Canucks' Alex Burrows Targeted by Ref Stephane Auger?

Written - Jan.12 - I just couldn’t let this one pass, it was just too juicy. By now you will have all read or heard about what happened last night in the Canucks-Predators game.

It has been reported by the Vancouver media, with Alex Burrows spilling the beans, that NHL Referee Stephane Auger warned Canucks Burrows before the game, that “he was going to get even for an incident that occurred Dec. 8 in Nashville.”

Now let’s make one thing clear that most of the people watching the Canucks already know. There are times when Burrows embellishes a tug or stick on him and draws a penalty.

He is fair game in the league for “diving” too often. The refs know it, the players know it and so do most fans, if they are really honest.

Hey, anyone who has played any type of sports has run into a referee that they don’t get along with. In coaching, when we chirp too much at the men in stripes, we can end up on the short end of the penalties called. But I have to say, I have never had a ref say to me before a game that he was going to get even for an incident that happened games ago.

The refs have warned me about incidents (brawl on the ice) that occurred in previous games and that they would be clamping down on it , so keep my players under control, but that was the extent of it.

The NHL referees are supposed to be impartial and leave their personal issues out of the game. Obviously Auger did not, and his personal agenda ended up deciding the outcome of the hockey game.

During the game last night I was commenting to my wife about the refereeing and how petty some of the calls were, not being privy to the pregame Burrows/Auger issue. The first call on Burrows was for diving and when watching it in slow mo; I thought well, this is a Burrows call due to his past reputation.

The second call for interference was pure bogus. How can the ref be calling this I said, when the game is on the line and a penalty could decide the outcome? So what happens?

Nashville’s Shane Weber scores on the power play to make it 3-2, which ended up being the winner in a tightly contested Western Conference game, where every two points is like gold.

Not only did the call decide the game but also allowed Nashville to leap frog over the 'Nucks in the standings.

At this time the NHL is investigating, with NHL Senior Vice President Colin Campbell looking into the matter, and it has been reported by TSN that Campbell will be speaking by phone to both Auger and Burrows later this evening.

Since Burrows publically questioned the integrity of Auger, he could face some down time—as in a suspension. What happens to Auger is anyone’s guess.

What the NHL has to nip in the bud, is the concept that the referees can knowingly decide the outcome of a game.

The NHL does not need another instance like the one that occurred a couple of years ago, when the same Stephane Auger accused Phoenix Coyote and former Canadian national team captain, Shane Doan, of using an anti-French slur during a game.

If this guy (Auger) is going to be a problem, then eliminate the problem so that it cannot happen again.

As for Burrows, I am one who backs him up for speaking out, knowing full well that the NHL may hand him a suspension for doing so.

Good on you Alex for not letting this issue get swept under the mat.

Alex Burrows talks about Referee Stephane Auger