A referee’s job is to stay away from players and never to interrupt a play unless there’s a calling to be made.
You won’t gain any attention if you just do your job correctly. But unfortunately, on Sunday, NHL referee Graham Skilliter did the complete opposite of that. During the Minnesota Wild’s game against the Dallas Stars, Kirill Kaprizov tried to skate the puck up the boards but suddenly found himself dropped to the ice after a hip check.
The problem? It came from a referee.
The hit wasn’t intentional, but Skilliter tried to back up against the board and didn’t see Kaprizov coming.
As a result, the two collided along the board, with Kaprizov losing his balance and falling to the ice. Luckily, nobody was injured in the collision, but it’s reasonable that Kaprizov at least lost his temper.
Things would have been so much better if Skilliter raised his arm for an interference call, but of course, no penalty was called. Just look at this fantastic slow-motion replay because you don’t see this every day.
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