Nash and the Ref?

[The Benchwarmer]

And yes, the fact that we invented the game does make it ours in one irrefutable sense. That can never be changed.

Actually it can. Try reading your history books, Ice Hockey was invented by British Soldiers based in Canada!

The Brits invented Hockey, and like soccer and cricket, we suck at it too!

 

[wedge]

I just saw the video and Nash looked very furious. He first hit hard an opponent with his stick. Then, he turned around, saw the ref, and started screaming and hooking him. The ref didnt's stop and Nash hooked him again. The other ref comes from behind, says something, then Nash turns around and face the other ref and makes a contact with him.

Nash simply had lost his head in that sequence, it's obvious. I think it's totally disgraceful and he should have been ejected from the tournament. Forget about the one-game suspension, it should have been the entire tournament. I can't believe some people are defending Nash...

 

[Macman]

I finally saw the video and Nash is lucky he wasn't suspended. I'm surprised because it's totally uncharacteristic of him. I only wish some of our European friends were anywhere near as outraged over the Perozhogin incident and the fact his suspension for something infinitely much worse than what Nash did is being ignored in their ivory tower of super-clean hockey. But I suspect much of their outrage is fueled by fact Nash is Canadian. Afterall, what would a world championship in the spring be without the cry of "Canadians are brutal goons." It's like seeing the first robin after winter. You know summer can't be far behind.

The good thing about this incident is it might be the thing to finally fire up Team Canada. I sure hope they get to play Sweden again.

 

[HockeyMan9]

He should have been suspended, no question, i just hope he doesn't pull that in an NHL game, Columbus can't afford to lose him for a couple games.

 

[Canuck21t]

Don't come with that crap here. Firstly, if you watched the game Swe vs Can you should know that we are not any wimps, we played just as physical as you and stood up for our team. Secondly, it's Nash that is the wimp going after a referee, that is totally crazy, you don't just go after the ref. Nash is young and needs to learn some sportsmanship before he becomes a great player. Your homerism is just pathetic, if a Swede would have gone after the judge like that don't you think he should be suspended? Come back to earth man.

Nash should have gotten at least a game suspension no question. He's still young and a suspension would have been a good lesson for him. On the other hand, I lost respect of Sweden. If the IIHF deems it ok, just leave it like that. You can discuss about it, write a column about it, etc. but did the management had to whine about it 2 days later? This matter doesn't concern Sweden one bit, it was between Canada and the IIHF. I see that there are many Swedish loud mouth out there. IMO, Swedish management and the IIHF suck and Nash should be ashamed of himself. I really hope that he learned something out of this comotion surrounding his stupid action.

 

[Canuck21t]

Burke made a very good point. Because the IIHF didn't do anything, this will be a precedent and it would be hard to penalize next time a player touches a referee. It would be too unjust to condemn a player while everybody knows that Nash got away free. Right away, the refs should have done something. That's unfortunate for Canada. I rather see Nash gone for a game our two than yet again Canada getting a bad rap.

 

[The True Blue Crew]

well, the native americans played hockey before that. they had wooden sticks and played on ice with no skates on obviously, but had their version of a puck.

Actually it can. Try reading your history books, Ice Hockey was invented by British Soldiers based in Canada!

The Brits invented Hockey, and like soccer and cricket, we suck at it too!

 

[BCCHL inactive]

Holy crap ...7 more pages in just one day. Here I go...

Yes ok, but on the other hand...the referees suck in this tournament...they can't even make a call right when its them selves beeing abused

To a lot of fans, all referees suck. Nothing new here.

That said, this referee should have tossed Nash. To not even mention it on his game report embarasses me as an official.

That said, the IIHF has also failed by not stepping up for its officials, even when the official doesn't know he needs it. They should have suspended Rick Nash.

IIHF should suspend the refs who have made the crap calls.

Crap calls according to who's opinion? Yours?

No but seriously...All Nash was trying to do was to stop the referee so he could whine. Then a linesman came to stop him and he pushed him in moment of anger. He was very upset about that the referee just let Hedström throw the puck away and totally ruin Canadas chances to score.
If I'd been the referee I'd totally let him touch me.

First of all, you don't know how gross that last comment sounds.

Secondly, if you were a trained official, no way would you be thinking in the mentality demonstrated by this post and let a player physically abuse you.

You can throw the puck in your own zone. That is not against the rules at all.

Not quite true. You can make a hand pass in your own zone. A player cannot close his hand on the puck and throw it at any time in any zone.

Why would they, it's faster to play it with their sticks. If the puck is high and you can't reach it with your stick without it being high sticking, you can just hit it with your hand, or basically take it in your hand and throw it out. Of course you can't hold onto it for a long time or the ref will blow the whistle, but yes, you can throw the puck out of your own zone. You dont have to believe me, consult the rulebook.

IIHF Rulebook:
"559 - HANDLING THE PUCK WITH HANDS BY A PLAYER
Any player, except the goalkeeper, who closes his hand on the puck shall be assessed a Minor Penalty.

http://www.iihf.com/hockey/rules/img/sec5.pdf

I will not watch this damn tournament if Nash gets suspended for this ridiculous thing.

I hope you become an official one day and have a player go after you.

Just dont understand..if this happened in the NHL he would be sitting a few games.

The NHL punishes physical abuse of officials with a 20-game suspension. (Of course, after an investigation.)

Anyone remember Cujo in the playoffs a few years back? After a goal was scored, he skated in protest to the ref, then tripped and took him out. Take out the context of the goal and just snap one picture of Cujo colliding with the ref and you've got exactly the same thing.

Yup, and Curtis Joseph should have been suspended for that too. He may not have intended to take out McGeough, which is why 20 games would not be the right move for the NHL to make, but Joseph definitely charged McGeough in a rage of anger. If that's not worth the remainder of a playoff series, I don't know what is.

It's a little suspicious to me that this involves Nash, the best player in the tournament by a fair margin. If successful this would devastate Team Canada's chances (the team that's played and beat Sweden in the last two WHC Championships). It's also suspicious to me that nobody but the Swedes felt this was a big enough deal that it should be investigated by the IIHF.

I'm Canadian and I think Nash should be suspended.

How is it suspicious that this involves Rick Nash? He did it. There is photo and video evidence.

If the referee and linesman didn't file a complaint (they who would have recieved this abuse), then I don't see the issue. Players TOUCH the referee ALL the time (heck, Linesman intentionaly put themselves in the middle of scrums where they DO get hit sometimes). This idea that the referee is "untouchable" is new to me.

This isn't a case of incidental contact. This is an issue of deliberate physical abuse of officials. Just because the officials involved don't call the penalties or mention it on the report doesn't make Rick Nash innocent.

Exactly..... and it should be done BY THE REF or OFFICIAL that was involved, not by some whiny coach whose sole purpose is to give his team an advantage.

Referees and linesmen don't hand out suspensions. According to your logic, if there isn't a penalty called, it's not worthy of supplemental discipline. There is a reason those two words (supplemental discipline) are in rulebooks.

What's even more pathetic is the way that Nash and Bob Nicholson both try to brush it off in that TSN article. The least they could do is show some class and apologise, which doesn't seem like much to ask for considering no punishment was given when one was clearly warranted.

Amen to that! I lost a lot of respect for Rick Nash with the, "Lets talk about Ukraine" routine.

Special treatment? It's our game, yet we play on your ice. It's our game, yet we play with your rules. It's our game, yet we play with your refs.

I have never seen such a biased comment. It's "our" game? Go to the IIHF website and see how many nations are IIHF members.

Nash is just an idiot as that guy during the summit of 1972. Canadinas really showed a lot of respect to the Moscow crowd . Classless act as always. Too much Sudafed for Nash if you ask me.

If you can't see that the Soviet officials in 1972 were as biased as hell, you need a new sport to follow. That said, going after officials is never acceptable.

Canada invented the game

Not necessarily. It's possible, but there are conflicting stories as to where ice hockey actually originated from. It could indeed be Canada, it could have came to Canada from England, or even The Netherlands. Nobody knows for sure.

NHL refs are used in the World Cup of Hockey because they are the best refs in the world. I don't think you can argue that. It was a decision made by all of the participating countries, not just the North American teams.

Actually, no. The World Cup of Hockey is an NHL-sanctioned tournament. Therefore they use NHL officials and play under the NHL rulebook.

It's a no-no to send a tv shot (no even a penalty called) and ask for a suspension. At least, on this side of the ocean. It's part of the unwritten code.

Oh god, don't give us this "code" crap. It happens all the time in the NHL. WAKE UP!

gretzky went overboard with his us against the world speech. but it woke the team the up. but that isn't the topic o this thread.

Is it not possible that this was part (if not all) of the motivation for Sweden's GM's rant? But I guess it can't be compared to Gretzky's 2002 rant since Gretzky is not part of this thread's topic.

I saw the video and i cant belive its even an issue ..he hooked the ref to get his attention and shrugged off a linseman ..big whoop.

I'm going to safely assume this is a sarcastic comment.

 

[Epsilon]

I think an "OWNED" is in order here.

 

[Pepper]

Crap calls according to who's opinion? Yours?

Obvious to most of us who watched the game.

Not quite true. You can make a hand pass in your own zone. A player cannot close his hand on the puck and throw it at any time in any zone.

IIHF Rulebook:
"559 - HANDLING THE PUCK WITH HANDS BY A PLAYER
Any player, except the goalkeeper, who closes his hand on the puck shall be assessed a Minor Penalty.

http://www.iihf.com/hockey/rules/img/sec5.pdf

Van, you should know that closing a hand on the puck is *NOT* the same as throwing the puck (you just can't pick it up and throw it).

The NHL punishes physical abuse of officials with a 20-game suspension. (Of course, after an investigation.)

Not quite true, you get 20 games only for deliberate physical abuse, unintentional physical abuse nets you 10 games.

 

[Ola]

On the other hand, I lost respect of Sweden. If the IIHF deems it ok, just leave it like that. You can discuss about it, write a column about it, etc. but did the management had to whine about it 2 days later? This matter doesn't concern Sweden one bit, it was between Canada and the IIHF. I see that there are many Swedish loud mouth out there. IMO, Swedish management and the IIHF suck and Nash should be ashamed of himself. I really hope that he learned something out of this comotion surrounding his stupid action.

If you lost respect of Sweden you obviously haven't followed this or any other WCH that closely. Canada have more power then any other hockey nation. They have leverege. The WC isn't "optional" for any other team. It is for Canada, and they generates allot of money for the IIHF.

Canada takes their tactics they are used to from the Stanley Cup to the WCH. When it comes to warfare they are second to none. They complain about the refs loudly after every game they loose, every penalty was a conspiracy against Canada ect. Its strange that Gretzky got allot of attention his comments in the Olympiques because stuff like that is all you hear from the Canadian manegment in these tournaments, after every game. In the Nagano games in 98´ before Ulf Samuelsson was thrown out because of passport trouble their was a emergancy meeting with delegates from the involved countrys. Guess what country said that they would go to court if Ulf where allowed to play?

I don't think its necessary anything wrong with this. I don't live in a world where I belive that Sweden wouldn't use its power if they had any. Its a competetive game and you try to get every advantage possible.

But when Sweden filed a complaint against Nash they knew that he wasn't gooing to get suspended. Any other player from any other country would, but Canadian players don't get suspended in a WCH. I love the comment from the Japanse guys who was assigned to review the case, "I've seen it several times and it wasn't intentional".

What Sweden wished to accomplish was that sooner or later Canada will run out of favors...

 

[Ola]

Special treatment? It's our game, yet we play on your ice. It's our game, yet we play with your rules. It's our game, yet we play with your refs.

First of all Canada was a member of the IIHF the last time I checked. They aren't exactly a visitor in the WCH. They have as much say as anybody else when it comes to rules ect.

What do you mean with "your ice"? Austria is home ice for one country, Austria... (BTW the WCH will be played in Canada in two years, it haven't in the past because of lack of interest from their part. They haven't been interested in hosting a tournament that would steal interest from the Stanley Cup...)

What do you mean with "your refs"? More often then not Rick Looker from USA refs allot of important games with Canada in them. Just ask the Slovaks after the semifinal last year...

 

[Wisent]

I love the comment from the Japanse guys who was assigned to review the case, "I've seen it several times and it wasn't intentional".

That was indeed gold. I mean, everybody saw it and yet he claims that. I don't get it. Absurd.

 

[psycho_dad*]

IIHF Rulebook:
"559 - HANDLING THE PUCK WITH HANDS BY A PLAYER
Any player, except the goalkeeper, who closes his hand on the puck shall be assessed a Minor Penalty.

http://www.iihf.com/hockey/rules/img/sec5.pdf

Yes Van, I know this. I did not say you can close your hand holding the puck, I said you can throw it out. In my opinion, throwing does not necessarily mean you close your hand, at least I can throw objects with an open hand. Hockey players do it sometimes too, and it's ok if they do it in their own zone. You can't however throw it to your teammate, then it will be whistled off.

 

[psycho_dad*]

IIHF sure showed their true colors today, and those colors are red and white. Horrible decision...they made a joke of themselves with this "It was not intentional" nonsense. I have absolutely no faith in this organisation anymore.

 

[Seiza]

IIHF sure showed their true colors today, and those colors are red and white. Horrible decision...they made a joke of themselves with this "It was not intentional" nonsense. I have absolutely no faith in this organisation anymore.

I agree, it is all a big joke. What makes things even worse is that René Fasel (the big guy in IIHF) is a former hockey referee!! The same guy that said that "I've seen it several times and it wasn't intentional". How can a former referee defend what Rick Nash did? I'm not getting this...

 

[Paxon]

I won't speculate on whether this was just a completely mishandled situation or some weight was thrown around, but clearly Nash should have been tossed with at least a one-game suspension to boot. He didn't do anything dangerous by any means, but he crossed the line both blatantly and intentionally.

 

[Westlander]

Actually it can. Try reading your history books, Ice Hockey was invented by British Soldiers based in Canada!

The Brits invented Hockey, and like soccer and cricket, we suck at it too!

If you know so much about our history, you would also know it's not that simple. There are conflicting claims about where and by who the first game of hockey (I mean the modern game, not some other sport with a vague resemblance) was played. Some say Montreal, others Kingston, and there are others as well. In any case it's not 100% clear.

The other problem is, in that time period the lines between who was considered 'British' and who was considered 'Canadian' were very much blurred. Many people thought of themsleves as both, even after confederation. Using your measuring stick, you could say that Canada itself was invented by the British. The point is, even if the people who invented hockey were 'British', hockey is not a British sport in the same way as football or cricket.

 

[Macman]

I find it hard to believe Sweden's claims that they weren't looking for a suspension for Nash. If that's the case, why take it to the IIHF? And if they didn't want one, why did the IIHF rule a suspension wasn't warranted. The Swedes could have simply gone public with their concerns and left if at that. Nicholson looked mightily ticked off yesterday. More fuel for the fire, I hope.

 

[Pepper]

My bet is Nicholson looked pissed off because 1) Nash was a total idiot who deserved a suspension and 2) Canada had to throw some political weight around to keep Nash in the tournament.

Blaming the swedes makes Hockey Canada only look dumb & embarasses them further.

EDIT: and this coming from a finn who's always ready to bash swedes

 

[littleD]

It's obvious that the IIHF completely dropped the ball on this decision. It shouldn't matter if Sweden didn't want Nash suspended. He should not be involved in this years tournament any longer.

 

[Riddarn]

Pretty unbelievable to believe that Nash didn't even get a repremand for his behaviour. The IIHF has no spine.

 

[cfrancis]

Stupid move, should have gotten a game, it wasn't malicious enough to warrant the tourney but idiotic enough to get a game.

 

[Egil]

Yes Van, I know this. I did not say you can close your hand holding the puck, I said you can throw it out. In my opinion, throwing does not necessarily mean you close your hand, at least I can throw objects with an open hand. Hockey players do it sometimes too, and it's ok if they do it in their own zone. You can't however throw it to your teammate, then it will be whistled off.

You can't throw the puck out of your zone. That is a rediculous abuse of how hockey should be played. Give me a break.

And I still don't see how Canada wields all this power in the IIHF. If we had the power claimed, the Worlds would be later in the year by at least 2 weeks and would be much rougher.

The simple reason why there was no suspension is that the GAME referee (the abused) didn't complain. Because of that, nothing was done. My guess is that a similar result would have occured in the NHL (you can't have abuse of official if the official doesn't considered himself abused).

 

[Macman]

My bet is Nicholson looked pissed off because 1) Nash was a total idiot who deserved a suspension and 2) Canada had to throw some political weight around to keep Nash in the tournament.

Blaming the swedes makes Hockey Canada only look dumb & embarasses them further.

EDIT: and this coming from a finn who's always ready to bash swedes

Hockey Canada hasn't blamed Sweden for anything, at least publicly. I'm sure it's going to be used as motivation, however.