Last week, the LA Kings, the scoreboard operator and maybe the mechanism itself, managed to skewer the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL.
Drew Doughty of the Kings scored the game winner for LA against Owen Sounder Curtis Sanford in the Blue Jackets net with just .4 seconds remaining.
But in this day & age of technical enhancements, the video replay showed the clock mysteriously paused with 1.8 seconds to play, allowing Doughty to scoop up the puck and sink the winner before the end of game buzzer.
It was obvious the Blue Jackets had been cheated and suddenly my mind flashed back to a night in Kingston almost a decade ago.
On Friday November 15, 2002, the Owen Sound Attack and the Frontenacs were tied 2-2
Robert McBride ( who ?! ) had both goals for Kingston, while Michael Gough and future NHL’er Brad Richardson had the Attack goals
Under pressure, the Attack iced the puck and play was whistled down with 1.3 seconds to play.
1.3 seconds !!
On the faceoff to the right of Owen Sound netminder Marty Magers, the Frontenacs won the draw back, passed cross ice and Justin McCutcheon drilled the game winner.
‘ No way ‘, I thought.
I wasn’t the only one.
That game was in the first year of the Mike & Mike era and I clearly remember the image later that night in the Days Inn of Futa & Stothers passing the TV remote back and forth while assistant coach Jason Nobili timed them, just trying to see if it was possible for a puck to go from drop to net in 1.3 seconds.
Something obviously was wrong in LA last week, and for most of the last decade, I’ve believed the Attack were cheated that night in Kingston
I’m Fred Wallace