Two Minute Penalty for Boring the Fans

Today's blog will have to be a rant, but I promise to keep it short for you...

At this very moment, the Flames and Canucks have just retired to their dressing rooms for the first intermission of Game 4. The Canucks (as I pointed out yesterday) are leading the series 2 games to 1, but the score for this game is still tied at zero. Lots of great skating, awesome passes, and amazing goaltending... But here's the problem: The NHL Officials.

Ever since the playoffs began, all we've heard from the color commentators is how the referees have been instructed by their organization to crack down on "obstructions" in the game. These are instances where a player does something (tripping, hooking, interference) to illegally interfere with an opposing player's progress. So, what we have now are a bunch of guys in striped shirts who are too paranoid to miss a call (one can only imagine what punishment they've been threatened with) so they call anything that even resembles an obstruction. It's getting right out of hand! I'm not sure about the rest of the fans out there, but I know that I tuned into watch the finest that the NHL has to offer, not the Best and the Brightest of the Whistle Blowers. You wanna talk about obstructions? How about stopping the game every 2 minutes for pointless penalties?

In my opinon, these playoffs would be a lot more entertaining if we could just get back to some good old 5-on-5...