Babcock: 'It was as dumb as anything I've ever seen'

by James Mirtle on Nov 19, 2009 11:17 AM CST Comment 36 comments

"It was not blown dead. It was a goal. The guy never meant to blow the whistle; it was a shot. The puck went in on a shot. It was as dumb as anything I've ever seen."

— Red Wings coach Mike Babcock

Boy, it's hard to fathom just how something like that even happens. How can Toronto call down during the game, talk to the referee and let that bogus decision stand and help decide the outcome?

Anytime there's an injustice against the Red Wings, you better believe Bill at Abel To Yzerman is the man to seek for your outrage, and he doesn't disappoint on this one:

...it’s almost impossible to believe Toronto missed it. If they didn’t, if they overturned it, could LaRue have simply ignored them out of sheer embarrassment? Not likely, but something idiotic happened.

And nothing will be done. Nothing. LaRue, of course, is one of Gary’s best. A ref in last year’s Stanley Cup Final, so you know he has to be good, right?

There should be some fallout from this, or at the very least an official statement from the league. It's about as bad a bungling as I've ever seen.

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Absolutely brutal call (as I pointed out on Silver Seven – yesterday seems to have been a particularly bad day for refs, see France/Ireland).

On the plus side, it gave me entertainment in the form of Wings fans complaining about Wyshynski, so it’s not all bad.

Silver Seven: the Daniel Alfredsson of Ottawa Senators blogs.

by DarrenM on Nov 19, 2009 11:20 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Karma Detroit

They sure did forget about that horrible call that went in their favor against the Sharks a couple of weeks ago.

"It ain't over till it's over." - Yogi Berra

by 49er16 on Nov 19, 2009 12:09 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Given how much interference and obstruction the Red Wings get away with, I’m not going to cry over the Wings getting screwed, but that error is inexcusable. And if LaRue did overrule Toronto – and he isn’t a rookie, so he should know better – then both he and the league need to answer for this mistake, and do so in public. This kind of thing can’t be done behind closed doors like most cases of referee accountability.

by Resolute on Nov 19, 2009 12:34 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I hate reasonable Flames fans that articulate an argument well enough that no further comment is necessary. Jerk.

by ChicoMaki on Nov 19, 2009 12:46 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Insert "roll eyes" here.....

by SDWingNut on Nov 19, 2009 3:18 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

you beat me to it … I couldn’t recall the game, but remember what happened quite clearly and we were screwed on that one

Ever get the feeling we are on a collision course with reality? (boycott Hollywood!)

by ang6666 on Nov 19, 2009 8:24 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Karma Detroit beat me to it.

For those that missed it: CSN-BA caught a clear as day camera angle of Henrik Zetterberg’s tying goal that led to the shootout in which the Wings won the game. The ref, behind the net, lost sight of the puck, in Nabokov’s pads. He was in the process of raising the whistle to his mouth to blow the play dead, got it halfway there, when Zetterberg came in and thwacked the puck into the net. The ref immediately changed his action to calling the goal. No review.

So, the question is: this ‘intent to blow the whistle’ excuse for disallowing goals—only applicable when they feel like it? Because it doesn’t apply even when it can be proven.

by Alix71 on Nov 19, 2009 12:33 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Still not as bad as Henry’s hand ball goal last night.

by yerry.take on Nov 19, 2009 12:37 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Karma and Obstruction/Interference

Guess there’s no point in wading into this discussion.

Brutal call no matter what team it went against. “There is no goal on the play. The whistle was blown to kill the play”. Methinks this requires a little more explanation.

This exact same play happened in the playoffs in either ’97 or ’02 when the Wings scored one on the Avalanche. They went upstairs and it was ruled a goal.

by Bosc Ulrich on Nov 19, 2009 12:52 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

What about Plekanec’s goal earlier this season where he scored after the puck hit the netting behind the goal, came back on the ice, the play continued and all 4 zebras didn’t see it. The goal standed!

It’s the worst season ever!

by Fred Poulin on Nov 19, 2009 12:55 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

There’s been a few of those. Apparently there’s no desire for people to add that to the plays that a goal would be reviewable. I guess if you add that, you might as well add offsides, wrong icing calls, a missed hand pass, and things of that nature as well.

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Nov 19, 2009 3:36 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Detroit and San Jose actually each had one of those go against each other in consecutive seasons.

by Bosc Ulrich on Nov 19, 2009 4:54 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Huh. I’ve seen that go to review several times in NCAA hockey, and the goal counted twice, both in the national tournament. Minnesota/BC three years ago, with a Gopher team down by three goals late in the game. Ben Gordon rockets one that comes back out of the net so fast even the TV announcers missed it live. After another two minutes of play, there was finally a whistle when BC scored. They went back and reviewed it, gave Gordon the goal and rewound the clock to that point, taking the BC goal off the scoreboard. We still couldn’t win.

In last year’s quarterfinals, the Air Force/Vermont game went into OT. There was a scramble in front of the net, the puck eventually went in, but it was obvious that the whistle had gone first, so no goal. Then the refs head to the replay booth, where they do get the video. And they stay there. And they stay there. We were asking what the hell was going on, since it was clear that there shouldn’t have been a goal. Then one of the TV cameras got a shot of the monitor they were looking at, and it was a completely different play. About five minutes prior to the whistle, a Vermont player took a shot from the blueline that hit the back boards and came back out. Video seem to show that it was a goal, and that the puck went through the net. The only problem was that there was no hole in the net. In the end, I’m 95% certain that it was a goal, and that’s how they ruled it, but it was one of a huge number of freaky endings in the tournament last year. Craziest three weeks I can remember.

by J. Michael Neal on Nov 19, 2009 10:17 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Guys, where is everyone getting that the “intent to blow” rule was invoked? When LaRue comes back out to announce no goal, he just says “the whistle blew the play dead,” not that it was dead because he had the intent. Could it be that the replay officials either a) just completely missed that the puck went straight in, or b) inferred intent on LaRue’s part?

Rangers, Royals, Raiders, Knicks...the man loves a winner.

by self loather on Nov 19, 2009 1:04 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

He made a mistake?

LaRue will always be to me the guy that missed Justin Williams’s high stick on Saku Koivu in 2006.

by Exit716 on Nov 19, 2009 1:16 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

well said (and remembered)

by lightweight on Nov 20, 2009 4:44 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

What do you expect?

Toronto War Room, the group who ruled that Manny Malhotra kicked in a winning goal last year while skating off-balance on one skate. When it happened to Columbus, they were told to shut up and take it like a man. Now that the War Room and NHL officials have screwed Detroit, it’s time for an investigation.

by Truth Serum on Nov 19, 2009 1:22 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Well, since Malhotra did kick in the goal in that circumstance, that is a bad comparison.

by Gerald on Nov 19, 2009 4:08 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, that was about as far from a kick as one is going to get.

by Vent on Nov 19, 2009 5:57 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Karma doesn’t exist. Bad calls are bad calls. Your bandwagon allegiance shouldn’t change that.

by hallock on Nov 19, 2009 1:26 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

The call as it stands seems bizarre.

Now, I do seem to recall the “intent” to blow" concept coming up before, years ago. The idea is that if, for example, the ref’s whistle breaks and he can’t make a loud sound, he should still be able to consider the play dead without delay. It is reasonable. And you can’t see “intent to blow” on a replay – often he’s got the whistle in his mouth long before he intends to blow it. If that’s his story I’m not sure that the War Room is allowed to overrule him.

But I can’t look at that replay and see the point where he could reasonably be expected to want to blow the whistle before the puck enters the net. It doesn’t exactly dribble in.

I've been looking at the sky

by Back In Black on Nov 19, 2009 1:52 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Agree

It’s a very reasonable rule, that got applied horribly here.

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by Jibblescribbits on Nov 20, 2009 10:50 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=506731&cmpid=rss-rosen

NHL explains it, leaving more questions than answers.

Silver Seven: the Daniel Alfredsson of Ottawa Senators blogs.

by DarrenM on Nov 19, 2009 1:53 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I only have one

Why did LaRue decide to screw Detroit? I mean, we can speculate, but unless he owns up to it we’ll never really know.

I've been looking at the sky

by Back In Black on Nov 19, 2009 3:10 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Total bullshit from the NHL.

by David Staples @ The Cult of Hockey on Nov 19, 2009 2:16 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I don’t agree with the the rule!

BUT, LaRue told the other refs (before he knew WHEN the puck entered the net) that the play was dead because he intended to blow the whistle (note: LaRue didn’t know that the puck went in on the shot, but I assume he thought it trickled in after a second or two – which is what I thought when I saw the first part of the clip). Once he says “I intended to blow the whistle” the play is not reviewable and therefor there is no way to make it a goal. Hopefully everyone can work together to get rid of this rule once and for all. Can you imagine if this happened in the Stanley Cup Final?

by hockeynumbers on Nov 19, 2009 3:22 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Can you imagine if this happened in the Stanley Cup Final?

Hah, out of respect for Buffalo Sabres fans, I’m not even going to go there.

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Sacrifice the Body - Examining the NHL through statistical analysis, reasoned thought, and blind conjecture.

by IAmJoe on Nov 19, 2009 3:27 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Appreciate it.

by Afino on Nov 19, 2009 3:46 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

I can imagine a referee accidentally dropping his whistle at a critical time (stuff happens) leaving Brendan Morrow to get three extra whacks at Ryan Miller until finally the puck is forced into the net. And you think that goal should count?

I've been looking at the sky

by Back In Black on Nov 19, 2009 4:12 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm a Stars fan

and I’ll admit that Detroit got screwed. That was a bad call, but I’m not gonna complain about it. It was a gift, and you don’t complain about gifts :P

Dallas Stars 4 Life: Stars Blogging From Hockeyville, Iowa

by Brad_Richards_Rocks on Nov 19, 2009 4:48 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

"It was as dumb as anything I've ever seen."

Wonder if Babcock saw Game 4 of the ALCS this year. At least bad officiating isn’t the province of hockey alone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70KsXOaIFAg

by puckreport on Nov 19, 2009 5:44 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I wonder if LaRue is related to Randy Marsh?

I do not get why a league that boasts so much about how technologically savvy the fans are can’t actually use one of those new-fangled “instant replay machine thingees” to improve the standard of officiating. It isn’t as though the games drag on or anything – after all, TWO entire hockey games can be completed in the time it takes for ONE Yankee game. Take a few minutes here and there to make the officiating the best possible.

And for a league that claims they want more goal scoring, they seem to wave off an awful bloody lot of them.

What bothers me the most is how this is just dismissed as “it happens to everyone.” Yes, it does, but it SHOULDN’T be happening to anyone – not such obvious, fixable errors. Each time it gets dismissed as just the way things are, it’s as though hockey isn’t a top tier sport, so it is unfair to expect a higher standard. This is the best they can do.

It shouldn’t be that hard to fix – just do something about it instead of coming up with standard boilerplate semi-apology language each time it happens. It’s unprofessional and stupid.

"While there's life, there's hope." --Cicero

by Baroque on Nov 19, 2009 6:37 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

Once again, the lawyer is wrong

You can’t make a distinct kicking motion when you’re standing on one leg. It’s physically impossible. Jeebus, you’re a piece of work.

by garth the hoser on Nov 20, 2009 9:23 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I’m still wondering how Kyle Lawson was able to kick the puck into the net in the 2008 NCAA title game, given that his skate was between the puck and the net the whole time.

by J. Michael Neal on Nov 20, 2009 12:13 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

that is an absolute embarassment!!! What a joke!

by lightweight on Nov 20, 2009 4:39 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

It’s too bad that Babcock couldn’t have known when the puck went in compared to the whistle. I bet my 1980 hockey card collection that he would have pulled his team off the ice in protest, and happily suffered the consequences of that!

by lightweight on Nov 20, 2009 4:42 PM CST reply actions 0 recs