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Believe in... Blackballing ?


darkpoet

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Yes. Every team has to deal with Officiating they don't agree with.

Do some teams deal with it more so than others?

If so, why?

There has been a fairly publicized history here in Vancouver regarding the issue and I just wanted to posit a theory as to why that may be.

Feel free to add your thoughts here. I'm by no means saying this is the definitive reason why the "refs have our number", just my 2 cents.

Let's go back in time to 1982:

roger-neilson-towel.jpg

We all know the story so just look at the pics and watch the video.

Officials are every bit as prideful as any player (which is to say a lot) so is it a stretch to suggest that having a permanent reminder erected outside the arena that celebrates their very public shaming, just might have had some long lasting affect with regards to how they feel about this team/organization?
It's no secret that even now, in 2014, hockey is still very much an "old boys club"....

Remember what happened to Ted Nolan? People can have a very hard time forgetting things in this business.

So, could this:

c992ccef4f8d8c9ba31517d5d4d3-500x687.jpe

... in some way have resulted in this? :

(and here we see the 1st of calls against Burr where Hamhuis takes his skate out - no call - so then Burr tries to draw one and gets nailed for slashing?)

even worse....

Burr so p!ssed his voice is shaking...

Last but not least... WINK WINK.....

Maybe that's what we get for erecting a statue of Roger Nielsen holding up a white towel on the end of his stick, outside the arena commemorating possibly the most brazen public display of contempt for officials in the game of hockey - ever.

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If only the Canucks could just move to another league in which they're allowed to win. Lol.

I'm fully aware that I'll probably get called out by some here saying this is ridiculous. But is it?

Like I said, the NHL is an old boys club. What happened that night in Chicago was a major and public slap in the face to the officials and thereby, the league who employs them.

We could have just let it go but instead there is a permanent reminder of this outside the rink, and it seems ever since then things seem to "happen" here which just make matters worse.

(the issue with Burr, and his extremely public shaming of Auger afterwards being only one recent example)

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Just for the sake of factual accuracy, the statue was built one year after the Burrows-Auger incident.

Correct.

I wasn't trying to draw a direct parallel from the statue to the "incident" rather, what happened back in 1982 which may or may not have affected things since. (I realize I may have made it look that way)

The statue went up in April of 2011 FTR.

Thanks for pointing it out.

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Did you watch the playoffs this year?

The refs weren't very discriminating as there were plenty of bad penalties going around.

Many Canuck fans, much like JFK and Lunar Landing conspiracy theorists, will always want to believe though.

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I'm sure Burrows wished he walked away from this stuff, it is always a no win situation with refereeing (in every league) Ego's get out of hand everywhere (like at your work place for instance) and Burr has been targeted which is made worse by the over-all drop in NHL refereeing productivity, NHL ref's have been taking away from the game instead of adding to it. Ever since the 2 ref system it's been a downward spiral.

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I for one am proud of the towel incident. I didn't watch it live or anything but that started the towel power movement.

Teams in ALL sports use the towels during playoffs and it's thanks to the greatest city in the universe... Vancouver.

Refs just hate us because we were so good for two years and our city is far better than any city they ever lived in. Doesn't explain why Sutherland hated us but I guess someone kicked his dog when he was visiting downtown ?

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Did you watch the playoffs this year?

The refs weren't very discriminating as there were plenty of bad penalties going around.

Many Canuck fans, much like JFK and Lunar Landing conspiracy theorists, will always want to believe though.

That's 1 vote for no!

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I'm sure Burrows wished he walked away from this stuff, it is always a no win situation with refereeing (in every league) Ego's get out of hand everywhere (like at your work place for instance) and Burr has been targeted which is made worse by the over-all drop in NHL refereeing productivity, NHL ref's have been taking away from the game instead of adding to it. Ever since the 2 ref system it's been a downward spiral.

Somewhat off-topic but I agree (with your disapproval) with the 2 ref system.

It's my belief that it creates needless competition between the two which can (and likely does) affect how any game may be called.

I also agree that walking away from these kinds of things is normally the best thing to do. However in this case, it was alleged that this particular official actually confronted Burr before the game, letting him know he was going to "get him"

The evidence points to that being true.... and Auger "retired" at the ripe old age of 41 not 2 years later...

Anyway, at some point someone has to stand up and say enough! when the situation get's truly out of hand.

That's obviously what Roger felt back in '82.

With the penalties in place now though, it's more difficult. $10's of thousands of dollars just for opening your mouth.

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There is irrefutable evidence that Vancouver has been getting the short end of the stick for about 30 years. (edit. Wally Harris is to whom I am referring)

I don't think many current members remember 1987, and a few games played between the Oiler's and the Canucks.

In one game Canucks were tied, they race down the ice and blast the puck into the net, the Edmonton announcer called it in. Wally called it no goal, claiming it never went into the net.

The Oiler's later that game rushed into the Canucks zone, ripped the puck off the post and Wally said it was in.

The Canucks organization was furious and launched a complaint.

The league looked into the game and forced Wally into mandatory retirement at the end of the season.

Lo and Behold, who became NHL Supervisor of officials, and held that position until 2002.

I don't know if there was any history between Terry Gregson or his replacement Stephen Walkom.

Though I am sure that Colin Campbell has some sourness towards the Canucks. I am sure that in 2010, that the officials all knew who was the boss, and where his son was playing. They all wanted to continue their careers in the NHL, especially to ref in the playoffs in following years.

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at least kesler is gone. maybe the refs wont hate us as much now

Agree this will help. Also sadly (because i love him) Burr must go as well. Not too long ago the Canucks were huge divers fakers, and whiners, They have cleaned it up now, even burr, but its too late for him now on this team. To the rest of the league he is the face of that team, and always will be. I dont believe that refs conspire against a team, but i know there are players to whom they never give the benefit of the doubt,

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There is irrefutable evidence that Vancouver has been getting the short end of the stick for about 30 years. (edit. Wally Harris is to whom I am referring)

I don't think many current members remember 1987, and a few games played between the Oiler's and the Canucks.

In one game Canucks were tied, they race down the ice and blast the puck into the net, the Edmonton announcer called it in. Wally called it no goal, claiming it never went into the net.

The Oiler's later that game rushed into the Canucks zone, ripped the puck off the post and Wally said it was in.

The Canucks organization was furious and launched a complaint.

The league looked into the game and forced Wally into mandatory retirement at the end of the season.

Lo and Behold, who became NHL Supervisor of officials, and held that position until 2002.

I don't know if there was any history between Terry Gregson or his replacement Stephen Walkom.

Though I am sure that Colin Campbell has some sourness towards the Canucks. I am sure that in 2010, that the officials all knew who was the boss, and where his son was playing. They all wanted to continue their careers in the NHL, especially to ref in the playoffs in following years.

If I have time I'll do it myself, but someone should do a mock up of all the major long standing officials over the years and what possible relation they have to each other, or someone otherwise working in the league.

With regards to Walkom, he was involved in that email scandal with Colin Campbell a few years back. This is an interesting read which I'm going to post because it's relative to the comments I made about how the NHL is still very much an Old Boys Club:

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/hockey/2010/11/16/16172671.html

That alluded to some very overt power struggling going on within the higher up managerial ranks in the NHL, and the Union of Officials.

They "want to have their guy in there"...... so although I'm speaking of Officials in this thread and their actions (or lack thereof), it's really about the League itself, who are their employers and therefore call the shots.

I alluded to this earlier. That the incident in Chicago back in '82 was a huge slap in the face to the League not just the officials.

Yes, it was a long time ago.

44 years was even longer ago and we should have won a Cup by accident by now. Yet haven't.

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