I knew it!!!

For those of you that have been reading my little blog here may have noticed my dislike of both the on and off ice officials.  Late last night I came across a very interesting article written by a guy named Tyler Dellow on his website http://www.mc79hockey.com/?p=3518 (for some reason today I get a 403 error when clicking that link, I hope it is just from a shit load of traffic today).

The article in question shows a pile of emails between Colin Campbell and director of officiating Stephen Walkom that were released in the wrongful dismissal case of referee Dean Warren.

The article shows some fishy shit that pertains to Colin Campbell's son Gregory, and Campbell's apparent hate for Bruins centre Marc Savard.

Luckily TSN.com has some of the article posted on their site, so I will include some of the emails here for you to read for yourselves.  But I implore you all to read the full Tyler Dellow article if the site ever recovers, again, the link to that page is here http://www.mc79hockey.com/?p=3518 .  Mr Dellow's comments really add to the whole thing.  It is really well written.

Here are some of the emails in the article, although not all of them, but enough to get the gist of things.

To Stephen Walkom/Tor/NHL@NHL
Subject Re: Delayed Penalties/High Sticks 02/#/2007 4:24 pm

A bend in the road is a dead end if you round the corner and Dean Warren is standing there. Your answer re: his high stick calls and the score of the game were horse ----. The 3rd call on [player] was while they were down 5 on 4 and on a def zone face off vs that little fake artist [player] I had him in [city] biggest faker going. And Warren fell for it when he grabbed his face on a face off. Your supposed to see the act, not call the embellishing act. Dean Warren has to go with [referee] There must be a way to get rid of this guy. Is there a way we can tract (sic) and total minors called by referees this year. We could then get the minors they call per game...or with 2 [referees on the ice] it is impossible? Warren and [referee] out of [club's] games. Give them to [referees].

Who is the "little fake artist"? Well that would be Mr Campbell talking about Marc Savard. A lot of people questioned the fact that Campbell did not suspend Matt Cooke last year for his head hit to Savard that resulted in a nasty concussion. Perhaps his dislike for the player factored into that? I have often wondered if this happened, and this sort of thing adds some credence to that thought.


Here is another one:

Re [player]
Colin Campbell to Stephen Walkom, Mike Murphy
02/#/2007 09:21 AM

I know Murph and Kinger like [player] as a player but my view of him is this exactly…he puts his whining ahead of the game. I don't think this is a regular occurrence (…..getting screwed) and...exploded...over the disallowed goal. He may be uncontrollable by...and...as I think his frustration level has hit a high point. He hates officials as well. He is still pissed off at [referee] for a call he missed in the playoffs years ago as I remember him bugging Murph about it. Let's give him Warren and [referee] than (sic) he will really have something to whine about.

Sounds like more reason to think personal feelings are involved in NHL decisions.

Here are some more emails regarding Colin's son Gregory and penalties called on him:

From: Colin Campbell
Sent: 11/#/2007 09:54 PM EST
To: Stephen Walkom
Subject: Penalty

Game not televised. Radio announcers said it was a bullsshit penalty…you need to find out for me. How…I don't know but this was awful. 1:30 left in 2-1 game for [team] and [player] scored with 2 second left to tie it up them won in OT. FUCK.

From: Stephen Walkom
Sent: 11/#/2007 09:56 PM EST
To: Colin Campbell
Subject: Re: Penalty

ok ill find out….

Re: Penalty
11/#/2007 10:48 PM
Colin Campbell to Stephen Walkom

Did you find out anything? It was [another referee] that made the call. Keep Warren and gas this shithead. 90 seconds left and he calls a weak penalty…tripping. Makes me sick. If I was at the game I would have had to fine me.

Doting hockey dad? or nepotism at its finest?

There is a lot more to the article, and a lot more emails, but seeing as the site is down, that is all I could include for now.  Man I wish I had written this last night when I found it.  Stupid sleep had to get in the way.  Lesson learned.









In the end, these emails make both sides look bad.  It makes the refs look incompetent, which I believe most are, and it makes the NHL look crooked, which I also believe they are.  I really hope the link to Dellow's site is fixed so the rest of you can read the rest of it, because there is a lot more to it.


Here are some quotes from TSn.ca, from both Bill Daily and Colin Campbell and their statements on the matter.


Daily:


"Any suggestion that Colin Campbell performs his job with any less than 100% integrity at all times and in every decision he makes is way off base and just factually wrong.  Because of the potential for a conflict of interest, or more importantly a perceived conflict of interest,  the League has implemented various structural protections that prohibit Colie from having any oversight or disciplinary authority relating to any game in which his son, Gregory, plays.  Its always fair to question and criticize League decisions as being wrong, but not on the basis that they aren't justly and fairly arrived at." 

Campbell:

"For me, it's much ado about nothing. Stephen and I would have banter back and forth and Stephen knows I'm a (hockey) dad venting and both of us knowing it wouldn't go any further than that. Stephen would laugh at me. The game in question (when Gregory Campbell was penalized late in the Atlanta-Florida game) wasn't on TV and I was asking Stephen to find out for me if it was a soft call. That's all there ever was to it. The (refs) working that game are still in the league, aren't they? Stephen handled the officials, just like Terry Gregson does now, and I've got a lot of emails to those guys asking about this soft call or that soft call and that's in a lot of games. I'm not ultimately responsible for the (on-ice) officials, that's Terry Gregson's responsibility, but I have to answer to GMs on these calls."

Here is the full TSN.ca article.  http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=341367

I am also a bit surprised that this story has not been a bigger then it should be.  But that is the media for ya.  Maybe the story will gain traction in the coming days.


On a side note, NY Rangers ass-bag Sean Avery was back at it last night with a sucker punch to the face of Edmonton's Smid.  As usual, no call, and no NHL discipline.  But with these emails out there today, I must say I am not surprised by this pattern of him getting away with shit like this all the time.

Anyway, that is all for now.  Keep checking that link to see if it works, it is worth the read.
Until next time...

Stay Angry!!