Once a spring there can be heard a distinct late night cry erupt from Metro Detroit.  This year that sharp squeal was accompanied by the sound of aggressive digits slamming against key boards.

Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have given fans an outlet for their outrage.  Starting around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning Red Wing fans utilized those channels to vent their frustrations.  If Facebook was your only connection to the civilized world you would have still understood what happened in Tuesday night’s Wings-Ducks game.   A quick sampling of a few statuses (or is it stati?):

We got hosed…
[editor's cut] that quick whistle!!!!
I don’t even want to talk about that game right now. Eff that, you dumb ass ref.
Can’t believe that the refs [editor's cut] the Wings out of that last goal. When did the NHL become the NBA and the refs decide the games?
[editor's cut] the Wings’ game.. that’s one of the worst calls i have ever seen! Total bullshit.. that ref can go to hell!
A [editor's cut] BLIND MAN COULD HAVE CALLED THAT SHIT BETTER
[editor's cut] COCKSUCKING REFS
Stayed up late to watch some zebra botch a call a blind, drunk donkey could have made

OK the last one wasn’t real, it was what I would have said if I still lived in Michigan.

Instead I was in L.A.  Let’s just say it’s bad enough listening to Laker fans blab unconsciously about their team, but Ducks fans (all seven of them) are just sad.  They seem to know hockey like South Dakota knows beaches.

It’s even worse when your team gets jobbed by a ref whose mouth prematurely ejaculated into his whistle taking away your game tying goal.  The whole world knows that was a bad call.  Even Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller admitted that the Ducks got lucky.

“I didn’t know where the puck went, I saw it on the replay after, it was definitely an early call. We were lucky there,” said Hiller. “You’re always going to get good calls or bad calls against you. But I always say to be lucky you have to fight for it and tonight we fought for 60 minutes. That’s why we deserve to be lucky at the end.”

After watching the replay on YouTube a billion times, I’m fairly certain of a few things: 1) The whistle didn’t even blow early, Brad Watson just thought he blew it early.  2)How could he have been out of positions when he was skating the exact same way the puck was moving?  He should have been in perfect position to see the puck sliding along the crease.  3) You could tell right after the play that he knew he made a mistake.

To build on those ideas:  Even if it is just TSN’s audio matching up wrong with the picture that makes it seem like the whistle was late (even though every other noise on the video seemed to match) it was close enough there should have been some sort of replay.  How can a sport not allow replay for a vital part of the game?  Oh wait, I’m remembering something about a premature whistle in a football game in Denver involving some body builder named Ed Hochuli.  Still could they have not gone upstairs and at least humored the fans? If the NHL doesn’t take a close look at this over the summer, they are morons…oh wait I’m talking about Gary Bettman, moron is too kind.

To make matters worse the refs won’t admit they screwed up. Instead they said he “didn’t make a mistake.”  Hiding behind a rule that states that when the ref can’t see the puck he is required to blow the whistle.  You can understand why the rule is in place.  If it weren’t the goalies would get bum rushed and play would become more bogged down than it already is.

However, there is such a thing called “the spirit of the rule.”  What I mean is that the reason it was justified is not the same reason it was instituted.  The spirit of the rule is to make the game run smoothly and keep the goalie safe, not to stop the game every time the ref temporarily goes blind.

Why is it that in every sport it is a tragedy for refs, umps, zebras, douches, etc. to admit they made a mistake.  Watson lost sight of the puck, started to blow his mouth toy then realized it was free but couldn’t restrain himself.  Reading his body language after, you could tell he knew it was a bad call, but heaven forbid he or anyone in his fraternity admit that.  It was such a bang-bang play would the Ducks have a better argument had he reversed the call? Could they even claim to have stopped playing between the whistle and the puck going in the net?

The call was ricockulous (for those who aren’t aware “ricockulous” is not a typo, it is an inflammatory form of its brother “ridiculous,” and its almost never used step-brother “reschlongulous”).  It’s worse that they won’t come out and say bluntly he was wrong, instead they’d rather blame it on the color of Hiller’s pads.

All Wings fans must be honest though, we’ve seen this before.  Like I said in the lede, this happens every year.  Either a bad “in the crease” call negates a goal, goalie interference is called forty times to kill play, or a young goalie wanders too far from the goal and blows the game.  Injustices are part of playoff hockey.

What separates those hitting the golf links early from those holding the Cup is how they respond.

The Ducks have controlled most of this series.  Aside from parts of Game 1 and the final period of Game 3 they have skated harder than the Wings, they’ve been the aggressor, they’ve had the better goalie and they have taken advantage of their opportunities.

Part of the problem is injuries.  How many times have you said to yourself “Damn the Wings really miss Kris Draper”?  A lot more than a player bought for $1 usually garners.  This series you are seeing how much his grit, speed and energy means to the Wings.  I’ll stop short of blaming last games’ break-away goal on Chelios playing in place of Rafalski.  The guy is the president of the Metro Detroit branch of the AARP, did you really expect him to get to that puck first?  But every team will have injuries, its playing well despite those injuries that makes champions.

In tonight’s game and for the rest of the series the Wing need to play with a sense of urgency we haven’t seen since the first round of last season when they droppped two in a row to Nashville.  They need to crash the net before there is one minute remaining and rattle Hiller’s cage.  They need press the issue and stop getting stymied in the neutral zone by a half-ass trap.  They also need a fight; we need to see a solid bloodbath to pump the juices on this pansy-laden team.

Given the injustice of Game 3, that we have yet to see the best from Hossa or Datsyuk and the fact that the refs owe us one (and they know it) I’m confident enough to make this prediction:

The Wings will win Game 4.

Fact. Mark it down. Place your bet.

And start thinking of more entertaining Facebook messages.

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Kevin Patra lives by the adage: Those who can’t do, write.  Currently, he is a grad student at the University of Southern California studying Online Journalism, after spending four years at the University of Michigan obtaining a bachelors degree from the school of Language, Science & Fun. Patra considers using the troughs at Joe Louis Arena as one of the most traumatic experience of his childhood.

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