Photo by Andy Marlin / NHLI via Getty Images. In the photo: Tim Peel
NHL referee Tim Peel was heard on a hot microphone and admitted that he wanted to punish a penalty kick against the Nashville Predators against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.
The penalty kick was just under five minutes into the second period, when Peel whistled Viktor Arvidsson of Nashville for drowning Jon Merrill of Detroit. It was the second penalty goal of the game, but the first at Nashville. Detroit was asked for interference with 6:19 in the opening period.
Below is the obstacle:
After imposing the sentence, an officer’s voice can be heard on the microphone, which was later determined as that of Peel.
Note the clip below contains adult language.
Maybe, if you are a microphone ref, you should not express how you wanted to take a penalty kick against a team earlier in the game, and you would change the rest of the game.
“It was not much, but I wanted to get a penalty against Nashville early in the …”#Preds #LGRW pic.twitter.com/6fZImkdqLr
– Matt Best (@bestofmatt) March 24, 2021
NHL Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell said the league ‘investigates the incident’.
It is not uncommon for officials to direct teams that may be complaining, and make-up calls have always been an unspoken part of sport. To hear it, however, the silent part says aloud. With the expansion of legal sports betting, leagues need to be proactive in dealing with such matters.
A 2015 study by the website FiveThiryEight.com showed that hockey referees tend to be influenced by advance calls, meaning officials tend to settle cases when penalties are set aside.
The Predators won the game 2-0 as a favorite of -160, despite claiming four penalties against Detroit’s try. Nashville killed all four powerplays in the night to move the year to 15-17-1.
The Action Network reached out to the NHL for further comment. This story will be updated as more develops.
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