A New NHL Season Begins

Atta boy, Clutter.

As I type this, there is approximately 45 minutes until the puck drops in Helsinki, Finland between the Minnesota Wild and the Carolina Hurricanes.  I love a new season in the NHL, with all the hope and promise for playoff glory (OK...I realize that most "experts" have the Wild picked to finish 14th in the 15 team Western Conference...there's still hope).

I also love watching referees work NHL games.  Yep...you might be like me...but I spend the majority of my time watching the Zebras, seeing how they react to situations. 

Brad Watson

I watch refs to see how they are communicating.

I watch refs to see how they skate.

I watch refs to see their body language.

I watch refs to see how they drop a puck, signal a goal, signal a penalty, work the goal line, work the blue line, and skate on an icing.  I watch it all and DO IT SO I CAN LEARN.

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I am also amazed at the people who bitch and complain about officiating.  I am a huge fan of Justin Bourne's Blog, and he had this to say about officiating:

So here’s what I’ve discovered about myself from really being immersed in the NHL with other fans: nothing makes me lose more respect for one of them than ref blaming.  It’s by no means just in hockey, but I’m BOGGLED by how many people actually think their team got the raw end of the deal every night.  I don’t just mean Canucks and Red Wings fans either.  I mean there’s this CRAZY percentage of people who regularly blame losses on bad reffing.

My question is, if NO ONE in the world can do it well (in those people’s opinion), how hard must that job be?  Making split-second subjective calls that are subject to the scrutiny of millions of people with instant replay and slo-mo?  No sir, I don’t like hearing that crap. Can’t respect ref-blamers.

Well said, sir.  Spot on.

Do you have a funny story about an idiot fan (kind of like the two dads I saw at a girls HS game who were going to fight because one owed the other one money?).

Good message, but not intended to be a political message

OK...let's drop the puck already!