An NHL referee who was caught saying he “wanted to get” a penalty against the Nashville Predators in their victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night faced the consequences this week.
With a little more than 15 minutes remaining in the second period, Viktor Arvidsson of the Predators was called for tripping Jon Merrill of the Red Wings in the offensive zone.
Subsequent replays revealed that Merrill badly flopped his fall to draw the call.
Referee Tim Peel seemed to be the official who made the call.
Less than three minutes later, audio captured an official saying, “It wasn’t much, but I wanted to get a f—ing penalty against Nashville early.”
Maybe if you’re a mic’d up ref, you shouldn’t express how you wanted to call a penalty against a team earlier in the game, changing how you ref the rest of the game.
“It wasn’t much but I wanted to get a fuckin’ penalty against Nashville early in the…”#Preds #LGRW pic.twitter.com/6fZImkdqLr
— Matt Best (@bestofmatt) March 24, 2021
On Wednesday, the NHL brought down the hammer.
Referee Tim Peel no longer will be working NHL games now or in the future. https://t.co/mrnDc61W5P pic.twitter.com/tKsg2SwGh8
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 24, 2021
“National Hockey League Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell announced today that Referee Tim Peel, following his comments during the game last night between the Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators, no longer will be working NHL games now or in the future,” the statement read.
“‘Nothing is more important than ensuring the integrity of our game,’ Campbell said. ‘Tim Peel’s conduct is in direct contradiction to the adherence to that cornerstone principle that we demand of our officials and that our fans, players, coaches and all those associated with our game expect and deserve.
“‘There is no justification for his comments, no matter the context or his intention, and the National Hockey League will take any and all steps necessary to protect the integrity our game.’”
This has been a bad year for officiating in general. Between the entire landscape of the NFL playoffs being changed due to bad calls and NBA players literally breaking other players’ wrists with no punishment, refereeing has seen better days.
Fortunately, in this particular case, it appears as though justice was served.
That answers that. https://t.co/giybknFbu8
— Game 7 (@game7__) March 22, 2021
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
