Introducing the Five Minute Interference Call!
What was with that interference call on Cam Barker after he checked David Backes on the boards in the first period of the Hawks/Blues game tonight? Barker got a five-minute major penalty for that interference call. The hockey pundits said that interference is usually a minor penalty, meaning only two minutes, but has anyone ever seen interference called as a major penalty, meaning five minutes? Pat Foley and Eddie Olczyk were even baffled at the interference being a major penalty, though Olczyk acknowledged later that per the rule book a major penalty can be called for interference; that it’s at the discretion of the official. Still, what about that hit merited a major penalty? (Oddly enough, history repeated itself in the 3rd period when Dustin Byfuglien got called for interference for the same exact kind of hit. Yet Byfuglien’s interference call was only a minor penalty.)
And how many times have we seen someone who doesn’t even have the puck get checked and interference isn’t even called? At least the puck was in the vicinity of Backes, though true enough, he hadn’t touched it. It’s just that Cam Barker didn’t time his hit well, that’s all.
…And things did not improve from there with the Hawks losing 2-0.