Winter Classic 2012: John Tortorella Fined by NHL $30,000 for Scathing Comments

Darren Dreger of TSN just tweeted that John Tortorella was fined $30,000 for his comments after the NHL Winter Classic.

John Tortorella apologized today for his comments about the officiating that occurred during the third period of the Winter Classic. In case you missed them, Tortorella said:

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I'm not sure if NBC got together with the refs or what to turn this into an overtime game. It started with the non-call on Gaby's, and he gets pitchforked in the stomach and everything starts going against us. So, for two good refs, I thought the game was reffed horribly. So I’m not sure what happened there. Maybe they wanted to get into overtime. I’m not sure if they had meetings about that or what. But we stood in there. We stood in there. And again, I don't want to, because they are good guys. I just thought tonight, it was—in that third period—it was disgusting.

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Tortorella then apologized today and he released this statement to the media:

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I just want to get it straightened out. Regarding after the Winter Classic, the game and my press conference, first of all using the word ‘disgusting’ I don’t think was the proper way to go about it as far as talking about Dennis and Ian so I was wrong there. I was wrong there.

Second of all, my tongue-in-cheek comments regarding NBC, the league, the refs as far as what’s come about here, people thinking was it fixed, are you trying to get it to overtime or that type of thinking, that was not even in my mind. They were sarcastic comments by me at the wrong time. It’s frustration on my part as far as the referees were concerned and how it was done at the end of the game.

So please, I want to get that straight. Not for second, no way, time, shape or form, did I think anything like that goes on with our league, or ever will. For me to question the integrity of the league, the integrity of NBC, the integrity of Dennis and Ian, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Rangers, go right down through all the people here, there’s not a chance I’m thinking that way.

It was wrong with my sarcasm, with my frustration and I apologize to everybody involved. I want to make sure that’s straight that that was not my intent. I was unemotional during that press conference, I was frustrated with what went on and I certainly handled it the wrong way.

Especially to the two refs, to Dennis and Ian, I’ve known them for a long time, they do a great job, it’s one of the toughest jobs in the game. For me to put them under a microscope in that type of setting, at the Classic, was wrong. I tainted the Classic with my mouth and I shouldn’t have, so I apologize to everybody involved.

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Regardless, Tortorella was still fined and will hope to move by this quickly. You have to give Tortorella credit for taking accountability of what he said. He constantly preaches to his players that they need to be accountable. 

It makes you wonder though, why was Tortorella fined? Didn't an HBO 24/7 episode air that displayed Peter Laviolette making disparaging comments directly at an official? 

Watch this 24/7 clip. He says the call was typical because it occurred in Montreal. How is claiming their is a home and ethnic bias different than Tortorella claiming that there was something suspicious about consecutive controversial penalties?

Laviolette's outrage was as bad or was worse than anything Tortorella said.

The NHL really needs to be consistent in their judgements. Until there is some consistency and continuity, officiating will always be contested.

The Rangers and Tortorella will hope this blows over as they prepare to take on the Florida Panthers tomorrow night.

Tom Urtz, Jr. is an NHL featured columnist. For NHL news, updates and alerts about players: