referee is empowered (and e

[blueberryjerry]

BARCELONA, Spain -- Odion Ighalo scored two goals to guide Granada to a 2-0 win at second-division Alcorcon on Sunday, giving the topflight side a commanding lead in its Copa del Rey tie. . Also in the round of 32, seven-time winner Valencia was held to a 0-0 draw at third-division Nastic Tarragona, while Espanyol needed a late goal from Christian Stuani to secure a 2-2 draw at second-division Real Jaen. Almeria did take care of business and struck three times in 11 first-half minutes to earn a 3-1 victory at second-tier Las Palmas. Ighalo headed in Fran Ricos free kick to open the scoring for Granada on the half-hour mark, and the Nigerian striker added a second goal in the 81st minute after expertly wrong-footing his marker on the break. Alcorcon striker Francisco Peral wasted the hosts best chance in the 71st when he sent the ball off the crossbar from the edge of the six-yard box. Other than those few scoring opportunities, the match was a scrappy, defensive struggle at the Santo Domingo Stadium where in 2009 the unknown Alcorcon humiliated Real Madrid 4-0 in the cup competition while in the third division. "It wasnt easy to win 2-0 here because Alcorcon is a team with a lot of tradition," Granada coach Lucas Alcaraz said. "It was a much more complicated game than just any other league match because we play at another pace in the first division and Alcorcon is always a very difficult rival." Valencia was fortunate not to head back to Mestalla with a loss after being outplayed by Nastic, whose pair of Ivory Coast forwards Junior Wakalible and Jean Luc Gbayara ran amok in the visitors defence. Valencia will miss Brazilian striker Jonas for the return leg against Nastic after he was dismissed with a second booking in the 87th. Espanyol appeared to be in control after midfielder David Lopez scored a rebound in first-half injury time, but Jaen rallied to take the lead after Sidnei scored an own goal in the 65th and Jozabed Sanchez netted five minutes later. The match swung back to finally favour Espanyol when Stuani headed in a corner kick with two minutes to play to give his team the away-goal advantage entering the return leg. Almeria striker Oscar Diaz scored two goals to fuel its big win in the Canary Islands. Diaz controlled a cross by Raul Garcia behind Las Palmas passive defence to open in the 16th. Almerias Aleix Vidal pounced on a poor back pass by Las Palmas to make it 2-0 in the 22nd, and four minutes later Diaz converted a penalty kick when Ramon Azeez was fouled in the area. Almerias Christian Fernandez was sent off with a second yellow card in the 61st. Nauzet Aleman pulled one back for Las Palmas in the 74th with a free kick before seeing a direct red card in the 81st for kicking an opponent, meaning he too will miss the second leg. Later, Malaga hosts Osasuna in the days only matchup of first-division sides. The return legs will be in two weeks time. . The 21-year-old Wickham headed Sunderland into a 26th-minute lead --to add to the double he scored at Manchester City and his strike in last weekends win at Chelsea -- and then sealed the win with a late header. . Helwani said that Weidman has been dealing with recurring swelling and pain in his knees related to torn meniscus he suffered as a teenager and the problems came to a head last week when he suffered prolonged swelling and pain in his left knee, resulting in the decision to undergo an arthroscopic scope procedure to clean up the tear in both knees. . Louis Cardinals won the World Series last season, but after losing first baseman Albert Pujols to free agency and manager Tony LaRussa to retirement, they opened the 2012 season in 12th spot in the TSN.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Good morning Kerry, I love your daily clarifications to help everyone understand better why some calls are made! My question is in regards of spearing. As you know by now, Milan Lucic speared Alexei Emelin in Game 3 - again! I understand that at times some calls be overlooked, but why is he continuously getting away with it? If there is video evidence, why nothing is done afterward to avoid any precedence to be set? My last question: is this not making the officials in a difficult position? Thank you very much for your time. Lyne Laurendeau Lyne: The act of spearing and butt-ending seldom result in a player suspension. Instead, a fine may be imposed (but not always as we have seen) by the Player Safety Committee. It would appear that players are utilizing both ends of their hockey stick on a more consistent basis in violation of rule 58 (butt-ending) and rule 62 (spearing). This season the following fines have been levied for these illegal acts: February 6, 2014: Alexei Emelin - Montreal Canadiens - Butt-ending Pascal Pelletier ($5,000)March 20, 2014: David Legwand - Detroit Red Wings - Butt-ending Evgeni Malkin ($5,000)April 13, 2014: Scott Hartnell - Philadelphia Flyers - Spearing Brett Bellemore ($5,000)April 18, 2014: Milan Lucic - Boston Bruins -Spearing Danny DeKeyser ($5,000)April 25, 2014: Ryan Garbutt - Dallas Stars - Spearing Corey Perry ($1,474.36) You also might recall in the Ducks-Stars series on April 18th that Corey Perry was given a "slashing" minor when he "speared" Jamie Benn at 7:25 of the first period. Perry remained in the game as a result the "slashing" assessment and then scored an unassisted goal at 16:15 of the second in a 3-2 Anaheim win. Milan Lucic was also guilty of an undetected backdoor spear motion on Alexei Emelin in a game March 24. Neither of these incidents resulted in a fine. Beyond the non-call in the Bruins-Habs game the other night, no disciplinary action or fine will result from Lucics latest spear on Emelin. It should also be noted that Emelin was guilty of cross-checking on the play and was not penalized for the infraction as well. Fouls can be missed in the fast pace of the game. There is obvious reluctance on the part of the referees to call "spearing" foor what it is due to the severity of the penalty that they must impose under the rule. . Only when contact is significant, as in the Ryan Garbutt spear on Corry Perry, will we see the accurate call made. Perrys action on Jamie Benn was no less a spearing motion than Garbutts, but due to lesser degree of contact (deemed to be minimal by the ref) the infraction was called slashing. It is not the referees job to interpret the relative value of the rule or base their assessment on the degree of contact (or non contact) when a spearing motion is delivered. That however is exactly what is being done. Under rule 62, the referee is empowered (and expected) to assess a double minor is imposed when a player spears an opponent and does not make contact. A major and game misconduct is to be assessed on a player who spears an opponent (makes contact). When I attended my first NHL training camp for officials as a 20-year-old aspiring referee in 1972 we went through every rule in the book during daily classroom sessions. The rule book wasnt all that thick back then and the referee had the option of assessing a minor or major penalty for spearing based on the degree of contact. Wanting to understand the difference between the two applications I approached veteran referee Lloyd Gilmour for advice. I asked Gilmour what constituted the difference between a minor or major penalty for spearing. Without so much as a wink, Lloyd said, "Kid, if you see the spear go in its two minutes; if the stick comes out the players back call it five!" Perhaps the veteran advice was a little tongue-in- cheek but in reality not all that far off from the application we might be seeing now. Lyne, it is my opinion that there should be a fine imposed for every instance of spearing and butt-ending; regardless of the degree of contact or whether a penalty was imposed by the referee. Both are dangerous and cheap acts. Further to this, the referees must be directed to call the action of spearing and butt-ending for what they are and not place their personal value on the degree of contact made with the point or end of a players stick. It is the referees that are putting themselves in a "difficult position" by either ignoring the infraction or calling it by any other terminology than what it is. Penalty enforcement and fines would result in higher standards of player accountability and act as a stronger deterrent against these unwanted acts from being committed. ' ' '

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