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2.09.2009

Just watched the Parker Major...

Let me first say that obviously we never want to see any of these kids hurt... and Chet Pickard played in net for the Americans last night so obviously he is not injured.

As a fan of the Tbirds I often find myself questioning and constantly trying to curb my enthusiasm for the team in an effort to be objective. I guess my goal would be to never be called a "homer" and to never have anyone think that my opinion is based either solely or even in part simply towards the best interest of the Tbirds.

Having said that....

All this talk about Parker getting a Charging Major and being suspended in my opinion is complete and total crap.

I just watched the video from the Americans feed and here is my take.

- The play develops as a 3 on 2 for Seattle with Wells bringing the puck over the blue line on the right side of the zone.

- He leaves a pass for Parker who takes a shot from the high slot that Pickard stops but allows the rebound to trickle out to the near post to his left at the bottom of the circle.

- Parker, following his own shot has the puck coming towards him and swings to get a stick on the rebound at which point Pickard alertly pokes the puck over his stick and towards the near side boards to the blue line.

- At the point at which the puck jumps over Parker's stick he is no more than 2 feet from Pickard with his momentum going straight forward at near full speed.

- As the puck clears Parker's stick he could have made one of potentially three choices... Peel off to the left towards the middle of the goal and/or the far goal post, try to stop and potentially fall over Pickard, or peel off to the right.

- Parker chooses what would prove to be the wrong course of action and peels to the right where he runs into Pickard. Clearly in this case a poor decision....

- On the video you can clearly see that Parker's arms never come up, his stick never comes up, and his feet never leave the ground until after the collision as he is tripping over the fallen Pickard.

In my opinion... this is a textbook 2 minute minor for Goaltender Interference and nothing more. I see a player trying to score on a rebound who failed miserable to avoid the goaltender after the puck hops over his stick. To call this a 5 minute Charging Major is really a shame because it places it in the same category as a truly dangerous hit that includes an intent to injure.

This is nothing more than a guy accidentally running into a goaltender, who despite leaving the game was clearly not hurt on the play. I think if he is suspended for more than 1 game the league really gets it wrong.

As an added note... can I please get a set of home team announcers who don't automatically jump to the conclusion that best suits the home team?? Anyone? All I'm asking for is an announcer who can hope for the best for their home club while calling a game objectively at the same time... is it really so tough to do that?

16 comments :

Anonymous said...

Your right, they gave him 1 game.

http://www.whl.ca/Suspensions-s11114

Thunnex said...

ha... that would have been so helpful 30 minutes ago.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Also if you check the video you will see Parker takes his last stride before crossing the blue line into the offensive zone. He glides the rest of the way to set up for his shot. Doesn't charging require taking 2-3 strides into the opposing player? Also watch and you will see as Parker turns to the right, Pickard throws out his left leg.

Anonymous said...

And the only reason he got one game is because the league doesn't review plays on the weekend. So Seattle had to sit him Sunday because the call in the game was a 5 and a game and there was no review of the incident Sunday morning.

Anonymous said...

do you have a link of the video that you can share w/us tyler?

Thunnex said...

I wish I could... but I think there is probably some copyright distribution infringement somewhere in there.

Obviously I don't have any control over someone posting it anonymously on a message board.

Kodi said...

So I just watched the archived game on WebTV and I also must agree that Chet pushed out his let leg and he actually swiveled in that direction as well. Should Parker have gotten a penalty? Absolutely! Should it have been a 5 and a GM? Hell no. League proved today that I still don't need glasses.

I so agree with you on the announcers btw. I'm trying to figure out when they will get a clue and have the away team broadcasting for WebTV considering the odds are more likely if you are paying for the stream it's because you aren't able to travel with your team. Atleast give us an option....

Anonymous said...

For those that saw the video, Tom had commented on the web cast that the net did not come off the anchors. I can understand Pickard being shook up and/or hurt if he crashed into the net, and the net didn't give. Have to wonder if the league viewed it and decided that it was definately a two minute goaltender interference, and that any injury was in part due to the net not breaking away the way it should have.

Anonymous said...

Tyler,

I wonder how objective you would be if the shoe were on the other foot? You all have had the oportunity to watch the replay many times, I would guess, while the referee had one chance at it at game speed. And Zalaski has never shown himself to be a very good referee. His work Saturday evening was questionable both ways. Goaltender interference usually involves a bump or a slight impact, not an ass-over-tea kettle collision in the crease. I have not seen the replay so I can't comment on your opinions of the incident, but it sounds like the league saw it as you did and left it at 1 game. All of you have valid points about the intent to injure, 3 strides, etc. but when a goaltender is invloved the standard is a little different. Also, your announcer commented at the game he thought it was a charge. All I'm saying is game speed is a little different than watching on your laptop several times.

bs

Anonymous said...

No, the T-birds announcer said goaltender interference when it happened. He didn't say anything about charging until the referee called it charging. He didn't disagree after it was called charging but his initial comment was goaltender interference. He also said on Sunday's pregame show, after watching the video, that he thought it should only have been a goaltender interference penalty. Also, in Sunday's game, Calvin Pickard was run over and knocked backwards in the crease by a Giants player. Guess what the call was? Goaltender interference!

Anonymous said...

My apologies on the reference to the Seattle announcer. I got that information from a friend who happens to be a Seattle fan. Again, on Sunday, after a replay or two, things can look differently to all involved.

bs

Thunnex said...

I totally agree that I have the advantage of seeing the replay multiple times. I'm not really taking the referee Zalaski to task as much as I'm taking the Americans fans and their announcers for their perception of the penalty.

As people have pointed out, Parker had to sit out Sunday no matter what with the league offices not open on Sunday and I think the fact that no additional games were given to him beyond that speaks volumes to how they felt about the penalty.

Seen in real time... I can't necessarily fault Zalaski for calling it the way he did... I'm just saying it was the wrong call.

Anonymous said...

Tyler, I agree. One of the few times you can't fault the referee's call when you see the play in real time. Thank goodness for video. I bet the T-birds bench didn't even argue the call. But it looks like after seeing the video the T-birds had a good arguement for no suspension.

Anonymous said...

Tyler,

You're serious about being surprised with fans going overboard in their reaction? Come on, most fans by definition are not very objective. Your problem with Craig West is another matter but I have always found him to be very objective, especially in comparison to some of the announcers heard around the league. He will routinely state when a TC player got away with one that should have been called. And it happens quite often. I believe he had Drew Schonek with him that night and I don't know how he is in the booth.

Good luck with your fundraising for RMH. A worthy cause if there ever was one.

bs

Anonymous said...

Also, my comment earlier that Zalaski is a bad referee were wrong and I apologize. Everyone can have an off night from time to time; players, coaches, even game officials.

bs

Thunnex said...

I'm not really surprised... I'm just taking them to task for it. I feel pretty confident saying that if an Americans player ran into DeSerres in the same fashion I would say that I was surprised it garnered a 5 minute major.

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