The NHL has had some pretty embarrassing moments with replay this year. In the previous cases, the “errors” could have been chalked up to bad judgement or an attempt to save face. But word out of Philadelphia is that Fox Sports Pittsburgh have affected a call with their inability to provide “all available camera angles” of a replay.
If you didn’t know, the NHL replay process is somewhat ridiculous. All of the videos are reviewed by the league headquarters in Toronto. Apparently, Fox Sports Pittsburgh sent the NHL a bunch of replays that didn’t show Penguins goalie Brent Johnson dig the goal out of the net. The Flyers’ home station had decided not to use their video feed for the game so Fox Sports Pittsburgh had the only footage. The referee ruled that the replay was inconclusive and that there was no goal on the play. Had Simon Gagne’s tally counted, the score would have been 6-3 Pittsburgh. The NHL is investigating the matter… not that it makes a difference.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of replay reviews. Sure, we should want the “correct” calls, but it’s a lot like taking your shoes off at the airport to prevent “terror.” Replay review is guaranteed to make the games take longer. Even with it, there will always be judgment calls and bad calls. Now, we find out that the review process itself can be manipulated. So doesn’t that pretty much bring us back to square one? The threat of a bad call shouldn’t allow sports to be hijacked by frame-by-frame replays that often determine nothing.
Tags: brent johnson, fox sports pittsburgh, hockey, instant replay, NHL, philadelphia flyers, pittsburgh penguins, replay, review, simon gagne
