>>>Great game. It would have been even better if the U.S. had won but I am not complaining
>>>
>>>My only complaint is the officiating. Blown offsides calls, bad penalty calls (and non-calls)...on both sides.
>>>
>>>I'm not using that as an excuse for the U.S. not winning the gold...Canada won...but today's otherwise fantastic game was marred by horrible officiating.
>>
>>I didn't think the officiating was horrible at all. There was one missed offside call that I missed, which was replayed -- and was not called against the U.S. There were not a lot of penalty calls and I didn't disagree with any of them. Tripping, cross checking, plain as day.
>>
>>Maybe you noticed some things that I missed. Any other opinions on this?
>
>I agree with you. I didn't think it was any worse or better than any of hundreds of NHL games I've seen. I saw a missed offside, a missed 'high sticking the puck', and a missed 'too many men on the ice', but other than that, nothing too blatant.
>
>I don't recall any penalty calls that were clearly out to lunch either. There are always going to be calls that I disagree with, but they have to be really bad for me to call it a truly bad call.

If I have a complaint about hockey officiating, it's occasional no-calls at the end of the game. They seem to swallow their whistles. Presumably the refs don't want to be seen as influencing the outcome. To me if it's a penalty, it's a penalty as much in the 58th minute as it is in the 5th. There probably aren't as many to call, either, though. In a game like that no one wants to take a dumb penalty. You also notice the players backing off in situations which would often turn into fights.