An off-the-ice officer in training was responsible for a miscommunication that led to the goal of Carolina Hurricanes striker Vincent Trocheck, incorrectly counting in the 6-5 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.
The NHL was still reviewing the game while assessing the Blue Jackets offside challenge when things suddenly went wrong.
“The video technician should coordinate that up there (at the press level),” NHL executive vice president and hockey operations director Colin Campbell told Aaron Athletic of The Athletic. “They shouldn’t get involved. They should just organize things. We communicate with (employees).
“We sent the first video (clip) for the flags to review – we are also seeing them in Toronto – and we heard a voice on the line saying, ‘He’s on-side. It’s a good goal. ‘ He said it twice. The linesmen (Jonny Murray and Tyson Baker) heard this, took off their headphones and walked away so they could make the call. “
Referee Ghislain Hebert then announced the goal and gave Columbus a minor penalty for the failed challenge.
The flags had not yet seen the angle that clearly showed that Trocheck was offside. The NHL attempted to put officers on ice back in their headsets, but the equipment had to be cleaned up immediately after use, according to the league’s COVID-19 protocol.
Trocheck’s goal gave the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead at the end of the second period. During the second break, Campbell apologized to Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen for the mistake, but said the league would not reverse it because it had not previously done so in similar situations.
“We were talking in the referee’s room (during the second break) with (NHL official Chris) Rooney. I told him I would like to recover the goal, but we never had a situation where we scored a goal back after the game started again. like this.
“I told Jarmo that I would like to be able to score, but there is no precedent for that,” added Campbell.
The individual responsible for the gaffe is being trained at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus as a video coordinator whose job is simply to facilitate communication between the NHL’s hockey operations department and officers on the ice during reviews.
Campbell acknowledged that the video coordinator should not have intervened, but said the individual now understands and feels terrible about what he did.
The longtime executive said that in the future, the NHL would like to be able to stop the game directly from the control room, rather than having to get the attention of officials on the ice. Campbell also said the league would assess the position of video coordinator going forward.
The Blue Jackets were furious at the post-game call. Patrik Laine called it “the biggest joke I’ve ever seen” and Nick Foligno said it is “a bad look for the NHL to miss.”