Last night, Pat Maroon got scolded by Dan O’Halloran and I wish I could see some video of it. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an NHL official go full dad mode on a player before but it happened and it was hilarious.
Ref Dan O'Halloran gave Maroon and earful for snowing the goalie. Maroon wasn't having it, which made O'Halloran even more upset. #Oilers
— Derek Van Diest (@DerekVanDiest) April 21, 2017
After (barely) giving Martin Jones a snow shower, Pat Maroon got a warning from the veteran referee to which he replied: “don’t talk to me like that.” Apparently, that was all it takes to set Dan O’Halloran off because he started wagging his finger in Maroon’s face like it was a scene out of Slapshot. No penalty was called on the play (he got Maroon later for a lame goalie interference call) but O’Halloran certainly looked ridiculous as he chased Maroon down and followed up with a few hot laps back and forth to the bench to tell Todd McLellan what was going on.
@DerekVanDiest O'Halloran deserved it. Say what you want to the player if you feel the need, but skip the finger-wagging trying to show him up.
— Robin Brownlee (@Robin_Brownlee) April 21, 2017
I was at the game last night and I couldn’t stop laughing at the sight of an NHL ref scolding a player like he was in the principal’s office. The only thing that was missing was O’Halloran making Maroon sit in the corner of the room with his nose against the wall so he could think about what he did. You wouldn’t normally expect that kind of behaviour from an NHL referee, let alone a veteran, and I want to see it again. I’ve searched through Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, and everywhere else I could think of but I can’t seem to find a video of it.
Did you see the play I’m talking about? What did you think? Do you think that O’Halloran was just in his parent-like lecture? Am I the only one that thought it was hilarious? Let me know. If you have the video, can you email it to me at [email protected] so that I can post it absolutely everywhere.
***UPDATE***
Huge thanks to Liam for sending me a gif of the finger pointing.
Oiler Domination To Follow
The refs were terrible last night. There is no defending them.
Well it seems to be The Oilers VS. Refs/Sharks. I’m not saying the Oiler calls haven’t been penalties but man do the Sharks get away with a ton of crap.
O’Halloran should have had a quiet, respectful conversation with Maroon, telling him that he would get a game misconduct if he snowed the goalie again. Instead he waved his finger in Maroon’s face, which is going to upset anyone. Besides, it barely even counted as spraying the goalie. I don’t know O’Halloran but he didn’t handle this very well. I hope we don’t see him again any time soon.
O’Hollerin’
This is going to be an unpopular opinion but I wish they would get rid of the on-ice officials altogether. Just have the calls come from above as you’d have the ‘new officials’ watching video. Viewers at home and the broadcasters see the missed calls, bad calls and plays that get reviewed right away. The reffing is just so poor and subjective. Everyone hates the refs anyway. Ref you suck is chanted as much as go ‘team’ go. Unfortunately I couldn’t see it ever come to this because unions…
Well Kinder,I disagree with you. Jason is simply taking the high road,and not embarassing the officials. If the Oilers and media started complaining openly about the officials,I think it would only make things worse. They haven’t though,even in game,which is why I believe game 6 didn’t feature a 2-1 margin in power plays for the Sharks,as in the previous four games. The Oilers weren’t a heavily penalized team all season,and because they’ve taken the high road,and cried about the refs,that they start to see the games more evenly called. That said,I was sure as [email protected] on here complaining about the officials.
* and Not cried about the refs. Sorry gents,still a little sleepy hollow this am. Go Oilers Go!!!
The dumbest thing is that the Sharks didn’t even react to Maroon, which means they didn’t think it was a big deal.