He probably knew it was coming, but Bruce Cassidy has been fined $25,000 for his comments last night criticizing the officials. The Boston Bruins head coach was clear that he thought they are normally good referees, but called them out on their different treatment of his team and the New York Islanders.
We’re playing a team that has a very respected management and coaching staff, they won a Stanley Cup. But I think they sell a narrative over there that it’s more like the New York Saints, not the New York Islanders. They play hard, they play the right way but I feel we’re the same way. The same calls, the exact calls that are being called on us do not get called on them and I don’t know why. These are very good officials…
…they just need to be better than that. Just call the game that you see, quit listening to these outside influences and get it done right. I don’t think they were great tonight I’m not going to lie to you. But they have been, they’re good officials. I know those two guys, they’re good guys, good officials. Tonight I just thought they were off, but you could say the same about us.
The fine will go to the NHL Foundation.
Cassidy is obviously frustrated with the way the series is going for the Bruins, who weren’t able to come back against the Islanders last night despite drastically outshooting them. New York was able to score on three different powerplays in the first two periods while taking only two penalties of their own the entire game. Boston outshot the Islanders 44-19, but went down 5-4 and are now on the brink of elimination in their second-round series.
Just a few minutes after the Cassidy fine was announced, the Department of Player Safety also announced that Bruins forward Nick Ritchie has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for an elbow on Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield. That’s the third max fine the Bruins have been given during this series, following Jake DeBrusk’s cross-check and David Krejci’s slash (which some would call a spear).
LOL. You would think that he did 5 times the damage Tom Wilson did to that Rangers face into the ice. NHL is a joooooooooooooke lately.
Love how the league executives are oh so sensitive about some criticism, especially given that the leagues officiating overall has been called into question plenty of times over the years. It’s one of the leagues biggest flaws, yet, they’re happy to overlook it for whatever reason.
Maybe they think letting refs run the game is how they build the league.
I’m all for not calling every little infraction (don’t want NHL to become NFL, imo) but there has to be some semblance of equality in penalties called.
Do you think the refs actually called the game in the NYI’s favor? Watch the film. I agree there’s inconsistencies in reffing but give me a break. It was 4 power plays to 2, not 6 to 1 or 9 to 3, come on, this is sore losers at it’s worse.
I was in Baltimore during the 2015 riot..not for the whining but for Maryland Death Fest!!!!!
I called no one anything. I asked a question. Which was never answered.
Notably.
Which message is it that you/him/one have found so objectionable that you/him/one would reject the sport of hockey?
Watch out, you messing with pronouns! An SJW is probably watching! Hahaha
As long as there aren’t any SQW’s around we should be OK.
I’m of the opinion that NHL officiating is generally very good (DoPS is a different story) but this year’s playoffs, I’ve seen some really bad work by the refs.
I remember a game in the middle of the Pens-Isles series where the refs let EVERYTHING go for the first 30 minutes or so (old school let ’em play hockey) when they suddenly penalize Malkin for lifting his stick into a position where he could have possibly hooked an Isles’ stick but didn’t and got two minutes.
NHL needs to prioritize flow AND consistency.
It doesn’t need to be a Broad Street Bullies redux, nor does it need be an IRS audit. Flow AND consistency.
“The fine will go to the NHL Foundation”, whose mission it is to help with Referee Belligerence psychological therapy costs…
Yes the Bruins didn’t get better reffing than the Canucks in 2011 when Marchand repeatedly punched Daniel Sedin in the face with no call.
*insert dozen other examples here
Feels bad huh bruins?
That’s the Bettman-bias for US teams… follow the money trail :)
Ohh the Sedin sisters I remember it well!
I’d rather watch the Sedins than a bunch of thugs on the ice. Talent is more entertaining than brutality… even in the UFC talent wins over sheer brute force.
Watch any highlight reel. Is some thug laying down on McDavid (or whomever) posted as a noteworthy element of the game.
The officiating is garbage as it permits the smothering of the best players.
If at least 70% of infractions were called, the game would slow down for a few weeks until players got the message. Then we’d have a talent based speed game. The kinda game the Sedins and other talent can win.
Waaah, Waaaah, sniff sniff, WaaaaaaaaaH
When do the refs ever get fined for taking marching orders from news reports? They threw Bergie out of the face-off circle all night long after a media interview by Islanders coach!!! How do the players know how hard to play when their calling infractions in the second and third period that were NOT being called in the first? also they missed an Islander defensemen shooting a puck over the glass in the 3rd period THE REF WAS RIGHT THERE 20 feet away and the replay clearly showed it!, In playoff games often decided in sudden death overtime a single missed call could end a teams season this same crap happened to the Bruins in 2019 and always seems to go against them, If the league doesn’t want to be criticized maybe they should start fining and or punishing on-ice officials for doing a lousy job!!
Amen, and that’s from a Hawks fan. It’s completely absurd what NHL officiating gets away with. “The fine will go to the NHL Foundation”…yeah right. More likely, it’s getting split between Bettman and his crooked goon refs.
I’m ok with them giving Ritchie a fine, doesn’t hurt anyone, but it just goes to show that some teams players don’t have to give a donation when they do something way over the limits.
In game 4 Barzal gives a crosscheck to the head / face of Lazar, it was in defence of a legal hit, and he had his stick ready well before impact!
But the DOPS must feel that’s ok?
I wonder if a Bruin did the same if they would think differently?
$5 k fine on Nick Ritchie for an elbow that wasn’t even called a penalty on the ice what a freaking joke!! I would say that was the worst officiated game I have seen in years instead of it getting better it is far worse than when they had one ref and two linesmen!! And thats a problem!
I think it’s funny when people claim that their team is consistently bullied by the officials. I think that’s nonsense. However, the teams that are on known as physical, or ‘heavy’ do get away with more than most. This is a product of how the officials try to make PP chances relatively even in a game.
It’s like team A commits 20 penalties in a game, gets called for 3. (15% of the time)
Team B commits 12 in the same game gets called for 3. (25% of the time)
Now team A has gotten away with unfairly affecting the game in their favor 17 times, while team B did the same only 9.(47% less).
The officials simply aren’t going to call penalties in a landslide, like 8 to 2 or anything like that. This is why so many things go uncalled.
It’s unrealistic to ask for every little thing to get called, and they think that calling roughly the same amount of penalties on each team makes the game even. This is obviously flawed logic by the league, but it’s tough to find a real fair solution that doesn’t slow down the game, isn’t it?
I just wish they would call the same penalty on both teams – no matter which period it is.
I know if Boston gets an early pp and score, they won’t get the second pp for awhile as long as they have the lead.
If the other teams ties it up, we’ll then maybe?
The high stick on Bergeron has to be called in any period.
Boston high sticks have been called all series – no matter which period.
Here’s a thought, start suspending rather then fining these Boston bruins high head hits! This crybaby Cassidy thinks his team is getting an unfair deal yet the NHL hasn’t suspended one of these head hunting high hits so I’m not sure if he thinks his crying will help his team even more with these light penalties to players on his team.
Bruins high head hits? Thats strange with two of their defensemen out injured from high head hits!!
There are calls being missed both ways. Debrusk cross checked Mayfield in the back of the head during a game earlier in the series and it wasn’t called. But the funniest thing is the NY Saints comment. I don’t think Clutterbuck or Komarov have ever been referred to or associated with Saints their entire professional careers.
That’s the point.
While they’re throwing all these fines out they should hit the refs with a few for their own gross displays.
Bruins had their time when they were given the benefit . the campbell days in charge are gone
imagine the Bruins complaining about refs LMAO
get outta here
I haven’t watched enough of this series to weigh in on the officiating of it, buy Cassidy does have a point on how certain teams do get a reputation for “playing the right way” and getting away with certain infractions.
But the bigger issue is calling the game based on the scoreboard. A penalty is a penalty regardless of the score.