Scouting The Refs Podcast #RefsPodcast – Details, episodes & analysis

On this week's #RefsPodcast:

• IIHF Women's World Championship Officials
• Frozen Four Refs and Lineys - Congrats to the Hockey East crew of Jeremy Tufts, Geoff Miller, Kevin Briganti, and Nick Briganti, as well as NCHC officials Ryan Hersey, Nathan Wieler, Tyler Liffrig, and Erik Contino who worked the semis
• Swiss League issues a four-game ban to Brendan Lemieux for punching a linesman
• The AHL dishes out a 10-game suspension to Bridgeport Islanders' Adam Beckman for hitting referee Mike Dietrich into the boards
• Referee Alex Lepkowski makes his NHL debut at Chicago Blackhawks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
• Los Angeles Kings' Quinton Byfield scores an amazing goal against the Seattle Kraken -- but he should've been called for a minor penalty
• More stick shenanigans at Kings/Ducks after Anaheim challenged - and lost the challenge - on a high stick prior to a Laferriere goal.
• St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington scrapped with Corey Perry, throwing some punches with his catching glove -- but not his blocker, which makes a difference in the rulebook.
• Congrats to linesman Brad Kovachik on 1900 NHL games, 13th all-time among lineys and #1 among active officials. Steve Barton and Kelly Sutherland both recently hit 1600-game milestones.

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Visit ⁠⁠scoutingtherefs.com⁠⁠ and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter/X, Instagram, BlueSky, and Threads. Email us your questions - ⁠⁠heyref@scoutingtherefs.com⁠⁠

Questions? Comments? Just looking to vent? Call the RefLine and leave us a message at 585-484-REFS!⁠⁠ #RefsPodcast⁠⁠

The Scouting The Refs Podcast is a weekly look at the world of officiating and player safety within the National Hockey League, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world. We'll break down the calls and the rules behind them to help understand why a penalty or suspension was - or wasn't - handed out.

Todd Lewis is a veteran broadcaster covering the NHL and other major league sports. Lewis is a former host on the NHL Network and on NHL Network Radio. He’s also worked for TSN, Sportsnet as a host/anchor and is a producer of other programs.

Josh Smith is the founder of Scouting the Refs, the leading independent site related to hockey officiating which follows hockey officials across the NHL, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world, including news, rule changes and interpretations, suspensions, and statistics on officials and penalty calls. 

On this week's #RefsPodcast:

• Referee Ghislain Hebert and linesman Derek Nansen hanging up the skates… but not before getting in some late hits, with Nansen laying out Buffalo Sabres’ Peyton Krebs
• Minnesota Wild goaltender Jonas Gustavsson stops the puck on his back and - after review - keeps it from going over the line.
• Florida Panthers’ AJ Greer scores off his skate against the Montreal Canadiens but the goal is immediately waved off… then, after a brief discussion, allowed… then, after video review, called back for a distinct kicking motion. 
• In the PWHL, Montreal’s Kati Tabin picks up a game misconduct for an illegal check to the head, but avoids a suspension
• Referee Frederick L’Ecuyer - who previously brought you “all the other guys gonna have a misconduct” - starts calling out players by name on the penalty announcement
• Carolina Hurricanes’ Jalen Chatfield drops the gloves then goes MMA-style with a judo takedown on Washington Capitals’ Connor McMichael - with no fine or suspension on the play. 
• Los Angeles Kings forward Adrian Kempe is awarded a goal after getting tripped up and crashing into the Utah goaltender
• Over in the Swiss League, former NHLer Brendan Lemieux is suspended for accidentally punching linesman Dominik Altmann… and, no, you can’t do that. 
• Anaheim Ducks’ Frank Vatrano holds - then throws - the stick of Calgary Flames’ Blake Coleman. 
• and Congrats to QMJHL linesman Sylvain Losier, who set a league record with 240 playoff games!

Plenty of action on this week’s #RefsPodcast!

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Visit ⁠scoutingtherefs.com⁠ and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter/X, Instagram, BlueSky, and Threads. Email us your questions - ⁠heyref@scoutingtherefs.com⁠

Questions? Comments? Just looking to vent? Call the RefLine and leave us a message at 585-484-REFS!⁠ #RefsPodcast⁠

The Scouting The Refs Podcast is a weekly look at the world of officiating and player safety within the National Hockey League, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world. We'll break down the calls and the rules behind them to help understand why a penalty or suspension was - or wasn't - handed out.

Todd Lewis is a veteran broadcaster covering the NHL and other major league sports. Lewis is a former host on the NHL Network and on NHL Network Radio. He’s also worked for TSN, Sportsnet as a host/anchor and is a producer of other programs.

Josh Smith is the founder of Scouting the Refs, the leading independent site related to hockey officiating which follows hockey officials across the NHL, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world, including news, rule changes and interpretations, suspensions, and statistics on officials and penalty calls. 

Episode 227 / December 20, 2024:

With the final #RefsPodcast before Christmas, we look at who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, along with the airing of grievances in the spirit of Festivus!

Linesman Travis Toomey injured, Detroit Red Wings’ Jonatan Berggren fined for cross-checking, San Jose Sharks’ coach Ryan Warsofsky fined $25,000 for comments towards the officials, and Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse picks up two for tripping and another two for mouthing off to referee Kelly Sutherland. 

We’ve got an offensive goaltender interference challenge that put a goal back on the board for the Vegas Golden Knights' Ivan Barbashev after Mark Stone skimmed the top of the crease and, from the same game, no call for a Jack Eichel cross-check that sent the Oilers’ Mattias Ekholm crashing into the boards.

Also, a bit of a cluster-puck in Philly as the ref’s arm goes up… then down… but not quickly enough to avoid the Flyers pulling their goalie and sending out another skater… only to draw a whistle for too many men on the ice. We - like the refs did - will sort this one out.

We also take a look at The Athletic’s Rules Court, which happens to coincidentally touch on something from Rob Vollman’s Hockey Abstract book on advanced NHL stats from a few years back. (Rob is currently the LA Kings’ Director of Analytics; his book Stat Shot is a great read…)

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Visit scoutingtherefs.com and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter/X, Instagram, BlueSky, and Threads. Email us your questions - heyref@scoutingtherefs.com

Questions? Comments? Just looking to vent? Call the RefLine and leave us a message at 585-484-REFS! #RefsPodcast

The Scouting The Refs Podcast is a weekly look at the world of officiating and player safety within the National Hockey League, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world. We'll break down the calls and the rules behind them to help understand why a penalty or suspension was - or wasn't - handed out.

Todd Lewis is a veteran broadcaster covering the NHL and other major league sports. Lewis is a former host on the NHL Network and on NHL Network Radio. He’s also worked for TSN, Sportsnet as a host/anchor and is a producer of other programs.

Josh Smith is the founder of Scouting the Refs, the leading independent site related to hockey officiating which follows hockey officials across the NHL, AHL, ECHL, and other leagues around the world, including news, rule changes and interpretations, suspensions, and statistics on officials and penalty calls. 

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It was a busy week for the NHL's Department of Player Safety, handing out six games of supplemental discipline, with two Habs suspensions for Josh Anderson and Juraj Slafkovsky, two games to Florida's Matthew Tkachuk for some amateur opthalmology with his hockey stick on Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, and a high-sticking match penalty - with a $5000 fine but no suspension - to Minnesota's Kirill Kaprisov. We'll break down the plays and dig into whether they got 'em right.  Plus, we can't go a week without challenging an offside challenge, as a beautiful goal from the Ducks' Trevor Zegras is wiped out by the Coach's Challenge. How do you solve a problem like the offside challenge?!

Visit www.scoutingtherefs.com and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter and Instagram.

Email us your questions - heyref@scoutingtherefs.com

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The NHL's Department of Player Safety sending out bills with $8,800 in fines this week with a whole lot of slashing and interference going on. Some sketchy hits with Kunin on Hornqvist and Gambrell on Cernak, plus a Martinook spear. We also break down goaltender interference calls at Habs/Jets and Ducks/Leafs, and discuss suggestions from The Athletic's Sean McIndoe to revamp offside reviews. 

Visit www.scoutingtherefs.com and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter and Instagram.

Email us your questions - heyref@scoutingtherefs.com

Call the RefLine at 585-484-REFS!

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Under review this week: one item ineligible for review. We've got high-sticks at Panthers/Isles and Rangers/Avs, including one that shouldn't have been given a second look. Todd and Josh tackle more video reviews, remote refs, a kicked-in goal at Canes/Canucks, and media comments on the penalty parade from Oilers/Blackhawks.

Visit www.scoutingtherefs.com and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter and Instagram.

Email us your questions - heyref@scoutingtherefs.com

Call the RefLine at 585-484-REFS!

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Did NHL Player Safety get it right on the one-game suspension to Washington Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov? We look at the comparables and the rationale, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs' goal lost to a hand pass, Florida's Gudas gets away with one, is 'significant presence in the crease' a new wrinkle in the interference rule, retired ref Dave Jackson adding value, and revamping retro ref jerseys.

Visit www.scoutingtherefs.com and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter and Instagram.

Email us your questions - heyref@scoutingtherefs.com

Call the RefLine at 585-484-REFS!

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Referee Chris Rooney kicks off (game 3 of) the NHL season with a pre-game speech, more refs mic'd up, Player Safety's first regular season fine, reviewing offside and pucks-over-the-goal-line, eliminating replays, and how the NHL is considering using player tracking technology to call penalties.  Yes, really. 

Visit www.scoutingtherefs.com and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter and Instagram.

Email us your questions - heyref@scoutingtherefs.com

Call the RefLine at 585-484-REFS!

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If the NHL season starts in Europe while the preseason is still going on, did it actually start? We kick off the 2022-23 season, opportunities for Euro officials at the Global Series, NHL officials off the ice and away from the rink, the season's first penalty, one more preseason fine, welcome the Seattle Kraken's BUOY, and plead for the return of the ref-cam.

Visit www.scoutingtherefs.com and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter and Instagram.

Email us your questions - heyref@scoutingtherefs.com.   

Call the RefLine at 585-484-REFS!

Listen for this week's podcast word of the day: omniscient!

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The puck drops on the preseason with our first suspension and fine as Player Safety is already on duty. It's a $5k punch from Petry, 2 games for Melanson, a first for the Seattle Kraken, and two fights -- along with our first instigator penalty. Todd and Josh discuss whether another was warranted, and if the NHL should consider a different approach when it comes to the 2-5-10 of an instigator penalty... listen in and let us know your take.

Visit www.scoutingtherefs.com and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter and Instagram.

Email us your questions - heyref@scoutingtherefs.com.   

Call the RefLine at 585-484-REFS!

Listen for this week's podcast word of the day: calibrate!

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