NHL comes down hard; removes referee from working anymore games for hot mic incident
Anthony Scultore
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The NHL has announced this morning that Tim Peel will no longer referee any more games this season or the foreseeable future. It was a quick and rapid response to the veteran ref being caught on a hot mic to an even up call.
Referee Peel was scheduled to retire at the end of the season.
NHL comes down on Referee Tim Peel
NEW YORK (March 24, 2021) – National Hockey League Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell announced today that Referee Tim Peel, following his comments during the game last night between the Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators, no longer will be working NHL games now or in the future.
“Nothing is more important than ensuring the integrity of our game,” Campbell said. “Tim Peel’s conduct is in direct contradiction to the adherence to that cornerstone principle that we demand of our officials and that our fans, players, coaches and all those associated with our game expect and deserve. There is no justification for his comments, no matter the context or his intention, and the National Hockey League will take any and all steps necessary to protect the integrity our game.”
Tim Peel caught on hot mic
Details were scarce since there was no comments from the referees about the call or the hot mic incident. Apparently the Predators were up 1-0 in the game thanks to Mikael Granlund’s first period goal when the ref admitted he wanted to get a penalty on Nashville early in the second.
“It wasn’t much, but I wanted to get a (expletive) penalty against Nashville early in the,” the unidentified official was heard saying before his microphone was cut off after Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson was called for a tripping penalty at 4:56 of the second period.
AP
The actual hot mic incident was caught on replay of the penalty during the broadcast and posted by several people on social media. It was later determined that the ref was Tim Peel on the mic. The NHL’s Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell said they were investigating the incident late yesterday and the verdict is now in.
Note: The clip below is NSFW