NHL Winter Classic 2012: Terrible Officiating Mars Otherwise Entertaining Game

Monday's Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park between the visiting New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers had all the makings of a great game. The atmosphere was fantastic and the gameplay was intense, but officiating was unfortunately the biggest story to come from it.

Two highly questionable calls late in the third period nearly cost the Rangers the game and head coach John Tortorella was none too pleased with it, according to Dan Martin of the New York Post. Torts called the officiating both "disgusting" and "horrible" following his team's 3-2 victory.

"

(Ian Walsh and Dennis LaRue) are two good referees, but I thought the game was reffed horribly. I just thought tonight, in that third period, it was disgusting. I’m not sure if they have meetings in there or what.

"

While Tortorella's comments may have been a bit over the top, especially after a win, he makes a valid point. For one, the game should have been put on ice when Rangers forward Ryan Callahan was hooked around the neck by Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen.

Instead of awarding Callahan with an empty-net penalty shot, though, he was called for holding the stick in addition to Timonen's infraction. While Callahan technically did hold the stick, the referees should have used discretion and realized he had to hold Timonen's stick in order to get it away from his neck.

If that weren't enough, the Flyers were awarded a penalty shot with about 20 seconds left in the game. It was ruled that Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh closed his hand on the puck in the crease while trying to prevent a goal. Upon further review, however, it appeared as though McDonagh simply swiped the puck and never covered it.

All-world goaltender Henrik Lundqvist saved the officials' bacon when he stonewalled Flyers sniper Daniel Briere on the ensuing penalty shot, but those two poor calls should not be forgotten. If this was something that happened rarely in the NHL then I could see letting it slide, but there are awful calls in nearly every game I watch.

I fully understand that human error is a part of the game and that the referees aren't going to be perfect, but compared to the United States' other major sports, hockey's officials are completely inept.

Tortorella will likely be fined for his comments, but instead of sweeping things under the rug, the NHL needs to be transparent in the way it regulates officiating.

Tortorella went on to suggest that NBC told the officials to try to get the game into overtime, and while I don't subscribe to that type of conspiracy theory, the referees put themselves in a position to be scrutinized.

If it wasn't already blatantly obvious, the Winter Classic proved that something must be done about NHL officiating.