Disgraced Former NHL Ref Admits To Turning A Blind Eye To Star Players

This former NHL ref has just admitted to being biased toward star players when making calls in the NHL, confirming what most fans already believed.

In a recent interview, Tim Peel admitted to favouring star players when making a call. In his view, fans wanted to see star players on the ice as much as possible, so if a call was on the borderline of being a penalty, he wouldn't make it.

"Did I give Sid Crosby some breaks over the years? Did I give Alexander Ovechkin? Did I give the superstars? Absolutely, because � guess what? � that's what the 18,000 fans are there to see. They're there to see him, not some fourth-line plugger.

Peel tried to cover himself by saying that blatant calls were still made, like a cross-check to the head. However, the issue is that most penalties in the NHL aren't obvious, and he was the one determining whether or not to properly enforce the rules on a level playing field.

"[For a cross-check to the head], the refs have to call it. The refs are gonna call it. I don't think Hockey Ops says, 'Well, Buffalo's not very good. We shouldn't suspend the other player because they've got a good team and Buffalo's not very good.' I disagree with that."

Peel was fired from the NHL in 2021 for being caught on a hot mic saying that he was trying to give the Nashville Predators a penalty as a make-up call, essentially calling them for something that might not have been a penalty in order to make the penalties even between teams.

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