Quote of the Day
posted by matt saler @ 4/28/2006 02:32:00 PM ::
7 comments
:: 
"There's no question (the Red Wings) wield the influence over the series. I'm not saying we didn't deserve a number of those penalties but there were a number that shouldn't have been called."- Edmonton Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish, in his otherwise pretty reasonable comments on the awful officiating in Game 4. Oh, for crying out loud, MacTavish, it's not a conspiracy. It's going both ways and sucks for both teams. And your boys will have to fight through it just as Babcock's will.
7 Comments:
I guess we know where the fans and players get it from.
I don't think that's quite fair.
What wasn't picked up was that in the press conference MacTavish fully admitted the Oilers took too many penalties and that it was his team's fault for not adapting to the ref's standards. He even called Stoll's dive on Lidstrom's goal, which to me sounds far from blaming the loss on referees.
This was in the Freep:
SOUND ASLEEP: Thanks to Edmonton radio station CFBR-AM (100.3), someone tried to disturb the Red Wings on Thursday morning by blaring a bullhorn at the team's hotel. Wings forward Kirk Maltby said he didn't hear it and none of his teammates mentioned it, so the stunt apparently didn't work.
Maltby said a similar thing happened in Calgary in 2004.
"I mean we kind of got a little chuckle out of it more than anything," Maltby said. "It's all in good nature, you would think and hope."
Hehe. I think that's hilarious, especially since the Wings didn't even notice.
I like this excerpt from the freep today:
"It was frustrating at the time, but to spend any more time on it today is a waste of my time and anybody else's time," MacTavish said Friday.
Then he spent more time talking about it. "Obviously, we have some questions regarding some calls," he said. "We have some questions regarding the amount of physical play they're going to allow. We're going to get those answers today and see if there can be any physical aspect involved in the game and to what extent we can do that."
MacTavish is such a whiner. Any respect I may have had for him as a coach is slowly sinking down the drain. Every time he opens his mouth, I respect him less. Quit whining about officiating MacTavish! It's been bad both ways. If you really want to see some biased officiating, try being at the top of the league for awhile - of course to do that you'd need to shut up and tell your boys to play some hockey.
Here's another gem from the detnews:
"It was very disappointing for everybody that the game went that way and it was steered that way from the outset by the officials," MacTavish said. "It was an egregious error to put the game in the officials' hands."
Is he seriously implying that officials were trying to hand us the game for the start? Does he realize that his team scored first and we were tied twice? No wonder his team lost, he's too worried about his next quote in the paper and not enough about the game. He should follow the example of his players - most of whom have declined whining about officiating in favor of taking a look at their own problems.
Mike W, that's what made the comment on the Wings so surprising and why I said "otherwise reasonable." MacTavish needs to decide which it is, his own players or some conspiracy involving the Wings. It's not both.
Let's also not pretend that Babcock has been a saint here. After game 3 he talked about how "disappointed" he was in the officiating, and went on to complain that obviously these officials "remember" that Detroit was one of the least penalized teams during the regular season -- like that has any relevance.
Anyway, let's hope that the rest of the way through it will be better.
I think after Game 5 it might be quite a bit harder to argue with MacT's aforementioned comments. The leeway given Detroit was only marginally short of being classified as pathetic.
Post a Comment
Bookmark this post
Search this site
<< Home