I just got back from a hockey game. Good game, but my Flyers lost 4-3 in overtime. But this post isn't about what happened, it's about what didn't happen: bad officiating.

Every time a team loses, it's easy to blame something the referees missed. "If only..." and "but for..." Usually it wouldn't have mattered, but sometimes it would have.

But no one ever gives the refs credit when they do a good job. And it's hard for 4 people to keep an eye on every single thing 12 other guys do, especially when they can't talk to each other and have to duck a move out of the way a lot.

Anyway:

Dear Officiating Crew of the 3/25/2010 Flyers/Wild hockey game,

You did a great job tonight. Every penalty you called against Philadelphia was TOTALLY deserved, even that potentially game-changing goalie interference call. It might have been accidental, but he definitely didn't try very hard to avoid it (and if you hadn't called it, he could have unduly influenced the game the other way). Also, every time Minnesota did something bad that I saw, you saw it too and made the right call. I in no way blame you for my team's losing focus in the 3rd period and allowing the Wild to come back to tie it up. Anyway, thanks for an enjoyable evening spent watching hockey instead of yelling at blind zebras.

Sincerely,
-A fan