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Further adventures of Tim Peel, terrible NHL referee

Tim Peel is a National Hockey League official. He’s abjectly terrible. Let’s find out what he’s been up to, shall we?

Dec. 17, Vancouver Canucks at Minnesota Wild

Canucks rookie defenseman Ryan Stanton was roughed up from behind and into the boards during the second period of Vancouver’s game at Minnesota, and had to be helped from the ice after injuring his ankle. Tim Peel ruled this was a 2-minute minor for Zenon Konopka for tripping; Canucks coach John Tortorella disagreed in an animated discussion during the game.

Said Torts:

“It shouldn’t have been a minor,” Tortorella said. “That’s what I thought. We are trying to get that play out of the game and look at the person who is doing it. I just thought it should have been more than a minor.”

Alas, Torts lost the a-Peel. We’ll give this one two Mario Kart banana peels. Not his worst call, and angering Tortorellla is god's work.


Dec. 16, Winnipeg Jets at Columbus Blue Jackets

In the first period, Cam Atkinson of the Blue Jackets drove to the Jets net, made contact with goalie Al Montoya, was taken down by the defense and swiped at the puck. Then Matt Calvert came into the crease and helped push the puck over the line.

In Tim Peel’s world, Montoya was impeded from making a play on the puck by Calvert, and hence it was waived off for goalie interference. Which, as you know, is not a reviewable play.

Said Calvert:

“(Peel) told me I have to stay out of the crease and let the goalie make a play on it. As you can see the replay – of course it’s easier to watch a replay than to make a call on it – I dodged him the best I could and the puck was clearly in the net. You have to live by that. definitely no excuses there."

It’s clear, as this point in his tenure, that Peel has never gotten as far as the “goalie interference” rule when reading the NHL rulebook (it is rule 61, so that’s a lot of reading) which states:

If an attacking player has been pushed, shoved, or fouled by a defending player so as to cause him to come into contact with the goalkeeper, such contact will not be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for purposes of this rule, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.

It’s a call he’s blown pretty much bi-weekly for the last three years. And one he blew again in the Jackets game. This one, we’ll give three banana peels:

Dec. 12, Colorado Avalanche at Winnipeg Jets

That time when Tim Peel waived off his own penalty:

Matt Duchene went to the net hard, Tobias Enstrom appeared to trip him. Tim Peel raised his arm to call a penalty, before emphatically waiving off his own penalty call.

This truly is a landmark moment in the history of Tim Peel, as he leaves us wondering whether the initial call was terrible or if reversing that call was actually the terrible call. It’s like throwing a bag of coins in the air to confuse Two-Face before he decides whether to murder you.

That, or Peel's body is rejecting the poor officiating in his mind.

This friends is a four Peel effort:

As always, if you see or hear of any Adventures of Tim Peel, terrible NHL official, hit us at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com.