San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn had some choice words for referee Gord Dwyer that got him ejected from Saturday’s game against the Washington Capitals. He had even more after he was ordered off the bench.
Quinn was fired up after Sharks forward Kevin Labanc was called for clipping Washington’s Vincent Iorio. He unloaded on referee Gord Dwyer, firing a barrage of expletive-laden feedback. Dwyer gave him the gate.
The San Jose bench boss kept at it, continuing his tirade before eventually heading off.
Quinn was apologetic after the game.
“I’m embarrassed. You shouldn’t act like that as a coach and I want to apologize to our team,” Quinn said, as reported in the Mercury News. “It’s not how I certainly want to act and it’s an emotional game. These refs work hard, they do a good job and it’s something that should never happen. So I’m embarrassed by that.”
“I can’t promise you it won’t happen again, because it does get emotional, but I will do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Dwyer was working solo as the lone referee in a three-man officiating crew after ref Chris Schlenker left the game with an injury.
“It’s a hard game to ref with two and [Dwyer] was put in a tough position with being a one-man gang,” Quinn continued. “I should have been more aware of that.”
Though the coach was forced to leave the game, he’s fortunate he didn’t put his team down two men. Dwyer could have – and likely should have – issued a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.
75.3 Bench Minor Penalty – A bench minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct shall be assessed under this rule … whenever Coaches and/or non-playing Club personnel use obscene or profane language or gestures anywhere in the rink.
San Jose, who once led 2-0, was trailing 4-2 at the time of the penalty. The Caps scored off the opening faceoff of the power play to take a 5-2 lead.
Labanc’s penalty was just the second clipping penalty all season.
The Sharks led the game 2-0 in the first period before ultimately suffering an 8-3 loss. Referees for the game were
Chris Schlenker (#3) and Gord Dwyer (#19), with linesmen Joe Mahon (#89) and Trent Knorr (#74).
Schlenker was injured during the second period and did not return to the game; no word on his condition.
