Re: The Ref & League Discipline Thread - The Good, Bad and Ugly
Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2025 10:59 am
The play that stood out to me in the game against Florida was this Mikkola hit on Sure Wood. https://youtu.be/gQ3I21h4cz8?si=EkOr8uddXBkbSb3Q
That looked to me like boarding AND and an elbow and a hit to the head (I think). (Mikkola's wings were high all night, but that was the most egregious hit). Sure Wood is not the guy to stay down and cry, and he may have thought "I'm on the #1 unit with Garly out, if I stay here too long, the spotter will send me to the cuckoo room."
Myers responds with gloves off; Mikkola takes his off, but no punches are thrown. They sort of lock up for a second and the linesmen get involved. Because there was no fight, there is no fight instigated. But the refs line up Myers for a 4 minute major, so with Mikkola's boarding call and roughing call, its evened up.
Now it was hard to get mad at the 4 minute roughing call given the zebras ringed up a Florida player for 4 minutes on an equally docile post-whistle encounter (while the Canuck involved got 2). File in two categories, each worthy of discussion in this thread: (1) refs are using the double minor to deter post-whistle scrums (query, should they deter this? At all? Only when the game is getting out of hand?), and (2) even-ing up of the injustices (query, should refs change standards based on whether they are aware of previous missed calls or mistaken calls?).
But regardless of those questions, you are left looking at a situation where a guy can hit another player in a manner that violates three rules, all of which exist to protect players from injury as opposed to penalties in the books to make for a more skilled game (e.g., tripping, hooking, interference, and Giraffe stepping in like a herbivore not a carnivore and they are even? At first blush, that hit on Sherwood looked like a major penalty to me -- the refs have to get used to the fact that they can review them after they call them, and there is no shame in reversing oneself if the video doesn't support a major. (Another topic -- should more major penalties be called....). Plus, Sherwood is a star player. His name is on the damn sticks.
That looked to me like boarding AND and an elbow and a hit to the head (I think). (Mikkola's wings were high all night, but that was the most egregious hit). Sure Wood is not the guy to stay down and cry, and he may have thought "I'm on the #1 unit with Garly out, if I stay here too long, the spotter will send me to the cuckoo room."
Myers responds with gloves off; Mikkola takes his off, but no punches are thrown. They sort of lock up for a second and the linesmen get involved. Because there was no fight, there is no fight instigated. But the refs line up Myers for a 4 minute major, so with Mikkola's boarding call and roughing call, its evened up.
Now it was hard to get mad at the 4 minute roughing call given the zebras ringed up a Florida player for 4 minutes on an equally docile post-whistle encounter (while the Canuck involved got 2). File in two categories, each worthy of discussion in this thread: (1) refs are using the double minor to deter post-whistle scrums (query, should they deter this? At all? Only when the game is getting out of hand?), and (2) even-ing up of the injustices (query, should refs change standards based on whether they are aware of previous missed calls or mistaken calls?).
But regardless of those questions, you are left looking at a situation where a guy can hit another player in a manner that violates three rules, all of which exist to protect players from injury as opposed to penalties in the books to make for a more skilled game (e.g., tripping, hooking, interference, and Giraffe stepping in like a herbivore not a carnivore and they are even? At first blush, that hit on Sherwood looked like a major penalty to me -- the refs have to get used to the fact that they can review them after they call them, and there is no shame in reversing oneself if the video doesn't support a major. (Another topic -- should more major penalties be called....). Plus, Sherwood is a star player. His name is on the damn sticks.