Referee Dan O’Halloran was mic’d up for Team North America’s battle against Team Russia.
O’Halloran’s first challenge: dealing with the Magic Man.
“Datsyuk just keeps coming straight at me,” he told referee Gord Dwyer. “He looks right up in my eyes and keeps coming straight at me. I know he’s going behind the net so I don’t want to go behind the net.”
So, what happened?
“I ran out of room. The boards got me a little sooner than I thought.”
Here’s O’Halloran’s highlight reel from the game – one of which was skating in circles at center ice:
After giving warnings and explaining the hooking call, O’Halloran gets involved in a discussion with the officiating crew about a puck going over the glass. He’s joined by Dwyer and linesmen Shane Heyer and Derek Amell.
The four officials discuss he play and how it’s impacted by the NHL’s new rule change. In the past, you’d receive a penalty for shooting the puck over the glass when the player’s skates were in the defensive zone. Now, the skates don’t matter — it all depnds on the position of the puck.
Heyer: “Inside the blue?”
O’Halloran: “It was inside the blue.”
Heyer: “It hit the camera. It was going out.”
O’Halloran: “You got it 100 percent inside the blue, for sure?”
Amell: “Yes.”
O’Halloran: “A hundred percent inside the blue for sure?”
Amell: “Why are you saying that?”
O’Halloran: “Well, cause I just want to make sure
Dwyer: “Both guys, yes?”
After confirming with both linesmen, the quartet appears to be in agreement. It’s a penalty. Dwyer turns to explain to a protesting Alex Ovechkin.
After the call is explained, O’Halloran and Dwyer discus the new rule.
“We know it’s the puck now,” says O’Halloran, “Not the feet. That rule’s changed this year. It’s where the puck’s shot from…”
