Any fan of hockey knows the NHL’s officiating is suspect most of the time and outright egregious at the most inopportune times. Everyone knows the rulebook is enforced in two separate manners during the regular season and playoffs. Everyone knows make-up calls happen in every game. It’s baked into the entertainment experience of the NHL. It’s so embedded into the culture of the sport that, in some cases, we merely shrug at calls in apathy and say, “that’s NHL officiating.”
This isn’t new. It’s been a quiet underlying issue for decades.
Last night, now former NHL referee Tim Peel said the quiet part out loud.