"I tainted the Winter Classic with my mouth," Tortorella told reporters following Wednesday's Rangers practice in Greenburgh, N.Y. But it was the comments he made after the Winter Classic that created the need for a retraction.
"I'm not sure if NBC got together with the refs to turn this into an overtime game," Tortorella said. "They're two good referees (Ian Walsh and Dennis LaRue), but I thought that game was reffed horribly. I'm not sure what happened there. Maybe they wanted to get it to an overtime. I'm not sure if they had meetings about that or what. … I just thought tonight, in that third period, it was disgusting."
Tortorella said earlier today that those comments were meant to be tongue-in-cheek.
"Using the word disgusting was not the proper way to go about it," Tortorella said. "I was wrong there."
No word on any fines or additional penalties from the NHL. I can certainly see the argument for something, though I will not protest if none occurs. He was right. The last bit of officiating was discusting.
I've already discussed it at length on this blog, but to summarize I agreed with the penalty shot but disagreed with the hook/hold. Still no comment from me on the quick whistles and I can't retract any of my statements based on new evidence. I haven't seen it. It may exist, but to be honest I haven't really looked for it yet.
I'll repost a response I had in that post. Someone asked in the comments about the penalty shot and said that the announcers informed viewers that the Referee that made the call was from Philadelphia.
I said in response:
The way I saw the penalty shot: the puck was in the crease when McDonagh went down and he used himself, not his stick, to shield the puck. He puts his hands down on the ice (possibly on the puck) to prevent anyone from taking a shot, and then he and the puck slide out of the crease. That would qualify for gathering into the body. The best shot of this comes at the 25 second mark in the video above.
The Referee that made the call was Ian Walsh and he is a native of Philadelphia. He was likely choosen BECAUSE he is from Philadelphia. It's a common practice to assign officials from an area the opportunity to officiate in their home town for big events. Tim Nowak was a linesman in 2008, born in Buffalo. 2009- Linesman Andy McElfman was from Chicago. 2010- Referee Chris Rooney was born in Boston while Linesman Brian Murphy was from New Hampshire. 2011 was the only year that the officiating crew didn't have at least one member from the area for a Winter Classic game.
The NHL likes to reward good referees with unique experiences, like the Winter Classic or All Star Games. Veterans, absolute cream of the crop are choosen for the playoffs. But other games are a chance for their families to see them in a special moment as well. After all, if one has decided to become an official, one of the most unique and possibly awesome experiences they could have would be officiating a Winter Classic.
Again, I didn't hear the announcers at all so I can't comment on it directly. I'm wondering if the announcer logged a lot of penalty minutes or if the announcer thought that Walsh tended to give out a lot of penalties. Walsh never played professional hockey as a player.
In rewatching the video, I still stand by my assertion that the penalty shot was legit. The vast majority of the arguments out there are claiming he didn't close his hand on the puck. That is what the announcers kept saying and that is what everyone seems to be quoting as to why the PS was BS. But the announcers were wrong in setting up facts that a penalty shot can only be called in a situation like that if the hand closes on the puck. That is simply not the case and mislead a lot of fans. You can still have a penalty shot without a player closing his hand on the puck.
Okay, getting away from the penalty shot and onto some other news. I'm just going to copy the entire article from NHL.com:
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin denied Wednesday that he spat in the face of Columbus forward Derek Dorsett during a game Saturday night.
Dorsett made the allegation Tuesday in comments published in the Columbus Post Dispatch.
"No, no, no," Ovechkin told Katie Carrera of the Washington Post after practice Wednesday. "I don't know. Show me that moment, I want to see it. No."
Ovechkin and Dorsett were both penalized at 2:38 of the second period after they came together and jostled away from the puck after Dorsett had hit Ovechkin earlier in the shift. Dorsett was given two minutes for cross-checking and Ovechkin two for roughing. They continued their verbal argument once seated in their respective penalty boxes.
"I haven't told many people this but he spit in my face," Dorsett told Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch."That got me a little more mad.
"That's why I was yelling at the ref so much and yelling at him in the penalty box. I find that pretty disrespectful. That's probably one of the most disrespectful things someone can do, especially a guy who is the best player in the league. It's classless. He's supposed to be a role model for the game. It's unbelievable. ... I don't know if he meant to do it, but the bottom line is he did it and it's disgusting."
There's that word again: disgusting. If true, I'd agree with it. Well, I'd agree if Ovechkin meant to do it. I have been guilty of accidently spitting in inappropriate moments. Granted, it is not often that this happens, but it has happened. Accidents happen in the heat of a moment of yelling, so I have to give a bit of a pass for that.
I don't think anything will come of this. There's no video evidence that has surfaced and, frankly, the assertion has the seed of doubt within it by saying: "I don't know if he meant to do it, but the bottom line is he did it". If the quote had been more concrete in Alex's actions, then maybe. Maybe. I would also point to the fact that Dorsett said he didn't tell many people. If I was the victim of spit attack, I'd be telling everyone. But still, I don't see this thing going anywhere without something else to back up Dorsett's weak claims.
By the way, spitting is a game misconduct penalty under Rule 23.7 (iii) for spitting on a player or spectator, but can be a 10 game suspension under Rule 40.3 if done to an official. Just 3 games (Rule 40.4) if you miss and just spit in his direction.
