Heh, everyone who was watching the game with me said Kiprusoff made an amazing save on Lecavalier, but I simply didn't see it. He went to the standard spread position that all goalies go to when someone's crashing the net and it's obvious they're not going to go top shelf. I just didn't find it to be an amazing save. I don't think the refs were one-sided at all. Calgary had some questionable calls go their way, too, not just Tampa Bay. I mean, even the announcers said it was payback for all the questionable calls Calgary got. I still think Sutter's an @$$ for trying to gain calls (just like Vancouver always does) by complaining that the refs hate them because they're from Canada, bla, bla, bla... cry me a freakin' river. Stop trying to gain calls by drawing attention to it through a press conference. In the end, though, Tampa Bay wanted it more. Calgary didn't show up for the game until the final 10 minutes or so. [/b][/quote] I think the Kiprusoff save was great because Lecavalier had him going one way, and he was sliding that way, but then he shot out his leg just far renough to stop it. It's a hard play to stop, seeing that I've scored on lots of goalies in street/ice hockey before with that move. It looked cool. I just think that if they're going to call certain things (or ignore them) in the first six games, they should've treated game seven the same way. I mean, on the other side, the refs made a bad call on Tampa's Nolan Pratt when he bumped into Saprykin at the side of the net, giving Calgary a powerplay. Obviously when a built 6'4 guy (Pratt) and a skinny other player who's under 6 feet (Saprykin), collide, the smaller guy is going to fall down and make it look bad. Then Conroy scored on that powerplay. But there was one or two blatant calls on Tampa forwards where they clipped the legs right out from under Iginla, they're pretty lucky the refs never called penalties. (Edit: This is the first successful hockey thread on the forums, and I've made lots! Thanks! )
Well, the refs normally either let the players play the whole way through or they crack down -- they just seems to be how it goes. I think they let both teams get away with a lot more than they should have, personally. Then again, you're always a little bit biased for the team you want to win
That's true. Just like how CBC broadcasters are biased for Calgary, and ABC broadcasters (from the little bits I saw) centre most of the time on Tampa.
Tampa Bay has no skill. All they did tha entire game was flip the puck in and race for it. Calgary kept it on the ice for the most part.