Saturday, April 03, 2004
Bill McCreary, Leaf fan & Sen hater
Bill McCreary did a brutal job officiating tonight's Ottawa-Toronto game. Some of the cases in point include:
Antoine Vermette being taken down when alone with the puck breaking into the Leafs zone. No call.
Minutes later, Gary Roberts goes down when he runs over Martin Prusek. Two minute penalty to Daniel Alfredsson.
Petr Bondra collides with Mikael Renberg while looking in the opposite direction. Two minute penalty to Bondra.
Daniel Alfredsson hooked down by Mats Sundin while attempting to tap a free puck into a mostly empty net. No call.
Mats Sundin falls down turning when Mike Fisher touchs his skate with his stick. Two minute penalty to Fisher.
Chris Neil hits Robert Reichel squarely on the shoulder and knocks him into the boards. Two minute penalty to Neil.
Minutes later Tie Domi runs at Petr Bondra from the blue line to the end boards and hits him on the back of the shoulder into the boards. No call.
Chris Neil gets a mysterious hooking penalty with less then two minutes for hooking Tie Domi. If McCreary is trying to make sure things don't get out of hand, why wasn't Domi given a penalty also? Meanwhile class act Pat Quinn has noted loose cannon Tie Domi out on the powerplay.
For those watching the game on CBC, whenever Neale or Bob said that a Maple Leaf player had a Senator tied up, what he really meant was that they were being held up. The Leafs were doing so much holding that I suspect that some of them have an unnatural attraction to some of the Senators.
Now here's some interesting stats about McCreary.
In games he's refereed involving Ottawa, the Sens have had 31 power plays compared to 40 penalty kills this year, 22 power plays to 27 penalty kills last year and a combined 53 power plays to 67 penalty kills over the past two years. This from a team that had 86 more power plays then penalty kills over the past two years or 100 more power plays then penalty kills if you exclude the McCreary games.
Meanwhile when it comes to Toronto, in games that McCreary has refereed they've had 51 power plays to 40 penalty kills this year, 52 power plays to 49 penalty kills last year and 103 power plays to 89 penalty kills last year. This from a team that has had 84 penalty kills then power plays over the past two years or 98 more penalty kills then power plays if you exclude the McCreary games.
By observing tonight's game and looking at the stats from the past two years how could you not say that Bill McCreary, a native of Guelph (just outside of Toronto), is not biased with regards to Toronto and Ottawa?
For those watching the game on CBC, whenever Neale or Bob said that a Maple Leaf player had a Senator tied up, what he really meant was that they were being held up. The Leafs were doing so much holding that I suspect that some of them have an unnatural attraction to some of the Senators.
Now here's some interesting stats about McCreary.
In games he's refereed involving Ottawa, the Sens have had 31 power plays compared to 40 penalty kills this year, 22 power plays to 27 penalty kills last year and a combined 53 power plays to 67 penalty kills over the past two years. This from a team that had 86 more power plays then penalty kills over the past two years or 100 more power plays then penalty kills if you exclude the McCreary games.
Meanwhile when it comes to Toronto, in games that McCreary has refereed they've had 51 power plays to 40 penalty kills this year, 52 power plays to 49 penalty kills last year and 103 power plays to 89 penalty kills last year. This from a team that has had 84 penalty kills then power plays over the past two years or 98 more penalty kills then power plays if you exclude the McCreary games.
By observing tonight's game and looking at the stats from the past two years how could you not say that Bill McCreary, a native of Guelph (just outside of Toronto), is not biased with regards to Toronto and Ottawa?
