Scott Wedgewood injured in pain on the ice. Refs don't blow the whistle. Buffalo scores

[Lonewolfe2015]

Well pulling a muscle is different from being cut by a skate for example. It is a judgement call. In this case, between the Avs player making the injury happen by shoving, and the degree of the injury, I think it was fair to let play continue.

But if they were able to clear the zone I think the ref intended to blow it dead.

I can't imagine you haven't seen plenty of games where the ref blows plays dead with an injured defending player who then gets up and skates off on their own? It doesn't require much for refs to do that, they just don't know how to consistently apply the rule book in a fair way.

Again, the number one problem is they blow the play dead automatically for a removed mask. Even when there's intent. An injured goalie is no different. It shouldn't require puck possession and anyone caught faking an injury should be fined or suspended. Otherwise remove the mask rule.

 

[Dirty Dog]

The beating eventually came...on the scoreboard. Benson wrote a check his team couldn’t cash. At last he’s feisty though...even if it blows up in his face.

I have no idea what this means. He wrote a check his team couldn’t cash by scoring a goal? And that scoring a goal blew up in his face? Such a bad salty take.

Sir, the Sabres regularly blow third period leads. And I mean regularly. It has nothing to do with Benson or your team.

 

[John Mandalorian]

I have no idea what this means. He wrote a check his team couldn’t cash by scoring a goal? And that scoring a goal blew up in his face? Such a bad salty take.

Sir, the Sabres regularly blow third period leads. And I mean regularly. It has nothing to do with Benson or your team.

Daft.

 

[ClydeLee]

Have so many people who even faced him in their conference forgotten the legend that was Mike Smith? Goaltenders flopping for 3 seconds is not unheard of at all. This was legit but the ref was also right there and nothing looked like it was going to cause further injury keeping the play up.

 

[tucker3434]

Say I concede to everything you say there? ... What difference does it make? .. Does not change the fact that Kelly lifted his knee up against the back of Bensons leg while simultaneously pushing him up top which causes Benson to be dumped onto Wedgewood.

Again, I don't think there was anything intentional there, either way. I think Kelly was as surprised as Benson was. It happened in a split second. I think Kelly is just a little off balance there. That's all there is to it. I don't like going frame by frame for an incident that occurred in about half a second.

 

[Coffey]

Reffalo?

 

[toddkaz]

In my opinion Benson cuts hard towards Kelly and falls into the goalie, Kelly does not push Benson in.

I get why the ref let the play continue, but in a situation like that I feel the ref should blow the whistle.

Edit for reference:

"Falls' with a magical force.

The commentator clearly explains the RULES. Colorado has to regain possession for the whistle to blow.

Wedgewood should have ripped his mask off. I have seen other goalies to it in the past.

 

[ToDavid]

If you actually watched the presser you'd know he literally said he knows what the rule is but the refs never call it that way.

He can say what he likes but he’s not demonstrating it because he should know that whether the puck is in front of the net or in the corner, it doesn’t matter until Colorado gets possession.

In my experience the refs are very consistent in only blowing it down when there’s a potential head injury or in more extreme cases when it’s not a head injury. It’s got to be every other game or so that a skater is down on the ice with the play continuing around them because of the same rule. The only reason this play is even noteworthy is because it was a goalie and it led to a goal.

Without clips or more context for the examples Bednar is rattling off, it’s kind of impossible to say how comparable they are to this situation.

 

[Rebels57]

Correct call considering the Avs defender stupidlly pushed the Sabre into his goalie and then Colorado never touched the puck between that and the goal. Why do players still continue to do this to their goalies.

 

[benfranklin]

Its not goaltender interference, but once a game they call random plays dead instantly when guys are hurt, but dont here when its the goaltender!? Its not like the play was in the slot/crease and guys were hacking away. It was a nothing play in the corner for a good 5-7 seconds after he goes down. Bednar said he knew it wouldnt come back for goaltender interference but wanted these moron refs to watch it on their little ipad getting the shit booed out of them.

The refs missed this one bad and lost control of the game. Dont preach player safety and then do this. If Wedgewood took a one timer off the back of the head, this would be a lot uglier today.

And the Benson celebration?! Ever score a goal bud? The Sabres deserved this loss and did it is such a loser Sabre way. Im a little shocked it wasnt in regulation, but whatever.

 

[ToDavid]

It is within the rulebook as it is written now. It's left to ref discretion. These are hockey players. They may occasionally flop, but they don't fake injuries. It seems dumb to me that a guy can shake his helmet off and get a stoppage, but an actual injury is play on.

A goalie without a helmet is a significant risk of a life altering or threatening injury if someone shoots. A guy falling on your ankle, while any injury certainly sucks, typically isn’t.

 

[EdAVSfan]

Bednar seems to be misunderstanding the rule. An imminent scoring chance is only relevant when it's one of your own players injured. The refs will blow the whistle if the injured team has possession but not if there's an imminent scoring chance. If it's a player on the opposing team that's injured, play will continue as long as you maintain possession, scoring chance or no.

That’s absolutely false. There was literally another time in the same game where the Avs had the puck in the offensive zone, and Dahlin went down. The refs stopped the play. The AVS had the puck and were circling it around. Buffalo never touched it.

Again, this is the problem with the rule. The more you give the refs discretion, the dumber it looks. We need to remove as much “grey” in the rule book as possible, because the refs are like cops. Some know the rules well, some don’t. And then you get all kinds of random inconsistency, not just game to game, but within the same game.

 

[ToDavid]

That’s absolutely false. There was literally another time in the same game where the Avs had the puck in the offensive zone, and Dahlin went down. The refs stopped the play. The AVS had the puck and were circling it around. Buffalo never touched it.

Again, this is the problem with the rule. The more you give the refs discretion, the dumber it looks. We need to remove as much “grey” in the rule book as possible, because the refs are like cops. Some know the rules well, some don’t. And then you get all kinds of random inconsistency, not just game to game, but within the same game.

Do you have a clip? How did he go down? The refs still have discretion to blow it if they think it’s a serious injury, which they’ll usually do if there’s a potential head injury.

Without context it doesn’t mean anything.

 

[tucker3434]

A goalie without a helmet is a significant risk of a life altering or threatening injury if someone shoots. A guy falling on your ankle, while any injury certainly sucks, typically isn’t.

A goalie crumpled in the net isn't in a great position to protect himself either. It's not like he's over in the corner. By design, he's going to be taking pucks and right in the middle of the action. At some point, a goalie in that situation will take a 2nd injury while down, and that'll be the end of that.

 

[Auston Marlander]

Kelly knocked him into Wedgewood. Refs don't have to blow the whistle for that type of injury. Sucks but its a good goal.

This game in general has been really gross though.

They blow the whistle when a goalie loses a blade...

 

[Frank Drebin]

is wedgewood out 4-6 weeks ? right call was made

 

[ClydeLee]

Its not goaltender interference, but once a game they call random plays dead instantly when guys are hurt, but dont here when its the goaltender!? Its not like the play was in the slot/crease and guys were hacking away. It was a nothing play in the corner for a good 5-7 seconds after he goes down.

How do you and many people think that would be better? Seen a few other comments like that.

Wedgewood would actually be in danger to worsen his injury in that scenario. VS this where the Ref is right there, and he has no danger around him. There is far less threat of player safety to letting this play out vs a scrum at the netfront, THAT is when you assess, this can get worse easily and blow it dead.

I am seriously strongly baffled. Multiple people have said this... And the video is right there, it was 3-4 seconds from contact to goal. This reaction is insane to me.

 

[Frank Drebin]

"Falls' with a magical force.

The commentator clearly explains the RULES. Colorado has to regain possession for the whistle to blow.

Wedgewood should have ripped his mask off. I have seen other goalies to it in the past.

ripping your mask off would or should be a 2 minute minor for delay of game

 

[BlueOil]

It is within the rulebook as it is written now. It's left to ref discretion. These are hockey players. They may occasionally flop, but they don't fake injuries. It seems dumb to me that a guy can shake his helmet off and get a stoppage, but an actual injury is play on.

injuries are typically "play on" in the NHL. blocked shots are handled the same way. surely you don't think they should be stopping play for each blocked shot that leaves someone in distress?

minor injuries shouldn't stop play unless the team with possession is willing to give up possession to stop it. the helmet shake off is a problem because it allows a goalie to stop play without the team gaining possession of the puck, not because they stop play when someone could get seriously injured. the avs simply had to get possession to stop play. i'm not surprised to see bednar arguing for them to call it in favor of the avs instead of how they actually called it, but suggesting the refs should take pity on a team with an injured goalie and prevent a scoring chance is hardly a fair rule to operate on.

 

[Score08]

What am I missing here, he hit the guy into his own goalie. Pretty cut and dry imo.

 

[Rec T]

The problem is the goalie has no control over when the ref decides they are “injured enough”. What if a goalie takes a stinger that they just need a minute to shake off and the ref blows the whistle? They have to come out of the net?

What about skaters? Guys go down all the time after blocking shots and it can look pretty bad initially. What if the ref decides the blow the whistle and you’re down your best player for 5, 10 minutes?

Play being stopped for injuries doesn't happen all 'that' much to begin with so it shouldn't impact things too greatly.

Players will either need to be making an effort to get right back up (like most do already) or communicating with the official 'not' to blow the whistle (& there generally is one right there determining if it needs to be blown anyway). Either would be enough to show that things aren't bad enough to stop play. Otherwise, if you looked/acted bad enough that play had to be stopped, 5 min off is warranted (perhaps a goalie with a stinger has the option of using the timeout).

It's already a rare situation, but there needs to be 'something' (in this case time off the ice) so that it doesn't get exploited (& again, those truly injured are already probably done for the night/off for a while getting stitched up & likely gone for five minutes anyway).

/five off is plenty, forget the ten suggestion

 

[tucker3434]

injuries are typically "play on" in the NHL. blocked shots are handled the same way. surely you don't think they should be stopping play for each blocked shot that leaves someone in distress?

minor injuries shouldn't stop play unless the team with possession is willing to give up possession to stop it. the helmet shake off is a problem because it allows a goalie to stop play without the team gaining possession of the puck, not because they stop play when someone could get seriously injured. the avs simply had to get possession to stop play. i'm not surprised to see bednar arguing for them to call it in favor of the avs instead of how they actually called it, but suggesting the refs should take pity on a team with an injured goalie and prevent a scoring chance is hardly a fair rule to operate on.

As I said above, goalies are in the unique position of standing between the goal and the puck 100% of the time. A skater blocking a shot is out away from the net. He's much less likely to have a second puck shot at him or another person land on him.

 

[JoeSakic13]

Not goaltender interference, as it was clearly Colorado that initiated Benson falling on Wedgewood, but the puck should have been blown dead due to player injury. Not to mention they had plenty of time in the play to do so.

They blew it dead earlier this very game when Dahlin went down. The fact that it wasn’t is more of a testament to how inconsistent the call in that situation is than anything else. Benson played to the whistle, as you should, but there should have been a whistle.

 

[AvroArrow]

Classic nhl reffing

?

#17 on Colorado pushed him into the goalie causing the injury, that's a good no-whistle. If Colorado is pissed at someone it's #17 (Sorry I don't know who that is) One of the stupidest things you can do is push an opposing player into your own goalie, idiotic play by him.

 

[Tralfamadore]

They blow the whistle when a goalie loses a blade...

Ya I dunno I'm all over the place now with this ruling honestly.

Only consistent thing is that the calls are inconsistent.