By now, everyone and your mom has heard and read Alex Burrows comments about NHL referee Stephane Auger following Vancouver’s 3-2 loss to Nashville last night.
In case you aren’t caught up, allow me to help out.
- According to Burrows, prior to the game starting, Auger approached him and said the following: “I made him look bad in Nashville on the (Jerred) Smithson hit and he said he was going to get me back tonight.” (via TSN)
- Burrows was called for a diving penalty (which comes with a fine) in the 2nd period, an interference penalty in the 3rd period, and received a 10 minute misconduct in the final moments of the 3rd period.
- The Canucks lose a close game 3-2 and are no longer 1st in the Northwest division.
- Burrows goes off after the game, saying the following quote to anyone and everyone with a microphone, recorder, and ears:
“[Auger] did his job in the third, I think. He got me on a diving call I didn’t think was diving. He got me on an interference call that I had no idea how he could call that. It changed the game. It sucks right now for teammates who are battling 60 minutes to win a hockey game because every two points are so huge, are so important. And because of a guy’s ego, it just blows everything out of proportion and the refs – they’re making bad calls and the fans are paying for it and we’re paying for it.”
-Alex Burrows on referee Stephane Auger following a 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators
- A PR shit-storm has been created.
If you want to see highlights of the penalties Auger called on Burrows, KuklasKorner has a great video breakdown.
Some not-so-classy repercussions from Burrows comments…
- Rightly or wrongly, Burrows is one of those pest type players who carry a reputation around the NHL. I think it’s safe to say Burrows probably won’t get any benefit of doubt calls from a lot more referee’s following the comments above.
- This isn’t the first time Stephane Auger has been the center of controversy in the NHL. Seriously, did anyone really believe the Doan incident?
- The NHL has seen a number of referee involved PR-disaster stories this season alone (Ottawa Senators/Bryan Murray commenting on no-penalty games, various blown calls on goals). The NHL needs to get a handle on this crap and soon.
- Can the NHL have Auger as a referee in any more games for the foreseeable future or ever again? Whether this whole incident is true or not, allowing him to officiate vital down-the-stretch games won’t help the NHL’s credibility.
- How does this affect Auger’s career? You can bet he won’t be asked to work any playoff games this season, or possibly ever again.
- How do other NHL officials view Auger? Will they support him or not?
- How do other NHL players view Burrows after his outburst? Will they support him or not? Will they take advantage of the lack of leniency Burrows will undoubtedly receieve from other referees?
Final thoughts
I can only begin to understand Alex Burrows frustration with this issue, however, I have a problem with him bringing it up to the media. Opening a can of worms like this makes hockey look stupid and brings yet another negative PR story to the surface. By now, this story has seen very heavy distribution across Canada and to a lesser extent, America. And it probably won’t go away any time soon with investigations being launched, subsequent fines to Burrows (I’m assuming he’ll be fined for his comments), and any additional discipline to Burrows/the Canucks organization/Auger. I would like to have seen (or not seen) Burrows go through the proper chain of command (ala Bryan Murray going to the head of officiating for his complaints) and keep this story away out of the limelight.
I understand if Burrows brought this up the way he did to have the issue seriously addressed. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I’m assuming he did this to avoid having the issue ‘swept under the rug’. But still, it seems Mike Gillis has some pull with the NHL (ie- the Leafs tampering claims) and getting them to listen to the concerns of the Canucks. At any rate, this is going to get a lot messier before getting anywhere closer to being resolved. Let’s just hope the Canucks make the playoffs easily and don’t miss the post-season by one or two points…
What do you see as repercussions for Augers accusations/calls and Alex Burrows? Discuss.
Stay classy, Alex Burrows.
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I have commented many times this season on the decline of quality officiating. This latest incident seems to be more of the same.
As far as Alex Burrows I’m sure he will get fined for his comments. Now in the case of referee Augers I doubt anything ‘official’ will be made public unless it can be proven without a doubt that he did make the threats before the game started.
It’s a shame that several of the current crop of NHL referees believe that the fans come to the games to watch them perform.
The best games I’ve ever watched were one’s that you couldn’t remember who the referee(s) was/were.
Bettman will say there is nothing wrong with the officiating and Burrows will be fined.
A week from now there will be a odd ball call and everyone will wonder if there is something deeper going on in the game.
It sucks.
Justin
@hockeycardshow
It’s the fans that suffer over this. I gave up buying tickets to Canucks games this year because of the inconsistency and lack of value in an 82 game schedule. If you watched the Sat game Canuck vs Flames and the Monday game Canucks vs Preds you will have seen two games that looked like they were played in different leagues in different eras. There were at least 3 or 4 penalties that could have been called on Saturday and 3 or 4 that shouldn’t have been called on Monday, one that gave Nashville a 4 on 3 and ultimately cost the Canucks the game. Get these guys on the same page Bettman! Regardless of Burrows comments, Auger should be fired for the phantom calls, he was rightfully booed out of the rink.
@ Rich – Great post re: inconsistency. The NHL talks about how they’ve made huge strides, but I disagree. Even little things like puck drops still aren’t the same from ref to ref, let alone discretionary calls like interference, etc…
@ Justin – Eventually, we’ll forget about this whenever the next buzz story comes along (Kovalchuk finally being traded?), but at least Burrows has made it slightly more difficult to ignore.
@ Hankers – I doubt they can prove anything. But they are pretty harsh accusations nonetheless. And I totally agree the best refs are the ones we don’t notice. Now that Cujo’s retired, maybe we can get him chasing refs around like it’s the playoffs?
Whether Burrows handled this right or wrong, the ref should be fired. A player says something wrong or barely touches the ref and they get ejected and sometimes fined as well, same goes for coaches and its about time there was some accountability held for refs. I’m sick and tired of seeing them get away with things, and everyone is so scared to say a word incase we hurt their feelings and get pissed at us next game It really is stupid, refs shouldn’t dictate the game, they are merely there to coordinate it but are given waayy too much power.
Like I said anything less than a firing/long suspension+no playoffs will not be enough (well unless Burrows is making all this up) which I highly doubt he is. Fines won’t do the trick this time
Sounds like nothing is happening (shock!!) to Auger and Burrows gets a weak fine. I wish someone would tell the NHL not to overreact to these situations /end sarcasm.
@ Sens19 – I totally agree the NHL empowers the ref’s far too much. It wouldn’t hurt to kick their asses back in line every now and then either. I highly doubt Burrows is making this all up. Not his style, and I believed the sincerity in his voice during that post game rant/interview.
this is unbelievable. Augur get absolutely nothing, at least give him a game suspension or something to show respect to the players. pfff
Despite launching “an investigation”, you’d think the league would at very least suspend Auger (with pay) until completed, right? This is another “under the rug” story for bettman and co, who will never go against one of their refs.
The NHL didn’t even say so much as “we feel getting the appropriate calls on the ice are important to the game”. Absolutely terrible. No other sporting league is run this badly.
Has anybody heard anything from the NHL Officials’ Association?
@ Tambland – No, as far as I’m aware. They’ve been especially quiet on the matter. That said, I can’t recall a time (off the top of my head) where they were proactive in anything, or responsive to any time of controversy or issue. My guess is since Colin Campbell’s “resolved” this issue, we probably won’t hear anything from the NHL Officials Association anyways.