How Bad Is NHL Officiating?

On a morning when all the sports talk shows are buzzing about a blown call(s) at the end of the St. Johns v. Rutgeers basketball game, it must be said the talk shows are missing a much worse call last night. That call happened in the Blues v. Blue Jackets game. Dan O'Neil of the St. Louis agrees with me:

Ian Cole appeared to get his first NHL goal, but it is disallowed. Cracknell carried in, passed to Cam Janssen, who taps it to Cole. The puck went past the Columbus goal. Janssen is then tripped from behind by Jared Boll, and makes contact with the goalie as he falls. Cole shoots the puck in from a bad angle.

But they disallow the goal on the grounds of goalie interference on Janssen. Yet another absolutely ridiculous call by an NHL official, impacting a game.

There simply is no worse officiating in sports than in the NHL.

Yep.

Luckily the hockey gods were also appalled by the crappy officiating. Cole got his first goal later on and the Blues won the game. However, its kind of awful to require the Blues to beat not only Columbus but also the officials.