As if the hockey world needed further proof that Mick "McGoo" McGeough was one of the worst officials in the NHL, Mickey did us Canucks fans a favour and basically decided that the Edmonton Oilers would lose to the Dallas Stars last night.

Even the referee agreed the Edmonton Oilers might have gotten a bad break in Friday's 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.

With just four seconds left to play in the game, Ales Hemsky looked like he had scored on Dallas goalie Marty Turco but referee Mick McGeough called the goal off. He had blown the whistle a heartbeat before on the face-off, convinced that Shawn Horcoff had made a glove pass off the draw.

It was something the replays showed did not occur.

Upon further reflection, McGeough agreed.

"It was a blown call on my part," he said after the game. "It was poor judgment on my part. I thought he had his hand on the puck on the face-off but it was his stick. My judgment was poor on the play."

Yes, I know, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. It just seems McGoo makes a lot more of them than others.

As a Canucks fan, I can't be too disturbed that the Oilers get another notch in the loss column. I'd also be tempted to buy the guy a beer myself. I mean, what we all need is to hear Edmonton Oilers fans cry even more than they already do.

As an aside, an idea I know would never happen: Award the Oilers a point. If there is such an obviously botched call that DID cost the Oilers a point (You can argue all you want that Dallas would have scored in regulation again but you'd know your full of crap), the Oilers should get a special point in the league for OFFICIAL INCOMPETANCE. If they review every goal 500 times and everyone knows the Oilers got jobbed, then give them the point they should have had.

Edmonton Coach Craig MacTavish:

"It was a retarded call," Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish snapped. "There is no other explanation for it. I know he is a veteran official and at times I have found his antics humorous. But if this is the product of that there is a problem.

"It was a ridiculous call. I had no idea what he had called. Nobody saw the hand pass on the play because quite clearly there wasn't one. It's beyond reason.

"He should be suspended."

Better yet, how about make him sing "Three Blind Mice" before the next Oilers game he officiates?

Mike W at Covered in Oil:

I'm probably too mad (drunk? yeah, drunk) to spend much time writing about this, but um, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? I'm still trying to figure out if referee Mick McGeough is even allowed to make the call that ultimately cost us the game, let alone how it makes me feel.

It's bad enough that MacT says it's retarded -- especially when there's a trainer named Joey Moss with Down's Syndrome four feet away when he's making the quote. You know he's mad. As we all should be.

mc79hockey:

You know, the referees can complain about botched calls being shown on the scoreboard all they want but if a player makes a mistake, he's accountable in that it will gets shown. What makes the referees so special? This drives me nuts at baseball games - the Blue Jays won't show close plays either.

Just complete bush league by the NHL. Out of curiosity, did the whistle even blow on the glove pass? It that's why Hemsky was so open, fair enough. I didn't hear it though.

There's a nice shot of Staios on the bench after that bastard McGeough butchered that call screaming "You fat fuck!" Games like this, I wish that the Oilers had Jim Schoenfeld on the bench so that he could go and confront McGeough in the hallway after the game. They should fire Craig Simpson, let the players run the PP and hire Schoenfeld to fill the position of referee disturber.

Andy @ The Battle of Alberta:

If MacT gets fined for his comments about Mick McGeough, I think we should help pay it. I could even set up a Pay Pal account. Sure, he's a rich man, but he's gonna take that bullet for all of us. It would be a nice symbolic gesture...

Lowtide:

Oh and one more thing. Craig MacTavish is my favorite coach in forever but he needs to apologize about that "retarded" remark last night. As galling as that call was and it was made worse by the fact that the ref involved is a pure ham sandwich but what he said was way over the line. I understand that word has evolved into a less vicious one over the years and I'm even prepared to allow that younger generations are unaware of the sting that retarded has to people my age but Craig MacTavish IS my age and he needs to make that right.

re·tard1 (r-tärd)
To cause to move or proceed slowly; delay or impede

Yes, MacTavish should apologize for using the wrong verb. Idiotic, Stupid, Incorrect, and Just Frickin' Insanely Moronic would have been more correct terms to use.

In the end, Oilers fans will realize that they are not the only ones who have been jobbed by McGoo over the years. I'm sure we could dig through the archives and find about 750 examples of how the Canucks got screwed by the guy over the years.