Thursday, April 27, 2006
Yes, Ugh
Like my old pal Sacamano, I don't usually like to talk about the refs either, for the same reason. (I've brought up officiating and the standards many times, but for philosophical discussions.)But that high-sticking call on Yelle was a killer. He got it with 30 seconds left in regulation, and the Ducks scored just after it expired in OT. But it's not a penalty. Rule 61, here's the first words following the image at the left:
A "high stick" is one which is carried above the height of the opponent's shoulders. A player is permitted accidental contact on an opponent if the act is committed as a normal windup or follow through of a shooting motion.
Anyway, Yelle caught McDonald on the side of the head on his follow-through from clearing the puck out of the Flames zone. There's not all that many things that are noted specifically in the rulebook as Not A Penalty, so it's pretty disappointing to get a penalty for one of those things.
I don't know what to think now about Phaneuf. I'd say he and Ference have undergone some sort of strange, Freaky Friday/18 Again/Vice Versa switch, except that Ference used to be a good 6th defenseman and is now playing like a top pair guy, whereas Phaneuf used to play like a top pair guy, and is now playing like a pretty crappy 6th defenseman. Last time this happened, he got home and took charge again; let's hope history repeats itself.
The plus side, at least for my peeps out in Cranbrook, is that he's taking attention away from Scott Niedermatador's performance. Here's the status of the Jarome Iginla Shutdown Watch through 4 games:
- JI: 4GP, 3-3-6, +3
- SN: 4GP, 1-3-4, -3
I feel about as optimistic as I think is non-insane for a 3-game series with Anaheim. See you tomorrow!
# posted by Matt @ 11:30 pm 
Comments:
Good call on the Ference/Phaneuf switch-up. I was thinking the same thing to myself last night. Doesn't help that his partner also tends to look like a marginal 7th d-man out there half the time as well.
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Good call on the Ference/Phaneuf switch-up. I was thinking the same thing to myself last night. Doesn't help that his partner also tends to look like a marginal 7th d-man out there half the time as well.
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