‘It must be a penalty because it’s Winnipeg’ is coach’s lament

By: Tim Campbell Posted: 3:00 AM CST Monday, Dec. 15, 2014

JETS coach Paul Maurice raised a touchy matter about a week ago, commenting on his team's record of taking penalties by mentioning how some teams receive the benefit of the doubt and some teams don't from officials.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/12/2014 (4014 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JETS coach Paul Maurice raised a touchy matter about a week ago, commenting on his team’s record of taking penalties by mentioning how some teams receive the benefit of the doubt and some teams don’t from officials.

Carping of this nature rarely gets one anywhere in the NHL and is often an off-day tactic in playoff series.

But in the first half and with his team running at the top of the NHL stats in times and time short-handed, Maurice may not have been completely wrong in pointing out his team has little in the way of a resumé or overall accomplishments — “It must be a penalty because it’s Winnipeg,” he said — while numerous elite clubs and recent Stanley Cup winners do seem to get some deference on some calls.

Maurice’s comment was more to address his team’s revised style this season, one of more battles and the desire to grant the opposition less space, and the coach by no means tried to shelter those guilty of the most needless penalties, such as hooking, or those one-handed tripping infractions.

But the overall benefit-of-the-doubt question is understandable if you look at an incident such as last Tuesday in Dallas, where Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot was cross-checked in the small of the back and into the boards by Dallas’s Erik Cole without penalty, then 10 seconds later when Chiarot delivered the exact same check away from the boards on Cole, it was worth two minutes.

Or how the Anaheim Ducks appeared to get away with an in-the-paint goalie-interference violation for a key goal Saturday night.

The entire “Winnipeg” debate in this area has certainly had its ebbs and flows, given the Jets were the least-penalized team in the NHL, by time, as recently as the 2013 lockout season.

Normally, these sorts of things even out over time, which is why Maurice has not been pushing the issue too hard.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca