The National Hockey League has had a number of contentious decisions over the previous week, including more than three in the Toronto Maple Leafs game and a couple during the Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars game.
However, despite the Colorado Avalanche's incredible dominance and 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars Friday night, something else stood out throughout the game and its drawing concerns.� A Colorado Avalanche player took a stick right to the face and dropped to the ice, where then the play was blown dead. It was obviously a penalty, and penalties are called�99% of the time in these situations.� This situation came into the 1% of the time category, but not because the referee missed it; rather, it fell into this category because a made-up rule, which was spoken for the first time ever and is raising questions about the refereeing, prevented a penalty from being assessed.
No matter whether a player is hurt or not, a player's stick should not be at the level of the player's head, hence a penalty is always called.