Not The Referee's Fault

Keep in Mind this is from before the New Year.

I'm from Ottawa and am a huge sens fan. Lately the talk on the local Sens radio station, The Team 1200, that hasn't been of Ballard on Vokoun, or Tiger, has been the "terrible" refereeing of the recent Sens games.

The New Jersey game especially. This was the game on November 25th in which the Sens lost 3-1. The topic of discussion on the team was not of the quality of the game, or the shut down style the Devils used to close out the Sens, or even the fact that it was the first time in history that a woman did the play-by-play commentary in an NHL game. It was the refereeing. The Sens got no power plays, compared to the 2 the Devils had. Apparently, this is the third time the Senators have not gotten a power play in a game but they are the team with the least power plays in the league. The radio station went as far to say that the refs have something against the Sens and that it is a conspiracy.

First of all, the Sens at the time had some of the least amount of games played, so it makes sense that they would have less power plays. Second, a 0-2 penalty comparison is hardly outrageous, if it were something along the lines of 7-1 or 5-0, I would understand their displeasure.

I went to the game against the Blue Jackets just two nights after they discussed the supposed "conspiracy". The game appeared fairly reffed although on the way home, I again had to listen to the radio hosts complain that the game was not fairly called. The penalty comparison in this one was 6-4 in favour of Columbus, again not outrageous, considering Spezza's  goal was scored on a delayed penalty, which does not count as a power play.       

Again, what the radio show failed to mention is that mid-way through the game on of the refs, Dave Jackson, was taken out by a sliding Rick Nash and instantly fell into a heap and did not get back up. He was helped off the ice and did not return, the one other ref called the rest of the game (It was later confirmed he had torn both he ACL and MCL, a potentially career-ending injury). With only one ref calling at least two-thirds of the game, how can you blame him for missing some penalties. 

So before blaming poor reffing for your favorite team's loss, remember they have the toughest job in the NHL and remember to look at the stats and potential reasons before solely blaming them.