NHL Accuses FSN Pittsburgh Of Foul Play
Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins
Jan 12, 08:35 AM | Hype this story!
When Simon Gagne appeared to score a shorthanded goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday, the replays all but showed the puck in the net.
In fact, goalie Brent Johnson was pushed so far back that it seemed nearly impossible the puck wasn’t somewhere beyond the goal line with him.
But after an official review, all replays showed inconclusive evidence, and the ruling was that no goal was scored.
Seconds later, FSN Pittsburgh aired a replay that clearly showed the puck crossing the goal line milliseconds before Johnson covered it.
And for that, the Penguins’ local television partner has found itself in hot water, according to Philly.com.
When NHL officials call for a goal review, they summon the television stations to send their video angles to the NHL War Room in Toronto.
Philadelphia apparently was using the FSN Pittsburgh video feed and, therefore, had no angles to send.
Meanwhile, FSN Pittsburgh apparently withheld the determining angle until after the ensuing faceoff, when a goal no longer can be awarded or disallowed.
“The league is investigating why we didn’t get all angles of the replay,” NHL vice president of media relations Gary Meagher said. ... “You can’t have that happen. The league is concerned and it is being addressed.”
He also added that, “At the heart of the matter is the integrity of the system.”
There’s no question, at least in my mind, FSN Pittsburgh is at fault here and, consequently, should be punished.
But my concern has less to do with FSN Pittsburgh and more to do with the NHL’s method of review.
Shouldn’t the league have access to any/all angles without asking for them?
I do not condone such actions and would be 100 percent in favor of the league adjusting the game score and crediting Gagne with the goal.
Yet, with such a primitive system, it’s difficult to imagine similar situations haven’t previously arisen.
Or maybe they have, and the television station withholding the video wasn’t so stupid as to play it seconds later and have one of it’s broadcasters say something to the effect of, “Oh, we saved that one,” as color man Bob Errey did.
Comments
Ray aka WildcatRay
Jan 12, 11:17 AM
I would not put it past the Flyers’ broadcasters to do exactly this very thing. But, then, again, I know the league gave Bobby “Let my teammates fight my battles for me” Clarke “special dispensation” by allowing his teammates to step in and protect him without receiving the proper punishment they should have for their actions.
On the actions of FSN Pittsburgh, it was stupid of them to show the “incriminating” replay angle as they did. It would have been better to not show it as they did and then approach the league after the fact with “hat in hand” apologizing for failing to provide the angle at the time of the review request.
Brad
Jan 12, 11:25 AM
Seems to me I remember Crosby scoring a goal in the 07-08 Eastern Conference fianls against Philly that was disallowed only to have other angles come out after the game proving it was a goal. Should Crosby be awarded that goal? It’s over let it go.
So if FSN did it on purpose why would they show it on the broadcast. “OK everyone, here is the evidence we screwed Philly”. Certainly an issue but it was not intentional.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 12, 12:02 PM
Whether FSN Pittsburgh intentionally withheld an angle is irrelevant. They should be punished one way or another: for incompetence or for trying to cheat the system.
But more importantly, why doesn’t the NHL have direct access to all feeds so as to not be at the mercy of the local broadcasts?
DaBich
Jan 12, 12:08 PM
Matt, good point. The NHL is showing more of its shortcomings in this instance. To make FSN the scapegoat is cheap.
Brad
Jan 12, 12:42 PM
@Matt. I see your point.
However we don’t really know what happened. Perhaps it was sent and someone in Toronto missed it and is now blaming FSN (totally possible). If it was not sent than at the very least FSN should broadcast an acknowledgement and apologize for what happened.
I guess my point is how often has this happened before, intentional or not, but nobody knew about it. The Philly game I mentioned before was on Versus owned by Comcast. Comcast owns the Flyers. Though I have a problem with the conflict of interest of the whole NHL/Comcast/Versus/Flyers thing I’m not saying they did it on purpose but rather that it could have happened before.
So the real issue is your second statement. The NHL should be getting all of the angles and all of the feeds in Toronto. It is a failure on the part of the league not to have live streaming feeds that they record rather than rely on video being sent to them. For now the NHL could just count the number of cameras providing coverage and compare it to the number of videos sent in. Doesn’t seem too hard.
Don’t single out & punish FSN cause they screwed up (and they did screw up) and leave everything the same. It would be making FSN the sole scapegoat. The NHL should acknowledge their part in the situation and put together a system to make video review, and in the long run the league, even better.
DaBich
Jan 12, 12:51 PM
Brad, don’t hold your breath on the league acknowledging their own blame and trying to make the system better…you just might turn blue! lol
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 12, 01:03 PM
@Dabich, I wouldn’t call it cheap. I would say it’s doing what it should do: investigate. If FSN withheld the video, it’s at fault, as it didn’t follow NHL rules. But, with that being said, the NHL rules are slightly dumb :)
Brad
Jan 12, 01:04 PM
@DABICH
lol…you’re right. Their investigation will probably lead to Matt Cooke getting a 2 game suspension because he is a repeat offender. (and Mike Richards receiving a leadership award)
DaBich
Jan 12, 01:38 PM
Matt, I didn’t say FSN isn’t in the wrong. I’m saying the league is cheap in that it should have it’s OWN replay system and shouldn’t rely on others. Saying that FSN is entirely to blame is BS. They need to stand on their own two feet. Just curious, what does the NFL do?
And we all know he NHL follow the rules across the board. They pick and choose on too many occasions. Dumb? Yup, and they will look dumber if they make FSN the sole scapegoat here. Just sayin…
Brad, LOL!!!!!
ppirilla
Jan 12, 01:38 PM
I wonder if that is vague wording on the NHL’s part rather than literally saying that they call up the station and say “Hey, can we please have a look at all of the video you filmed of the play?”
I don’t think there are sufficient transmission facilities in existance to send HD video of every camera from every game live to the Toronto war room. It makes sense that standard policy is that the War Room watches the primary broadcast from every game live, and can open a second channel to get secondary video on an as-needed basis.
Still, it would make much more sense for them to do the video reviews on-site, because then they could actually pipe live feeds from every camera angle into one place and avoid these types of problems.
DaBich
Jan 12, 01:39 PM
Jeez, you can tell I’m at work…I meant to say, we all know the NHL doesn’t follow the same rules across the boards…I need a break LOL!
Ray aka WildcatRay
Jan 12, 01:50 PM
It would not surprise me that the NHL review system replicates what the NFL does and NCAA, too. That is use the video that is already there, the video that each venue already has in place. The responsibility lies in the hockey broadcast video production crew making all views available as league rules require.
Brad
Jan 12, 02:10 PM
I’m starting to think the NHL should have their own cameras. In the same fixed positions in every stadium.
What would keep a TV director from intentionally having one or more cameras zoom in on and follow a star player, a little kid dancing in the stands, a pretty girl, etc… of coarse only while the play is in the home team’s end? Did you ever notice there are sometimes more camera angles of a goal than at other times? Does the league have rules against that? Wow, maybe I should get in on writing the health care bill :)
DaBich
Jan 12, 04:02 PM
Found this on a Trib site:
“NHL officials confirmed today that this sort of investigation is rare, but stressed that the league can take no action because FSN Pittsburgh works with the Penguins and not for the league.”
Casey
Jan 12, 09:45 PM
FSN Pittsburgh has suspended their hockey producer indefinitely.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-replay-producersuspended&prov=ap&type=lgns
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