Here are the NHL Stories from Prime Time Sports last night (National Hour):Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Stephen Brunt from the Globe & Mail,
NHL Phone In: Stephen Walkom, Director of Officiating for the NHL
Main NHL Story: Having Walkom call in to the program, meant that the discussion would focus mainly on the officiating in the NHL. McCown opened up with talking about how rough this years playoffs are. McCown discussed how the "goonery" seems to have moved through the regular season and into the playoffs. Brunt talked to Walkom about the preparation the referees must do during the pre-playoffs meetings. Walkom says his meetings have the goal of trying to keep things consistent, with specific areas (around crease, checks to the head, etc) being emphasized a bit more. McCown moved on to the topic that the media have been talking about the change in the officiating near the end of the season. The officiating seemed to get more lenient. Walkom replied that nothing has changed, nor did he implement a change. Walkom reiterated that his refs have been consistent all season and the GMs are happy with the way the game is being called. Brunt asked if there ever is a time where a change in the way the game is being called must be done "on the fly." Walkom said his refs mainly look for new tendencies with the players and try to adapt to that. The example he gave was that players got used to putting their sticks between the opponents skates, however later in the season the players began putting their sticks between the skates and twisting it. Walkom said the refs just try to stay ahead of the curve. Brunt moved on to goaltender interference and asked if there is any point where the tender is fair game - Walkom said that the call is really up to the refs judgment about whether the player had intent to hit the goalie. McCown asked Walkom about diving and whether there are statistics about the diving now versus diving before the lockout. Walkom said that he feels diving is definitely down and because more attention is being paid to it, the players are less inclined to dive. Brunt talked about the Flames/Red Wings battle of Game 5. He asked whether there was anything the refs did to try to prevent this type of incident from happening. Walkom agreed that the refs knew something like this was going to happen eventually, and he feels the two refs that night handled the situation well. The problem with the refs is they can't call something that hasn't happened and unfortunately they have to have it happen before they can make the call. McCown moved the topic to the refs themselves and the selections made for each of the playoff rounds. McCown mainly wanted to know if Kerry Fraser could be brought back to ref in round 2. Walkom said the guys there right now are doing a great job and barring any injuries, there is no chance he will come in for this playoffs. McCown pushed the "grading" process further. He asked what the most important thing was that he look for in the refs. Walkom talked about the officials that earn the right to get a great rating. Reactions, responses and skating are some the key things that are looked for. McCown talked about negative rating as well, how a ref doing a poor job is easier to cross of the list, than looking for a good ref to advance to the next playoff round. Walkom mentioned that he does not use this system and that sometimes refs do recover and do earn the chance to get a great rating and move on. Walkom said the refs really are a great bunch of guys who support each other throughout the playoffs, even if they don't get the chance to move. McCown also talked about ref pairings and Walkom said that he does try to match up refs that work well together and possibly keep the pair together as they move through the playoffs. Overall, Walkom said the refs are just like a hockey team and some guys have bad nights, some have good night, some work well together and some don't.
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