It certainly didn’t take long for one of the Vancouver media scribes to take a leap of faith into the abyss of foolish column writing ahead of the Stanley Cup finals.
With everything we’ve seen this postseason involving officiating (and it’s been pretty good for the most part) the last thing we’d think would be on anyone’s minds would be the potential for questionable officiating in the Stanley Cup finals. Of course, with the Bruins being involved and Gregory Campbell being a Bruins starter, as well as son of Colin Campbell from the NHL front office, it makes some people in Vancouver get a bit curious.
After all, the season got off to a roaring start with Colin Campbell’s email scandal in which he sent messages to then head of officiating (and once again on-ice official) Stephen Walkom looking to make sure certain referees kept an eye out for current (and injured) Bruins star forward Marc Savard being “the biggest faker going” while similarly berating officials for not getting calls right regarding his son’s play. While Bruins fans were a bit up in arms about that at the start of the year, Vancouver media has seized the attention the other way now that Campbell’s son Greg plays for the Bruins.
Enter The Province’s Tony Gallagher. Gallagher got his thoughts out about the potential for officiating shenanigans to come out in the Stanley Cup finals thanks to Colin’s job with the league and his son’s spot on the Bruins roster. Commence the hysterics, Tony.For each round in the playoffs a referee works, he gets an extra $18,000 over and above his yearly salary. For a linesman it’s $12,000. So if you please the powers that be, you work lots. If you don’t please them for whatever reason, you don’t get to work in the playoffs. The officials working the final are the guys the league thinks are the best and as we’ve seen from the exchange of leaked memos a while back, Campbell can often be involved in those discussions.
And make no mistake, we’re not talking about any communication between these respective parties at any time. There’s no conspiracy. The officials know what their bosses need and know how to please them.
Now any official who happens to displease the powers for whatever reason—serious mistakes we’d like to believe—could find himself not working the final all of a sudden (although that wouldn’t affect his pay this year) and his employment considerations for the future would be open to question. Maybe he gets no playoff work the following year. Maybe it could be so serious that his contract might be re-considered in the future. The bottom line is these guys in the hockey operations department—of which one is the father of one of the games’ participants-- control every aspect of an official’s employment.
No, no conflict of interest here.
Sigh.
These are concerns we raised earlier in the year (and often aside from that as well) when the email scandal broke loose but some of the crazy things to keep in mind here so as to fully debunk this nonsense are simple.
First, Campbell doesn’t rule on matters involving the Bruins because of his son’s spot on the roster. Mike Murphy handles all things that involve the Bruins when it comes to disciplinary matters. We’d like to assume this also extends to referee assignments in the playoffs. If Colin Campbell has a “hit squad” of guys he knows he can influence, it frankly doesn’t matter as it’s (likely) Murphy’s call to pick who does the games.
Secondly, if you really think Campbell has it out for Vancouver, remember that Campbell played for two seasons with the Canucks from 1980-1982 including a Stanley Cup finals appearance in 1982 against the Islanders. If anyone knows best as to how much a Stanley Cup for Vancouver would mean to the fans it’s Campbell from his days playing at Pacific Coliseum.
Finally, if you’re that desperate for a tinfoil hat conspiracy in the Stanley Cup finals you’re going to find something to latch on to when/if things go sour for your team whether you’re a Bruins or Canucks fan. Officials, ice quality, vendor food, weather... Anything will do for those who want to be their own version of the X-Files. Would you rather sit back and enjoy the hockey or be a part of the rambling lunatic fringe? You know what the right choice is.
While Campbell’s email scandal and how he handled himself when confronted that should still be addressed in some way in the offseason, it’s not going to play a part in how these teams loaded with talented professionals conduct themselves on the ice. Believing that the league is rigging things in favor of any team or against a country (in some Canadian fans’ minds) is the sort of thing better left to fans of other sports that go wild with such talk.
