Blackhawks coach: NHL agrees ref blew coach's challenge on goal

Joel Quenneville lost a lot on Tuesday night.

He lost a goal from the scoreboard, as Brandon Mashinter's tally against the San Jose Sharks was overturned after a coach’s challenge, with the referees determining that Chicago Blackhawks forward Dennis Rasmussen interfered with Sharks goalie Martin Jones.

And then he lost his cool in the postgame press conference, storming out after declaring about goalie interference standards: "It has gone to a different level. I don't know the rules anymore or something has changed. … I think everybody has an interpretation, what's a good goal, what's a bad goal. But I can't believe it."

It was understandable that he was a little miffed, what with it being the second time in three games the Blackhawks had a goal taken down on a coach’s challenge.

So Quenneville spoke with the NHL this week, airing some grievances. According to CSN Chicago, they agreed with the Blackhawks coach that it wasn’t the right call:

“I just think, we had a couple of occurrences in a short amount of time so obviously a little frustration there,” Quenneville said of his brief presser. “But we did speak to the league and got some [clarification] on the play. I just think there’s education across the board and you have a lot of people in the middle of the process making the decisions. As long as we’re getting right is what we’re looking for.”

Asked if the league agreed with the no-goal decision, Quenneville said, “Did they agree with the call? No.”

Again, this is just how it’s going to be. Different refs, different standards. The NHL isn’t likely to take goalie interference reviews out of the hands of its on-ice officials. They seem them as subjective, and they aren’t willing to completely eliminate them from the coach’s challenge process if, in fact, offside calls are kicked to the War Room.

The best we can hope is that through continued education and training, the refs can get in the same book, if not on the same page, on what constitutes goalie interference.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.