Great article.  I’ve got to take issue, though, with the glaring oversight of Chris Chelios in the Cross-Checker of the Year category… His six or seven cross-checks on Pat Kane the last weekend of the season were a sight to behold…

While I enjoyed the article in spite of its anti-Red Wings bias ( ), I’d like to see another “awards” article focused on refs. Who called the most hooking penalties (and how many were actually hooking in the historical sense, with the blade of the stick wrapped around the opposing player)? Who allowed the most obvious—and serious—infractions to go unpenalized while calling every ticky-tack foul in sight? Who called goaltender interference just because it was Tomas Holmstrom or Ryan Smyth, not because he actually interfered with the goalie? Who lead the league in “even up” calls?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Who called the most hooking penalties (and how many were actually hooking in the historical sense, with the blade of the stick wrapped around the opposing player)? Who allowed the most obvious—and serious—infractions to go unpenalized while calling every ticky-tack foul in sight? Who called goaltender interference just because it was Tomas Holmstrom or Ryan Smyth, not because he actually interfered with the goalie? Who lead the league in “even up” calls?

YZ, that would be a purely academic exercise as Koharski, Devorski, O’Halloran and McCreary would be in a four-way tie for every one of these awards…

Thanks for the suggestion; while there isn’t information on which ref makes individual calls, I could certainly run the data for which officials were working which games, to pick up any trends.

YZ, that would be a purely academic exercise as Koharski, Devorski, O’Halloran and McCreary would be in a four-way tie for every one of these awards…

Personally, I’ll take all the Koharski I can get. Probably O’Halloran too, despite a really awful goalie interference call on Holmstrom against Anaheim. The Wings’ records this season with the above four gentlemen on the ice:

Koharski
5-0-0 regular
0-0 playoffs

Devorski
0-2-0 regular
1-0 playoffs

O’Halloran
5-2-0 regular
1-0 playoffs

McCreary
2-0-0 regular
1-1 playoffs

Aside from Devorski, the Wings only had losing records with two other refs (Sutherland 0-1-0, Martell 1-5-0, jeez). Thankfully, the worst one didn’t make the playoff rotation.