Being An NHL Referee Seems Like The Perfect Job If Your Dream Is To Be Able To Curse Out Teenagers
It's a difficult, thankless job. Signing up to be a referee basically means you're just signing up for everybody to hate you. Nobody is ever willing to give refs the benefit of the doubt. The NHL is as fast paced as it's ever been. If you put the average hockey fan out on the ice during a game they wouldn't even be able to come close to keeping up, let alone be able to see everything in real time and make all the right calls. I would never say being an NHL referee is an easy job.
And for Cody Beach and his crew last night during the Flyers vs Red Wings game, they found that out the hard way. It was a rough night for the officiating crew in Philly. A couple of weak, ticky tacky calls go against the Flyers early in the game. The game is in Philly, and the Flyers are in the midst of a heated playoff push. Naturally, that is going to cause the entire arena to turn on you. But the fans can give it to the refs because they're just fans, and that's what they do. Not only is the entire arena on your ass, but Rick Tocchet is mother fucking you on the bench. But he can give it to the refs because he's the head coach who also played over 1000 games in the NHL. You've got Travis Konecny mother fucking you as well, but Konecny can bark at the refs because he's put in his time in the league and wears an "A" on his sweater.
Where Cody Beach draws the line is when a 19-year-old Porter Martone playing in his 2nd career game decides to give it to him. It doesn't take Jomboy to break down this lip reading.
You're getting shit on by the fans, you're getting mother fucked by the coach, you're getting mother fucked by other guys out on the ice. Eventually Cody Beach was going to snap, and Porter Martone was the guy he could finally tee off on.
Was it a little aggressive? Sure. Did Porter Martone have a point because he was clearly being interfered with? Absolutely. But when you're taking it from all angles, there's not a ref in the league who is going to be receptive to a kid who was just college hockey last week giving it to him as well.
The thing that a lot of people don't seem to grasp is that dealing with the refs is the game within the game. Refs are human and they are typically pretty sensitive when it comes to calls. You need to play the game with the refs. You put in your time, you get on their good side early, and it helps you through the rest of your career. Thats politics, bitch. But there's also a lot of emotion going on in a game that is as intense as the Flyers vs Red Wings both battling for a playoff spot. Martone wanted the call because he knows a powerplay would have been huge for the Flyers there. Cody Beach didn't want to hear it from Martone because he's already got Tocchet and Konecny on his ass. To me, this is no harm no foul.
There's going to come a day when Porter Martone is wearing a letter on his jersey for the Philadelphia Flyers. I wouldn't be shocked if that day comes much sooner than later. And once that day comes, he can tee off on the refs all he wants without having to worry about them giving it right back to him.