GDT: Feb. 20 • Women's Gold Medal Game • Canada vs. United States • Pt IV

[ChuckFanForever]

Knight skates like the wind. Hayley is older than dirt. If they hadn't fallen, my guess, she would have been caught.

I wonder how many times she's been asked to be their "knight in shining under amour"?

 

[Lepardi]

Apparently Knight was fairly open about her disdain for the call after the game...she claimed she never touched her which I think many here have more or less said.

Knight can say whatever she wants. It's just a shame for her that they had cameras in the arena. Anyone who has the audacity to claim she didn't clip Hayley's foot after seeing the replay must have a serious visual impairment. One thing they should have asked Knight: if she never touched Wickenheiser, why did she fall down herself? Is she unable to skate sraight?

 

[Scotty B]

Had she not fell she would have been caught in a stride or two. Also the whistle blow was extremely late. I don't know what angle they had when they saw the girl go down but my guess is they didn't see anything and made up a cross checking call. If they got the call wrong like you say how can you argue that they saw contact?

No doubt the ref's view was partly occluded. But if you're gonna make contact from behind, which is what the chasing player Knight did, you better make sure you get the puck first. Knight shoulda tried to go around Hayley and then make a stab for the puck. Or try to separate player from puck, again by going around Hayley first. You can't skate straight into the back of a player you're chasing, the optics of that, from a refs perspective couldn't be worse. Gonna be a penalty ( or potentially a penalty shot ) EVERY TIME!

 

[Scotty Pucks]

There were bad calls both ways. How about don't let a breakaway happen? If you put yourself in that situation in the first place, odds are refs are gonna give the breakaway-ee the benefit of the doubt if they don't even get a shot off.

But I love Team USA and it hurt to see their reactions after the game. I decided to white knight some of them, already tweeted at Hilary, K-Stack, Amanda Kessel, and Brianne McLaughlin telling them they are beautiful and amazing at hockey.

 

[hockey diva]

The US women choked plain and simple. Quit making excuses, you blew it!

 

[Redline]

Heart and will prevailed.
Take a bow ladies.

 

[Davebo*]

We're talking about the phantom slash, which is the really bush call.

No. Only YOU are talking about that, and calling it a phantom slash. Maybe next game those arrogant players will heed the officials warnings.

 

[Davebo*]

Just watching the replay with DVR. Horrible call on the final penalty. Didn't deserve to end that way.

I know - it should have (possibly) ended on a penalty shot. You cannot interfere from behind with a player on a breakaway.

The crosschecking call was [mod] - I don't know what she was thinking. She indicated penalty shot, then started to change that into a tripping call, then finally jerked her arms up for a cross checking call.

We need a gif of that - so much indecision. But an infraction happened - should have been a tripping call leading to a penalty shot.

 

[TheThrill81*]

Great effort by our ladies, a well deserved goal medal.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

feet getting tangled up skating beside someone is not tripping - kicking your foot or stick out is. Especially when the other person is slow and tired.

 

[BMOK33]

There were bad calls both ways. How about don't let a breakaway happen? If you put yourself in that situation in the first place, odds are refs are gonna give the breakaway-ee the benefit of the doubt if they don't even get a shot off.

But I love Team USA and it hurt to see their reactions after the game. I decided to white knight some of them, already tweeted at Hilary, K-Stack, Amanda Kessel, and Brianne McLaughlin telling them they are beautiful and amazing at hockey.

I knew they were upset for sure but at the same time I felt some let the emotion carry on a bit too long by the time they started handing out the medals it would have been nice to sort of try and suck it up a bit, I'm not saying laugh and smile but at least be a bit more stoic I thought some bawling their eyes out deep into the ceremony was a bit bothersome, and this doesn't go for then all Kessel and a few others weren't that way but some were still hysterical 15 minutes later

 

[Proust*]

feet getting tangled up skating beside someone is not tripping - kicking your foot or stick out is. Especially when the other person is slow and tired.

Except for the fact that Knight came from behind... she wasn't beside her.

 

[Davebo*]

feet getting tangled up skating beside someone is not tripping - kicking your foot or stick out is. Especially when the other person is slow and tired.

Unless that someone is on a clear breakaway - then it's a penalty shot. Skating along during regular play - then it would just be incidental contact - I believe.

 

[CanuckistanFlyerfan]

Another Heart Breaker for us USA fans.
Congrats Canada. Experience and Grit and a little luck won the game at the end.
Our girls were too tense and it shown through the whole game. Even when we were up by two.
I knew it will be a hard game, and I was nervously thinking and asking myself "when" not "if", but "when" the momentum will swing to Canada. With 5 minutes left, my worry was... Can our girls handle the relentless pressure and attacks from the Canadians push? Sure enough, inexperience shown and we were looking at a tie game with less than 40 seconds. When the puck hit the Canadians' post with an empty net. I knew that destiny was not our.
Once again, congrats Canada. We will wait patiently for another shot in 4 years.

Team USA Women Hockey should be proud of your effort. You played a great game, fought hard against the world best and experience team down to the wire.

Peace and Go USA!!!

Very classy post.

It's pretty obvious these two teams are about as even as teams can get. Both games could have went either way. It's too bad one of them had to lose.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

Julie Chu will be the flag bearer for the US at the closing ceremonies.

 

[kasps]

As a Canadian this was a humiliating way to win a medal, sorry Americans you all got royally screwed. Unspeakably terrible calls in OT, I mean they'd be atrocious whenever they happened but to basically hand Canada the gold was a farce.

Good luck tomorrow, I'm hoping for a hockey game that is allowed the opportunity to play out.

Your joking right ? you are giving 0 credit to Canada for their comeback with 5 minutes left. Both goals scored 5 on 5 ! The call on the breakaway should have been a penalty shot. The Americans had 5 minutes to go and they collapsed but in your eyes that's "humiliating "

 

[Scotty B]

No. Only YOU are talking about that, and calling it a phantom slash. Maybe next game those arrogant players will heed the officials warnings.

Earlier warning or not, it was a minor tap. I saw it, not as a phantom call per se , BUT as an even-up call , and I'm a Canuck. Seen that call before from IIHF refs... Lamoreux ( was it? ) gave the ref an out, and SHE TOOK IT!

***
No Yanks can rightly complain about the Knight Penalty though. Can't skate into the back of an opponent with a breakaway like that. If ur gonna make contact first contact gotta be stick on puck, or else u gotta get position on her, and separate her from puck...

 

[kasps]

Unless that someone is on a clear breakaway - then it's a penalty shot. Skating along during regular play - then it would just be incidental contact - I believe.

Absolutely a penalty . doesn't matter if it was a accident or not. Like high sticking , doesn't matter if it was a accident. There was obvious contact and took a scoring chance away. Easy call.

 

[SenzZen]

Why does it matter when during the game the penalty is committed? A penalty is a penalty.

Oh, I know, the NA mentality that just about anything should be let go in OT/playoffs.

Hey, I'm not the architect of reality. If you think an exhibition game is called the same way as a gold medal game, you're in denial, if not naive.

 

[When is the Parade]

Just watching the replay with DVR. Horrible call on the final penalty. Didn't deserve to end that way.

Yup, the referee blew the call. She was 100% right in making a call, but she panicked and made the wrong call. The correct call was tripping and a penalty shot. This is women's hockey and intentional body contact is a penalty. So, any contact, regardless of intentional or unintentional, made while chasing down a player on a breakaway which prevents the player from getting a clean shot on goal, shall result in a penalty shot. That is how the call should have been made.

The referee obviously did not want to be thrust into a situation where her call could result in a non-game action sudden win, so she chickened out on the penalty shot call and instead called a minor penalty infraction, leaving play to decide the game. She initially started making the tripping call, but her panic made her go to a different motion and she made the wrong call. She gave the Americans a break by only putting them short handed. I suspect that if the Canadian power play had not been so efficient, and scored so quickly, a cheap even up call would have been made. Of course, we'll never know. I think the referee could have caused less controversy by calling the penalty shot and be done with it. It was an obvious call and she should have made it that way.

Oh yeah, and I'm American, so save all the homer garbage.

 

[CaptainChef]

What exactly does "deliberately not a slash" mean?

That PHU such a winner (whiner). Means the slash was deliberate & the refs were NOT going to keep allowing it to happen after the team had already been warned.

 

[aar000n]

Hey, I'm not the architect of reality. If you think an exhibition game is called the same way as a gold medal game, you're in denial, if not naive.

More like both.

 

[CaptainChef]

Just to flesh out the reference: At Salt Lake, American referee Stacey Livingston gave the US team eight successive power plays at one point, including two five-on-three situations. Canada killed 12 penalties in all. I think the US had two.

Interesting. I remembered that it was the worst case of homerism I could ever remember but wow how do you top that.

 

[habfaninvictoria]

Officiating sucked.. plain and simple... but for both sides.

I'd like to know what the Americans would be saying had that puck not hit the post but gone in. Yes you were up by one but lets call a spade a spade, with competent officials Ward hold the line and we continue pressure. A linesman backed directly into her causing that result. No room for debate.

The "phantom" slash. Horrible timing.... however they had been warned. Again, the americans would have been jumping up and down on the bench if it was in the other direction. Personally I'd rather have seen them call it earlier in the game when it was warranted... then they may have been able to let this one go.

The call on Knight was the wrong call. It was a penalty. Debate all you want but, if Knight doesn't make contact, Wickenheiser doesn't go down. It was a clear breakaway. If Knight is that much faster then she should be able to catch her and make a hockey play. Instead she falls either as a result of clipping Wickenheisers skate or clips Wickenheisers skate as a result of falling.... either way a clear scoring chance was taken away by a non hockey play. Should have been a penalty shot. If the roles were reversed the American would agree it should have been a penalty shot.

I can't imaging how it would feel to be he official that called a penalty shot to decide the gold medal.... I'm sure its better than being the incompetent ref who called something that even a child can recognize didn't happen.

These teams hate each other. For good reason.

 

[stampedingviking]

I agree with this post.

I feel bad for both teams. The US for losing to Canada again. Canada for getting the gold in a tainted OT. I would rather have seen a clean win either way. Canada did a great job coming back in regulation, but was owned in the OT until the questionable calls began.

This ref should never do any international game again. She managed to ruin the game for both teams!

Utter rubbish, you do realise that the rules in NA are different to IIHF, do you?