Things were going fine when...

It was an uneventful weekend of referee duties ... that is until today. High school kids play 4-on-4 games where play virtually goes unstopped for 45 minutes. There are three periods naturally, but no penalties are called unless there is something major going on. Offside plays are called when they're obvious. But for the most part the intention is to keep the kids playing non-stop. It's a conditioning exercise for the most part. And all was fine. Until a second game this morning. One team was crushing another team -- I mean a 25-1 crushing. It was ugly. So the officials at that point just try to keep the game moving in order to end the ugly affair. Well, it only got ugly after the game when an irate parent went overboard and starting yelling and screaming and ranting and raving. When the explanations weren't sufficient, the parent -- a local attorney by the way -- decided to call the official -- me -- a "moron." Very classy act by the way. I suppose he thought he was in court. Geez, I hope not because he's not likely to win many cases calling the "judge" a moron. In any event, the man -- who also plays for a men's team and is terrible and a dirty player -- simply embarrassed himself anyway. People were staring. Some were actually laughing at him. I just looked him in the eye and thanked him...And people wonder why officials would like to see empty stadiums for kids to play their games? It's parents and fans like this that ruin it for everyone. That's OK. I'm sure he feels good about himself, that as an attorney he argued his point. Problem is he was definitely "out of order," or more likely out of his mind...

Silly comments

Turns out some bush league Chicago reporter asks one of the healthy-scratch Black Hawk players about Chris Pronger and basically the guy makes an idiot of himself by trashing Pronger. Now there are a couple of things wrong with this picture: the guy, who I refuse to identify because he's such an idiot, has never accumulated more than 9 points in any NHL season; he is trashing Pronger, a future Hall of Fame player; and he tosses this stuff out AFTER the finals are over thus eliminating the chance of Pronger ripping out the guy's tonsils. Well, there's always next year, that is, if the guy is even playing...And people trash Philly? C'mon, you'd never hear a Philly athlete trash someone like that.

Flyers lose

Oh well, what a great run. The Flyers were great in the overtime but it wasn't meant to be. Goalie Michael Leighton lost his starting job for next season with that soft goal in the OT. That shot from Patrick Kane never should have slid under him or past him. Well, I had the right score -- but the wrong winning team.

Unreal

The Flyers managed to tie the game at 3. Now we're headed to OT. The Flyers are not a good OT team but I'm not sure the Hawks are any better. Here we go...

Tonight's game

So far not so good. The defense is letting Leighton down again. Bad clears, bad passes, allowing the Hawks to be in front of the net. Leighton is actually playing very well. I still think at 10 p.m. that the team will pull it out.

Tonight's the night

Well, something has to give tonight. It's Game 6. Win and live to play another day. Lose and it's time to break out the golf bag. It's all about tonight. If Chicago wins tonight, obviously they win it all and it's over. If the Flyers win tonight, they will win the Cup. And it's my humble opinion that the Flyers WILL will tonight and WILL win a Game 7. I maintain that Chicago expended too much in Game 5 to ever bring the level of effort back to such heights. Game 5 was their Game 7. And the Flyers are in the best position. The team has its back against the wall and they seem to rise up when cornered like this. So, Michael Leighton will be in net and the defense will come out very strong. People like Jeff Carter and Michael Richards should have big games. I am liking the Flyers to win tonight -- 4-3 with a late goal by the Black Hawks to make it closer than it needed to be. Stay tuned for any Game 7 prediction.

Leighton is the man

According to reports, Michael Leighton will be the starter tomorrow night. Good decision. The defense has to be strong and the offense needs to play its game. If everyone plays their game, the Flyers will win Games 6 AND 7. It's only when they let the other team dictate the play, the tempo, etc., that the team gets into trouble. The coach has made most of the right calls all along the way. I have confidence he knows what he's doing.