Conspiracy theorists can just ice those fears

BY LUKE DECOCK, Staff Writer
Raleigh News & Observer
http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/
May 20, 2009

PITTSBURGH - MAY 18: Sidney Crosby(notes) #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins attacks the goal as Dennis Seidenberg(notes) #4 and goaltender Cam Ward(notes) #30 of the Carolina Hurricanes defend during Game One of the Eastern Conference Championship Round of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs on May 18, 2009 at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

PITTSBURGH - So you're convinced the NHL is out to get the Carolina Hurricanes.

You're not alone. Many players are also convinced the league is tilting the ice in favor of Sidney Crosby, too.

While that's a motivational tool in the dressing room, it's also giving the NHL too much credit. Even if the league wanted to pull strings behind the scenes to ensure the Pittsburgh Penguins' return to the Stanley Cup finals, it's nowhere near organized enough to pull it off.

This is the league that packed three two-day breaks between games into the Eastern Conference finals, stretching it out longer than some wars. If the NHL can't come up with a sensible schedule for a playoff series, how is it supposed to rig one?

Rest assured there is no conspiracy, no vast Illuminati working against the Hurricanes in the league offices in Toronto and New York. If there was, how could the Hurricanes possibly have made it to the conference finals for the third time in seven tries?

Still, after Monday's 3-2 loss, the Hurricanes remain convinced that the league is favoring Crosby, not that they'll acknowledge it publicly. That perception will be as much of a rallying cry in this series as it was against the Boston Bruins.

Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice took pains to raise a few issues for the league's consideration Monday night, which is all part of the gentlemanly code of playoff gamesmanship.

Maurice wanted a penalty on Matt Cooke's knee-to-knee hit on Erik Cole in the third period and questioned the three interference calls in the first eight minutes after a rough-and-tumble, anything-goes series against the Bruins. Then he underlined those points again Tuesday.

"Apparently, if you drive the front of the net, you're not allowed to bump the guy," Maurice said. "At least, you hope it goes both ways."

Cynics, partisans and the casually paranoid would say that a tighter standard of officiating favors the Penguins in this series, just as a looser standard played to the Bruins' advantage in the previous series.

They would further argue that the NHL is desperate to see Crosby and the Penguins advance over the small-market Hurricanes as they point out that the Canes, the NHL's least penalized team in the regular season, have faced more power plays than any team left in the playoffs.

These are legitimate concerns but closer to coincidence than conspiracy. The league has had means, motive and opportunity, yet Carolina is still playing.

If the NHL really wanted the Hurricanes out, all it would have taken was one extra call in either Game 7 against the Bruins or the New Jersey Devils. There were enough potential penalties in overtime of the Game 7 against the Bruins to make any number of legitimate calls that could have ended Carolina's season.

There were reasonable people calling for a multi-game suspension for Scott Walker, yet he was on the ice in the next game after the NHL overruled the mandatory one-game suspension.

And if the NHL was stacking the deck in favor of the Penguins, why assign the same supervisor (Kay Whitmore) to this series as the last one? Why assign one of the Game 7 referees (Dave Jackson) to Monday's game?

The first three were called by Dan O'Halloran, who worked Game 7 of the Pittsburgh-Washington Capitals series. After that, the standard was too loose for the Hurricanes, if anything, when Mark Eaton and Cooke got away with injury-causing hits.

Officiating is like the weather -- sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad, but it rains on everyone. At the pace games are played, the last thing officials are thinking about is which team they're supposed to be favoring.

Their job is tough enough as it is, which is why there are so few capable of doing it at this level. Some are better than others, but as a group they are honest, hard-working guys who love their jobs and who willingly take the boos that come with it.

Now, make no mistake, there are certainly people who work for the league who would love to see the Penguins back in the Stanley Cup finals. If you worked in the marketing department and didn't have a horse in this race, you might feel that way too.

But there's a long and winding road between crossing your fingers in hopes Boston or Pittsburgh advances and actually being able to work the levers of the great and mighty Oz to try to make it happen.


luke.decock@newsobserver.com, 919-829-8947 or blogs.newsobserver.com/decock