Consistant reffing a must for the Playoffs

It’s that time of year again.  The NHL Playoffs are just around the corner, and teams are already starting to prepare for the post-season.  In the West it’s highly possible that the 8 Playoff teams will be made up of 4 from the Northwest Division, 3 from the Pacific and 1 from the Central.  In the East it’s possible that there will be 4 from the Atlantic, 3 from the Northeast and just 1 from the Southeast.

One could argue that the Southeast and Central Divisions are the weakest in their respective divisions, and the current NHL schedule could be seen as biased towards strong teams from those divisions.   That is a topic for another day.

Today I want to touch on something that can make or break a game in the NHL, or in fact in any hockey league; Refereeing.

Bad calls are something we learn to live with in professional sports.  We must remember of course that the people in the black and white stripes don’t always see things the way we do.  There are times however when bad calls have influenced the result of a game.   Just this week referees made a bad call and caused a 2 minute minor on a team, then just 30 seconds later failed to pull up a goalie interference call on the opposition team, which resulted in a Powerplay Goal.

The Playoffs however are the be all and end all of NHL hockey.  Teams battle it out all season to make the Playoffs and the last thing they want or need are referees not doing their jobs properly.

We can only hope then that we will have a relatively clean Playoff Series, not just from the teams, but also the Referees.

Sharks win 10 straight, push for Division

Joe Pavelski and Milan Michalek led the San Jose Sharks to a new record tonight, defeating the Nashville Predators 2-1 on the road.  The win, the Sharks 10th in row has them sitting atop the Pacific Division, 1 point ahead of the Dallas Stars and 4 points ahead of the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Anaheim Ducks.

The Sharks, 10-0-0 in their last 10 games have been surging since acquiring Brian Campbell from Buffalo at the Trade Deadline.  They have been favorites to win the cup since the beginning of the season, and are starting to make the push at the right time of the season.

Ross McKeon commented in his latest column…

“It is a battle in that Pacific Division,” said Joe Thornton, the team’s leading scorer. “I believe we’re going real good right now, and it’s a good time to play those good teams and see how good we actually are.”

Three key factors have put San Jose on track. First, Jonathan Cheechoo is healthy. Second, Patrick Marleau rediscovered his game. And last, the addition of defenseman Brian Campbell at the trade deadline added a new dimension to the team.
- Yahoo! Sports

Threatening the Sharks for the Division Title are the Dallas Stars who are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games.  The Stars made big news recently by acquiring Brad Richards from Tampa Bay in a blockbuster move at the Trade Deadline.  The Stars have been leading the Division for the last month, but a few recent losses now see them having to compete hard to win the Division.

4 points back from the Sharks sit the Anaheim Ducks, who have also started to make a push.  They are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.  The Ducks have been on again off again however and will need to push harder if they wish to compete with the Sharks and Stars.

The Sharks have 2 games in hand over both the Stars and the Ducks which could put them a few points ahead of their Division Rivals come the end of March.