FanHouse

If you remember all the way back to, stay with me here, last night then you might remember my post about a ridiculous "goal" that Finland scored on Team USA during the IIHF World Championship qualifying round. If you don't, then feel free to check out the post.

Essentially, Finland's second goal went through (or under, it's not exactly clear) the side of the net. Upon video review, it is blatant to anyone who isn't legally blind that this is, in fact, what happened. But no matter, video replay officials did not pick up on any of that. I went on to say in the post that we should be thankful that no matter how bad the officiating is in the NHL, it's not this bad.

Boy, was I wrong.

Kevin at BfloBlog pointed out today that this exact thing happened to the Sabres during the 2000 playoffs. I'll let him explain.

Sadly, it is very possible [that NHL refs are as bad as their IIHF counterparts], because it happened in an NHL game in 2000, when Philadelphia defeated Buffalo 2-1 in Game two of their playoff series [Pictured above! -- KS]. Philly's first goal came off the stick of John LeClair, but the puck actually entered through a hole in the side of the net. I was in a hotel bar in Pennsylvania watching the look on Hasek's face as he checked and re-checked his glove, thinking the puck had to have gone through his glove, because he had the net covered. Then there's the scene of Sabres GM Darcy Regier storming the replay booth and furiously pointing at the replay monitors while the replay officials just shrugged their shoulders. Remember, at this point the NHL claimed they reviewed ALL goals thanks to another no-goal incident involving the Sabres just one year previous.

So yes, I was wrong. NHL officiating is actually, unbelievably, as bad as the IIHF officiating that we saw last night. I sincerely regret the error. For your amusement, video of the goal in question follows the jump.