NHL Referee Does a Little Crowd Work

Every St. Louis Blues fan who attended last night’s 4-0 drubbing of the New York Islanders had a great time. They were privy to Pavel Buchnevich’s hat trick and Jordan Binnington’s shutout and thoroughly enjoyed watching their hometown team hang on to that final WIld Card spot in the Western Conference. The only way it could have been better is if defenseman Matthew Kessel’s apparent goal had made it 5-0.

The third-period strike was disallowed after a video review yielded evidence that Alexey Toropchenko had redirected it with a high stick. Knowing that the assembled masses would be upset about this, referee Garrett Rank attempted to soften the blow by adding some preamble to his announcement.

“You’re not gonna like it but the call on the ice was correct, no goal,” he said to absolutely no applause.

This is great work. Officials are people too, no matter how often they are booed or ripped for getting a call wrong. And sometimes people are kind of funny. This is actually not the first time Rank’s shown a little personality on the microphone.

Here he is earlier this season calling a penalty on “every player on the ice.”

He seems like a cool guy. Just playing golf and reffin’ for the boys. That’s the dream right there. And he doesn’t have to do it by bulking up in the gym so his triceps pop under is smedium like a Hochuli or by making himself the main character like Joe West.

Respect.