The uneven surface: faceoffs

Here's another little thing that bugs the hell out of me in the Pittsburgh-Washington series.

As anyone watching the playoffs is likely to have noticed, Sidney Crosby's faceoff win percentage has shot up dramatically. Before this season's playoffs, Crosby was at best mediocre in the circle. Now he's winning faceoffs constantly. Why? At least in part it's because he's found another rule that doesn't apply to him.

Faceoffs, from the NHL rulebook at nhl.com:

76.3 Procedure – As soon as the line change procedure has been completed by the Referee and he lowers his hand to indicate no further changes, the Linesman conducting the face-off shall blow his whistle. This will signal to both teams that they have no more than five (5) seconds to line up for the ensuing face-off. At the end of the five (5) seconds (or sooner if both centers are ready), the Linesman will conduct a proper face-off. If, however:

(i) One or both centers are not positioned for the face-off,

(ii) One or both centers refrain from placing their stick on the ice,

(iii) Any player has encroached into the face-off circle,

(iv) Any player makes physical contact with an opponent, or

(v) Any player is in an off-side position,

the Linesman shall have the offending center(s) replaced immediately prior to dropping the puck.

My boldface.

I guess the online rulebook omits the part "unless the offending center represents the Pittsburgh Penguins". In last night's game, not only Crosby but also Malkin repeatedly took draws where they never placed their stick on the ice. They won most of those draws.

Having watched nearly the entire semi-final series so far, I'm prepared to claim the only reason Crosby is winning so many draws is that he doesn't have to take his faceoffs honestly.

For the life of me, I don't understand why they let first Crosby, and now his teammates, get to ignore the rules on faceoffs, but they do. I challenge anyone who disagrees to watch the game and watch the Penguins' center's stick on the draw. More often than not, they never touch the ice until the puck is dropped.

It really makes me sick to see this stuff, but there it is. In my mind, the most reasonable explanation is that the Penguins, especially Crosby, know that they're the apple in the league's eye, and are taking maximum advantage of it. It's a disgrace that the officials and the league are allowing it.

**

This is my last post on the Penguins this year. I'm so sick of this bullshit that I can't watch the Eastern games any more. When the referees gave Pittsburgh the overtime game on Saturday I had to resist an urge to smash the TV set. I'm done with these playoffs, at least in the East. No doubt the Penguins will win the conference, again, because whenever it looks like they won't, the refs step in. Washington won the first two games and got completely screwed in the next three, to make sure the Golden Boy gets to the finals again. And in the meanwhile, the hockey media is tripping over themselves to suck his dick.

I can't stand it.