Wednesday, April 1, 2009

NHL Stands Behind Refs on Avery Penalty

David Shoalts at Globe & Mail reports that Stephen Walkom, the NHL's director of officiating, attended Monday night's Rangers/Devils game and said yesterday that referees Kelly Sutherland and Dan Marouelli made the right call in assessing Sean Avery a roughing penalty after being thrown to the ice by David Clarkson and showing no interest in fighting.

Walkom said Avery was penalized because he had his gloves off and was engaged with Clarkson, at least initially. Walkom also pointed out the Rangers received a power play because of the extra minor called.

"I think our guys addressed a fair call on the play," Walkom said. "Both [players] had their gloves off. [The referees] found a differential in penalties, which was fair. One player [Clarkson] received a 10-minute misconduct as well."

...this must be another April Fool's joke because there is no way the NHL can actually defend that penalty call.

2 comments:

Topher0820 said...

its funny, when avery dropped his glove i was thinking "DAMMIT Sean, now they have a reason to call you for 2 mins!!" They only need the tiniest thing to justify themselves calling stuff on him...

Unknown said...

I actually think it was justified in the end. I'm a huge Avery fan but I understand the roughing call. But Clarkson was given four minutes and a 10 minute misconduct...justice served.