Thursday, January 14, 2010

FSN Pittsburgh: An Utter Embarrassment

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=513444

When an NHL referee wants to review a play because he wants to be sure that the correct call was made, the play gets sent up to the "War Room" in Toronto to be analyzed by NHL professionals. And when this happens, shouldn't these "NHL Professionals" get every possible angle, view and camera shot available? Well according to the producer of FSN Pittsburgh, only angles and shots that benefit the Penguins will be sent.

How can the people who review NHL goals not have every single replay of the goal (or non-goal)? How is it possible that the producer of the television station who is shooting the game has the ability to withhold a certain replay? Simon Gagne shot a puck towards the net that was under goalie Brent Johnson's pads and it was inconclusive on the ice whether the puck had fully crossed the goal line or not. So to be sure the correct call was made, referee Don VanMassenhoven sent the play up to Toronto to be reviewed. Well with the replays that were given to them, the people in Toronto decided that there wasn't enough evidence to show that the puck completely crossed the goal line (it looked like it was in from the replays I saw, but that really doesn't matter). The final score of this game ended up being 7-4 Flyers and the goal really didn't matter in the end. But what if it had? What if the final outcome of the game would have been different had this goal counted? What FSN Pittsburgh did was completely embarrassing and irresponsible. To withhold a replay to benefit the station's home team is an absolute joke and makes a mockery of the whole NHL goal review process.

I really hope something like this never happens again. And if it were my team's TV station preventing the NHL from making the right call, I would have to question the integrity of the station and of my team. Who is to say FSN Pittsburgh hasn't been doing this for years? It's a real shame that something like this happened, a real shame.

No comments:

Post a Comment

The Daily Collegian Online

The Daily Collegian Online
Click the image to visit the site