Minor News - Robbery in Toronto

Vol III, No. 18

While most of the hockey world is tuned to Los Angeles and Newark, there are odd things going on, north of the border.

In the first professional hockey game ever played in Toronto, during the month of June, the jinx was in on Thursday night. The Calder Cup finals are being played, and it was Game 3.

The Toronto Marlies are the Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate (and feeder club).  This year, made it to the Calder Cup Finals. There's only one small problem. They wuz robbed, in one of the strangest finishes anyone has ever seen.

The Marlies entered Thursday night, after losing two road games in a row to the Norfolk Admirals.  Back on home ice, a sellout Toronto crowd (8084 strong) expected the Marlies to bounce back.  Despite being out shot 30 to 21, the Marlies stayed in the game through three scoreless periods. Then came overtime.

At 9:09 of OT, Admirals D-man Mike Kostka dumped the puck into the Marlies end, as his teammates were clearing the zone. RW Brandon Segal was still in the offensive zone as the puck entered.  It was  an automatic offside and should have been a delayed call. 

The puck hit the back boards, bounced off, hit the side of the goalpost and curled around into the other side of the goal. Marlies goaltender Ben Scrivens looked on in disbelief, as the red light came on and the referee signaled a goal.

But it couldn't be a goal, with delayed offsides. The ref blew the call. It was a sudden death game winner. And Norfolk now are one game away from an AHL championship, with a commanding 3 - 0 series lead, all because of a referee's error.

AHL President David Andrews was forced to issue a statement on the league website.  Here it is.

“We have spoken with Toronto Marlies management and confirmed that a rules interpretation error by the on-ice officials occurred on the Norfolk Admirals’ overtime goal during Game 3 of the Calder Cup Finals...As AHL By-Laws do not allow for any change to the final result of a game based on an incorrect rule interpretation, the result of the game stands.”


You have to wonder what would happen if a bad goal ever decided an OT playoff game in the NHL.  With video review in Toronto (of course), you assume that the refs would be corrected on the ice.  But in the AHL, there is no video review, and so the Admirals stole a game.

If Norfolk goes on to win the Calder Cup, a lot of Toronto fans will remember Thursday night as the   time a ref got away with murder.

Hockey Rules, but sometimes even the refs don't get them right!