Panthers 1 Steelers 4

I really shouldn’t be writing this the mood I’m in after last night! I thought I might mellow out after a night’s sleep but the events of the game are still filling me with rage! Any chance of a decent game to thrill a packed NIC with 7,105 fans was extinguished by the most disgustingly incompetent and biased officiating I think I’ve ever seen. The game was completely ruined as a spectacle by Andy Carson. Remember this is the same Andy Carson whose lives near Sheffield, the same Andy Carson whose wife is a Steelers fan, the same Andy Carson who has been posting on the Steelers forum Steeltalk. Why does the league continue to put Carson in charge of these games? Surely there’s other refs who can take charge of the game who don’t carry such baggage?
The game changer and the most ridiculous call of the night came after just 7.53. Rob Globke was cleaned out by a beautiful check from Guillaume Lepine which left Globke prone on the ice. Carson was looking directly at the incident and called nothing. Steelers took exception and Neil Clark started a fight with Lepine who promptly battered Clark for his idiocy. While this was going on Ashley Tait went for one of his many whinges at Carson and incredibly the referee called Lepine a match penalty for check to the head after calling nothing when the incident happened. For me it was this disgraceful decision that turned the game and gave Steelers the victory as Panthers already missing Jonathan Zion were now down another defenceman leaving just Neilson, Meyers, Lee and Norton on the bench. Panthers look as if they will appeal the decision and quite rightly too. With Neilson going to the box shortly after the Steelers inevitably took the lead through Tait. More controversy followed. A pile of bodies in the crease was somehow called as a penalty shot! How Carson could see in such a melee is impressive, I guess he must have x-ray vision as well! Thankfully Ben Simon’s penalty shot was poor and Kowalski saved with ease and Panthers managed to hold on to the interval just one down.
Despite the antics of Carson we didn’t help ourselves. Our powerplay was shocking all night, the same system setting up the point man to shoot. The Steelers with their tactic of a strangling defence that sucks the life out of most games can play that all day, I lost count at the amount of shots that were straight at Mustukovs. Also our discipline fell apart during the game, understandable in a way considering the antics of Carson but to lose our most creative player in Galbraith so cheaply was annoying, he should have just kept his mouth shut but I can understand his frustration. The second misconduct call to Alex Penner was more serious as Penner just lost it and the cloud of red mist descended as he tried to get to Carson (I was sort of hoping he would!) and then threw his stick in the direction of the Steelers bench as he was being escorted off. I don’t think we have heard the last of that one.
Personally I’m upset that I can’t talk about the game but the actions of a referee, it shouldn’t be like that but what else can I do when the reactions of the referee cause so much controversy?
To end a positive note I have to give plenty of credit to Craig Kowalski, he was excellent and couldn’t be faulted for any of the Steelers goals and also to Tom Norton who was thrown into a regular shift and didn’t let himself down at all. He showed maturity beyond his years. Not a great night but I’m sure the fall-out will continue for a while!