Hockey NL President, Jack Lee, says it’s unfortunate that, what was a great Herder Memorial Championship Series, has ended with controversy.
“We work real hard to ensure we have quality officiating for this level of hockey and we assign our top officials to games of this magnitude, however, they have to make judgments in real-time based on what they see” said Lee.
Hockey NL, not unlike both provincial senior leagues and most all amateur hockey in the country, has no video review technology or goal judges to assist on disputed goals. Don Kelly, Referee in Chief for Hockey NL said the game officials in this situation followed appropriate procedures and were in proper positions for this particular decision.
We certainly understand the disappointment and frustration that the Caribous organization and fans must be feeling regarding the fourth goal scored by the Cee Bees in game five, after video taken illustrates the goaltender accidently displaced the net off its mooring, thus allowing the puck to enter the net illegally. We wish that we never had this type of dispute, especially at a pivotal time in the series, however, these decisions rests with the game officials.
The Clarenville Caribous have made a protest regarding the error, but protests of games may be made only in regard to interpretation of the rules of competition, and not in regard to the judgement of a referee or other official, therefore, Hockey NL cannot rule on the protest or overturn the game official’s decision.
The Herder Memorial Championship is the highest level of hockey in the province and we will continue to work with our leagues and officials to ensure we build on all aspects of the game from officials to the playing area/rules to provide the best opportunity for fair competition.
