12, 2004 by Jack_Bauer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrPsychic 1 Posted May 12, 2004 I know the Penguins will be dissolved by the end of two seasons, and sometimes, the refs just let the play continue. In soccer theres a thing called "advantage" that lets them play on if the team gets the puck/ball back. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
v_seven 0 Posted May 12, 2004 I think refs should be fined for negligence....e.g someone thru a coat on the ice in a Vancouver game and the game was still in play and he bent to pick it up and miss Iggy getting his stick slashed out of his hand..... You are so right Jack_Bauer, Sutter is a big hero here in Calgary, and it has been 8 yrs since we were in the playoffs and 15 yrs since were made it passed the first round....in 1989 when the Flames won the cup they were expected to win, they were a top team....this is so much sweeter and we are loving it...and last night s game turned out great...but if refs really are paid off someone will get seriously hurt one day...as a hockey fan and an ex-hockey mom and manager I know this...why doesn't Bettman? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
v_seven 0 Posted May 14, 2004 This was in a San Jose paper today......it mentions the big/small market team thing and is being emailed around Calgary like crazy...I got it from 6 different people...Enjoy! In Calgary, support for Flames burns bright Ann Killion Mercury News CALGARY, Alberta - It hits you over the head as soon as your passport is stamped. People are just a tad excited about the Calgary Flames. The customs agent wants to know what you think about the series. Almost every other car flies a Flames flag. ``Go Flames Go'' signs paper the local business windows. This is a foreign country. Not because of that stamp on the passport but because of a mindset. This is the United Land of Hockey. Oh sure, we like our Sharks. A lot of people are very passionate about the San Jose team. On game day, there are thousands of team jerseys worn in town. A few people even have Sharks flags attached to their car. But it's not the same. Not even close. ``The only thing hockey is competing with is church,'' Calgary Coach Darryl Sutter said. ``In Canada, there's your God, your country and your game. And sometimes you can't decide which comes first.'' We have nothing like it in our country. The NFL gets great TV ratings, but it isn't a passion from birth to death. Baseball, the national pastime, isn't overriding, not anymore. In pockets of the country there is geographical fanaticism -- for Nebraska football or Tar Heels basketball -- but it doesn't carry across our land. Hockey is Canada's consuming national passion. And now the Calgary Flames are Canada's team, the focus of all their hockey pride. And they're just two wins away from a berth in the Stanley Cup finals. It has been 11 long seasons since a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup -- since Montreal won in 1993 -- the longest such drought in the history of the NHL. During that time, a team abandoned Canada and moved to a place where it doesn't snow in mid-May. The health of Canada's game is in doubt. Small-market Canadian teams like Calgary seemed on the verge of extinction. So, yeah, this is kind of a big deal. And in Calgary, it's a frenzy. In Calgary, no one has to ask that fans wear red to the games. It just happens. The Saddledome, which used to be considered one of the quietest buildings in the NHL, has been rocking. After the Flames eliminated Detroit in six games, a crowd of 15,000 celebrated in the streets (with only two arrests reported). ``It's rewarding to see how the fans have grabbed on and been a big part of it,'' Sutter said. ``There's been a lot of frustration here because hockey is so important in terms of lifestyle.'' Which is why this has to be so rewarding for Sutter, though he isn't one to talk much about his satisfaction. It's one thing to build a winner in San Jose where much of the population doesn't know a lot about hockey and the greater Bay Area doesn't much care. It's another to do it in your native land, for people who are really, really passionate. Sutter grew up in Viking, Alberta -- a few hours' drive from Calgary. After the Sharks fired him, he was quickly hired in Calgary to revitalize the wayward franchise, which hadn't seen postseason play in seven disappointing years. The faithful even hoped they might make the playoffs this season, thanks to Sutter. But few expected the Flames to advance to the Western Conference finals, knocking off Vancouver and Detroit along the way. Few expected them to be so close to the Stanley Cup. Sutter can do no wrong in this town. ``Darryl,'' said Randy Sportak, who covers the Flames for the Calgary Sun, ``is God.'' Locals say the excitement is even bigger than in 1989, the year Calgary won the Cup, because there has been so much pent up frustration. ``We haven't had the playoffs for a long time,'' Sutter said. ``People in Calgary are probably a little possessive about their team.'' A little possessive. And a little loud. And a little crazed. ``It's such a hockey town,'' Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart, an Alberta native, said before the series began. ``It will be exciting to see.'' Or maybe not. Stuart and the rest of the Sharks can expect a tsunami of Canadian emotion when they arrive in the Saddledome tonight. Their precarious status -- down two games to none -- will only heighten the frenzy. The scene is going to be unlike anything most of them -- with the obvious exception of Vincent Damphousse, who played on the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup -- have ever experienced. For some Sharks, it might ignite memories of the passion of their Canadian youth. But in San Jose, where most of the young players have been sheltered in relative anonymity and calm, they are removed from such intensity. They are going to be playing a Canadian team on the verge of the Stanley Cup -- in Canada. That's one tough way to try to win games. Here in the United Land of Hockey, they're hungry for the Stanley Cup. And they're sensing that the Flames can deliver. ============================================================================== Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
