Minnesota Wild: Refs blew it in Colorado

#487023775 / gettyimages.com

Back in the 1990's there was a popular and re-occurring comment that was made towards the on-ice officials at the old Ralph Engelstad Arena, "Get off your knees ref you're blowing the game." This couldn't be more accurate following last night's game between the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche.

By now, you have probably seen the goal that was offside and the non-call for holding on Wild forward Charlie Coyle. It's hard to stomach the results in this one, it feels like a robbery. If the refs get these two calls right, the Wild are heading back to St. Paul with a 3-2 series lead. Simple right? For those that say that the right call was made on the off-sides, go back and take a look at the official rule book from the NHL. The skates have to be touching the line.

Here’s the official rule (Rule 83.1 – Off-side):

The position of the player’s skates and not that of his stick shall be the determining factor in all instances in deciding an off-side.

A player is off-side when both skates are completely over the leading edge of the blue line involved in the play. A player is on-side when either of his skates are in contact with, or on his own side of the line, at the instant the puck completely crosses the leading edge of the blue line regardless of the position of his stick.

So I ask you. Who are you going to believe? An experienced NHL official or a newspaper beat writer posing as a fan blogger. I am going to go with Kerry Fraser, he's got the credibility to backup his claims.

Trouble in Denver. Charlie Coyle held by Andre Benoit with net empty causing turnover. Up ice, Paul Stasny is offside as Avs tie game. Ouch! — Kerry Fraser (@kfraserthecall) April 27, 2014

Here's what the fan blogger posing as a beat writer for the Avalanche had to say on the matter. Adrian Dater is still bringing up Cooke's name after how many games? We should start a new hash tag #blamemattcooke If the Wild win this series, it's still possible, will Matt Cooke's name be invoked? I can tell you that it probably will.

Sorry, but there’s no way that picture makes off-sides clear. Stastny’s left skate looks behind the line to me, and that puck is about to cross the line. Did Stastny actually touch his skate to the ice anyway after the fact? Hard to tell. Either way, it’s not a clear off-sides at all. If the Wild want to blame that non-call on their loss, more power to ‘em. All I know is, after the play, Ryan Suter (if only he paid as much attention to the puck tonight as he did looking over his shoulder at the refs all night, begging for a call) stood and watched as Stastny grabbed the rebound of his own shot on the ensuing sequence, then fed a pass between Suter and Jonas Brodin to P.A. Parenteau cutting down the middle ahead of a lazy Wild back-check, and he tied the game with a shot under Darcy Kuemper’s glove.