I’ve been sitting on this post for the past week, wondering whether or not it was worthy of a blog post or not.

Last week the Blue Tongues were down in Melbourne taking on the Ice for back-to-back games.  There was an incident during the Saturday game which had Blue Tongues forward Dallas Costanzo dive to allegedly block a shot and inadvertently trip an Ice player who went down and got injured.  Costanzo was given a 2 minute minor for tripping and a game misconduct, meaning he would not be eligible to play on Sunday.  As these games were “must-wins” for the Blue Tongues, losing Costanzo was a serious blow to the Tongues.

The Ice ended up winning both games, all but ending the Tongues playoffs hopes.

Back to that tripping penalty though, as that is the central point to this post.  When it happened, the ref actually went and consulted with the AIHL rulebook before making the final ruling.  This move has angered a few Blue Tongues fans, who believe a 2 minute tripping minor was all that was warranted.  The ref, going out of his way to check the book ended Costanzo’s weekend, which had an impact on the Tongues playoffs hopes ending.  This penalty has been discussed at length on Hockeypulse since those games.

Was it warranted?  Did the ref go too far in making that call?  As fans, we could argue this til the cows come home.  Let me make it simple for you though.  The AIHL rulebook clearly states under Rule 539 – Tripping:

b) A player who injures an opponent by tripping shall be assessed, at the discretion
of the Referee, a:
➤ Major penalty + Automatic Game Misconduct penalty (5’+GM)
or
➤ Match penalty (MP)

You can read the rules here: http://www.iihf.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/rules_part_two.pdf

Regardless of what we as fans think, the ref was 100% correct in making that call.  In fact, by going out of his way to read the rulebook, he did incredible justice to the AIHL.  Over the last few seasons we have seen and heard of our fair share of bad reffing. In this case, when a ref actually does the right thing, and goes above and beyond to ensure he does the right thing, people jump on him.  This doesn’t seem right.

As fans, our hearts get in the way of our minds at times.  I plead with you all though, for the love of the league and the Blue Tongues, be a a fair fan and unbiased.  Leave that to fans from other teams.  The penalty, while not to our liking, was a good call.