The NHL got underway yesterday at 5:30 PM EST when the Tampa Bay Lightning took on the visiting Nashville Predators. In typical NHL fashion, the League could not get through the game without a blatant officiating error.
During a board battle on Neutral ice, Sheary got involved with Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauzon. While Lauzon's stick certainly came close to Sheary's visor, it is clear on the replay that his stick never touched the Tampa player.
Despite this, Sheary threw his head back in a dramatic fashion and fell to the ice, covering his face with his left hand. The on-ice officials thought they saw him get high-sticked so Lauzon was given a minor penalty on the play.
This kind of call is rather common in the NHL. When a player jerks his head back like that it is easy to assume he was fouled, especially if there are opponents' sticks in the vicinity as it happened.
That being said, that is no excuse for the refs to get the call wrong. While hockey is a very fast sport and replay is continuously being expanded to aid the refs, some calls still have to be made on the fly. The league has traditionally handed down fines for plays like this as a way of discouraging this unsportsmanlike behavior, but it remains to be seen if Sheary will get a fine or not.
