Hello Kerry, Big time Leaf fan so Ive hated you since 1993, but I love your column and Im willing to reconsider! In the other nights Canucks-Wild game, linesmen Thor Nelson was injured with a cut hand and received some medical attention from the Canucks bench. Cheap Jerseys From China . Minutes later, there was a possible offside as Vancouver entered the Minnesota zone. I looked to the linesman for the call but noticed he was behind the play and out of position. I was very surprised! NHL linesmen are always right on the line! Thats when I realized someone was missing. Only three officials remained on the ice. With eight minutes to go and Vancouver up 2-0 the game carried on and I doubt many fans in the building noticed. The remaining linesman Vaughn Rody was a champ as he skated end to end several times chasing icing calls and nearly had to step into an altercation involving Boom Boom Bieksa and one of the Wild players. Kudos to him for keeping the game rolling! What is the policy when an official is injured? Thanks Stripes, Chris Marshall,Vancouver, BC ----- Hey Chris: Thanks for at least reconsidering. I appreciate the second chance - my family says I can be very lovable. During the Stanley Cup Playoffs there is always a backup referee in attendance. His responsibility is to watch the game on television in the officials room, dressed in all his gear minus skates and ready to spring into action in the event of an injury. In series deciding games there is both a referee and linesman backup assigned. In regular season games, unless an official has a night off in that city and decides to take a busmans holiday by attending the game, when an official is injured and has to leave the ice the crew works one man short. Theres no time and a half pay for what Vaughn Rody did; the remaining guys really have to step it up. I have been involved in several situations such as this throughout my career; both in one referee-two linesman system as well as the two and two. My good friend Thor Nelson had to leave the ice another time; this one in Denver after being struck by a wicked slap shot right in the middle of his back after an end zone faceoff he had just conducted. The impact of the puck fractured the vertebrae in his back. The poor guy was in such horrible pain that I got his room key and checked on him throughout the night. The next day he had to be helped onto the plane get home to his doctor. Thors line partner filled the void and we assisted him with icing signals and line coverage wherever possible. If a referee is injured and forced to leave the game the other ref goes back to the old system of chasing the play from goal line to goal line. With the red line now removed odds are that the lead linesman will be on the goal line covering for the referee and awaiting his arrival. When a linesman is injured the remaining linesman must cover both blue lines which is an incredibly difficult task given the speed through the neutral zone and the quick transition game that practically every team employs. In the one referee-two linesmen system we also had to concern ourselves with an offside pass at the red line. At least Vaughn didnt have worry about that aspect of coverage with the red line being a non factor other than for icing the puck. I have a funny story for you Chris on a serious injury that never fortunately didnt occur. I was assigned to work a game in old Buffalo Aud with linesmen Ron The Bear Asselstine and Dan McCourt. A fight broke out and as the guys were rolling around on the ice The Bear stood up, grabbed his leg with both hands in a tight grip and showed me a skate slash clean through his outer pant and inner thigh pad. With a look of shock on his face and bright red colour visible through the tear in his pants he said, "Kerry, I think I cut an artery". I told him to rush off the ice which he promptly did. I went to Scotty Bowman, behind the Sabres bench and the visiting team coach and told them that Ron appeared to be seriously injured and that we would continue with just two officials. I solicited their players cooperation and I dropped the puck in the end zone. (In this system the referee would conduct all end zone face offs so the linesman could remain on the blue line.) With play underway I noticed The Bear standing behind the glass at the door leading to the Sabres dressing room. When play stopped the door opened and Ron Asselstine stepped back onto the ice. I said, "Bear, what are you doing back so soon if your artery was cut?" Bear, looking somewhat embarrassed bemoaned, "It was just my red underwear that was exposed!" Chief McCourt and I never let him forget it. Ron Asselstine was one tough guy though. He charged a fan that came onto the ice during a stoppage and was about to do some damage to referee Bill McCreary when The Bear headed him off at the goal line, driving his helmet into the guys back and slamming him into the boards. Bear rag-dolled the Bs fan and tossed him off the open door where security dragged the guy away. Google it and youll see it was the hardest anyone has ever been hit from behind on NHL ice. Officials are tougher than you might think and work through a lot of injuries. All the guys have worked hurt or sick on many occasions and refuse to leave the ice unless the bone is poking through the skin. With fifteen seconds remaining in the first period in a game in Atlanta I fractured a cheek bone after being struck by a deflected puck off the goalie stick of Stephane Fiset. I immediately grabbed my face and my finger sunk into the wound and I felt bone. I was on the goal line near the Zamboni door so as play continued I banged on the glass, they opened the door and I stepped off the ice as the horn sounded and was escorted directly to the Thrashers medical room. After an X-ray the Thrashers doc told me I had a non-displaced fracture of the cheek bone and that I was done for the night. Eric Big Train Vail stopped by the medical room to say hi as I was being stitched up and supported me in my argument with the doctor that I was going back on the ice. I finally won the argument by saying to the doctor, "Non-displaced means its not going anywhere right doc? So if I was a player and had to play what would you do?" The team doctor said, "If our player had to play, we would put a visor on him and send him back out." That was just the answer I was looking for. I said, "Doc since I dont wear a helmet please have the equipment guy get me one with a visor because I have to go back out." By the end of the third period my left eye was closed but I was able to complete the game and assist my partner Rob Martell. Marty told me it was my bad eye anyway so nothing changed! Whenever the officiating crew loses a man through injury the players do cooperate and generally cut the guys some slack. They know its a tough job at the best of time, let alone when you are down a man. When an official goes down all of his teammates dig deep and attempt to support one another to maintain coverage. You could almost liken it to a team having to kill a penalty or worse yet more like a five on three. Compounding the difficulty of being down a man for the officials is that they are short handed for the remainder of the game. Great job, Road Kill - and excellent question Chris. NBC Sports Update: In addition to my continuing regular duties with TSN I will appear this evening on NBC Sports as an intermission analyst with my friend Pierre McGuire on the NCAA College Hockey Broadcast immediately followed by NHL Overtime from NBC studio in Stamford, CT. wholesale nfl jerseys . Jordan Lyles won for the first time in two months and the Houston Astros snapped a seven-game losing streak Friday night with a 3-1 victory over the sluggish Mets, giving Tony DeFrancesco his first win as a major league manager. cheap jerseys from china .J. -- New York Jets tight end Dustin Keller and wide receiver Chaz Schilens did not travel with the team and will not play in the season finale Sunday at Buffalo because of injuries. http://www.cheapnfljerseysgi.com/ . - The Kansas City Chiefs have traded cornerback Javier Arenas to the Arizona Cardinals for fullback Anthony Sherman. Wholesale Jerseys China .J. (The Prodigy) Penn took a shot at Georges St-Pierre for his concerns over what weight a proposed super-fight with Anderson Silva should be contested at. cheap football jerseys online . Rose sounded off after a 104-99 victory over the New York Knicks on Monday, saying hes "got to be the only superstar in the league thats going through what Im going through right now.ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -- Despite coming up short of the ultimate goal, the Abbotsford Heats season cant be looked upon as a failure. The Heat were eliminated from the post-season by Toronto in five games on Wednesday when Mike Zigomanis scored in overtime of 3-2 Marlies win. Abbotsford was up 2-0 at one point in the game, but the Marlies rallied to close out the Western Conference final. "To end the way it did, it kind of stings for everybody in the room," said Heat defenceman J.P. Testwuide. "But you know what, its behind us and we just have to learn from it. Its a defeat, its not a failure." Abbotsford won 11 straight games, including playoffs, before dropping four straight to Toronto. The Heat were ranked as high as second in the overall AHL standings at one point this season and as low as 11th in the Western Conference, but the goal was always to win the championship. "I would say we fell short (of our goal)," said Heat head coach Troy Ward. "We didnt get to the Calder Cup finals but I thought we had a good push, especially at the end of the year. But we didnt get to where we set out to where we wanted to be." The teams playoff shortcomings could be pinned on special teams. The Heats penalty killing was among the best in the AHL most of the year but allowed two goals on five chances in Game 5, including the winner. "We had a very good penalty kill for the whole series," said Testwuide, who was playing for Abbotsford on loan from the Chicago Wolves. "You could look at it like it wasnt good tonight, but I wouldnt say that. Its just the way it turns out. Theyre going to get their chances, and they just ended up burying them now instead of earlier." Meanwhile, their power play was even more lacking, 0-for-24 during the series, including 0-for-3 Wednesday. "We got opportunities and didnt bury them but they did," said Heat captain Clay Wilson. "That was kind of the story of the series." The club struggled with a few things this season that gave the Calgary Flames affiliate headaches throughout the year. For one, the teams geography in British Columbias Fraser Valley puts the club at a disadvantage, since the travel is much more gruelling. The nearest opponents are over 3,000 kilometres away, which makes coming back off a road trip just as difficult as playing away from home. "Obviously theres a lot of players within this league that dont want to be here because its a long way," said Ward after Wednesdays game. "If you just look at it with travel alone, from a players perspective, theyre not crazy about coming here. Its not as difficult as it seems but it is difficult." Thats an issue the Heat have been dealing with since the franchise was born out of the ashes of the Quad City Flames in 2009. Theyve also struggled with poor attendance. After averaging only 3,545 over the regular season in a city of more than 130,000, they are last among the 16 playoff squads with an average of just 2,389 per game, including just a turnout of 1,360 for the elimination game Wednesday. The club struggles with playing in the shadow of the nearby NHL team -- the Vanccouver Canucks. cheap jerseys from china. "Any time you play in front of a big crowd, its nice," said Ward. "Obviously things take time to build any franchise in any area, no matter what part of the world you are in." The Peoria Rivermen, for example, boast an attendance average of over 5,000 per game in a city with 20,000 fewer citizens -- and they were a non-playoff team. This is a team that recorded points in 16 of 17 games until losing four straight to the Marlies this month. The Heat were also challenged by numerous injuries and call-ups to Calgary, which was among the NHLs leaders in man games lost to injury. Not including goaltenders, the Heat were forced to dress 48 players throughout the course of the season, among the largest rosters in the AHL. "Playing in this league you get used to it," said Wilson. "Guys come back and sometimes it works in your favour when they have a little extra jump in their step and confidence. I can see as a coach it being extremely frustrating, but youre always excited to get guys called up and when they come back you welcome them with open arms." So Abbotsford heads back to the drawing board, and some would speculate that theyll be doing it without the services of Ward. Calgarys coach Brent Sutter was let go by the club and many members of the Calgary media are convinced that Ward is next in line for the head coaching job with the parent club. General Manager Jay Feaster has publicly come out and praised Wards work with the farm team this year. Ward has not commented one way or the other about interest in the position. In the crease, the Heat may look very different in the new season as well. Danny Taylor unseated Leland Irving as the teams starting goalie late in the season and in the playoffs. Taylor has played all over the globe in the last few seasons and played his most games in a campaign this season, giving him a shot at a two-way contract with an NHL club in the fall. Irving is considered the second best goalie in the organization after Mikka Kiprusoff and may find himself as an NHL backup next year, a position that he held for stretches this season in which he picked up his first NHL win. The Flames also hold the rights to a pair of Finnish goalies, ex-Heat member Joni Ortio and former NHL goalie Kari Ramo. That doesnt even include Swede Henrik Karlsson, who has been Kiprusoffs backup the past two years. "Dannys been the guy down the stretch," said Ward when asked whether he still felt he made the right choice in goal. "The AHLs a land of opportunity. Lets look at it this way. Lelands a tremendous goalie, and I have tremendous respect for that guy. Leland has also gotten the land of opportunity -- that put him in the NHL this year. But down the stretch, our better goalie and the guy whos made us feel a bit better as a team happened to be Danny. Thats nothing against Leland." Regardless, the Heat have a seven more seasons left on their deal with the city-owned Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre, so theyre clearly not going anywhere. "I felt weve found a home," said Ward. "I think people know were here." ' ' '