An officer-in-training of the ice was responsible for a miscommunication that led to the goal of Carolina Hurricanes, Vincent Trocheck, Sunday in a 6-5 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The NHL was still reviewing the play while assessing the Blue Jackets’ offside challenge when things suddenly went awry.
“The video technician is only supposed to coordinate it on the top floor (at press level),” said Colin Campbell, executive vice president and director of the hockey industry, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. “They are not supposed to get involved. They are just supposed to set things up. We communicate with the (officials).
“We sent the first video (clip) to judge the lineouts – we’re also watching it in Toronto – and we hear a voice on the line say, ‘He’s on the sidelines. That’s a good goal.’ “He said it twice. The lineouts (Jonny Murray and Tyson Baker) heard it, pulled off the headsets and walked away so they could make the call.”
Referee Ghislain Hebert then announced the goal and gave Columbus a small penalty for the failed challenge.
The lineouts had not yet seen the corner that clearly showed Trocheck was offside. The NHL tried to get the officers on the ice back on their heads, but the equipment had to be cleaned immediately after use in accordance with the league’s COVID-19 protocol.
Trocheck’s goal gave the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead late in the second period. During the second break, Campbell general manager Blue Jackets apologized to Jarmo Kekalainen for the mistake, but said the league would not reverse it because it had not done so in similar situations.
“We talked to (Chris NHL official) Rooney in the referee’s room (during the second break). I told him I wanted to take back the goal, but we’ve never had a situation where we took a goal. did not return after the game started.
“I told Jarmo I wish we could reach the goal, but there is no precedent for that,” Campbell added.
The person in charge of the gaffe is being trained as a video coordinator at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, which simply facilitates communication between the NHL’s hockey operations department and the officials on the ice during review.
Campbell acknowledged that the video coordinator should not have intervened, but said the person now understands and feels what he is doing.
The longtime manager said in the future that the NHL would like to be able to stop the game directly from the control room, rather than get the attention of the officials on the ice. Campbell also said the league will evaluate the position of the video coordinator going forward.
The Blue Jackets were lively about the call postgame. Patrik Laine calls it ‘the biggest joke I’ve ever seen’ and Nick Foligno said it’s a bad look for the NHL not to get it right. ‘