New Footage Reveals Wrongful Foegele Penalty
A new camera angle shows that Edmonton Oilers' forward Warren Foegele perhaps shouldn't have received a penalty at all.
Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports - New Footage Reveals Wrongful Foegele PenaltyEDMONTON -- You win some, you lose some.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVGSEJ1buOw[/embed]
This describes how the Edmonton Oilers' playoffs have gone. Down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers is less than an ideal situation. The statistics are not in the Oilers favor, to say the least.
Referees have an incredibly difficult job to do. They need to call the game, by the book, on a nightly basis. Naturally, everything is heightened during the playoffs, including scrutiny of the referees.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocQdJlV0DA8[/embed]
The above collision was the cause of much speculation and debate online after it happened. Even Oilers' head coach Kris Knoblauch chimed in on the issue in his post game comments, "You're going to hit a guy and the guy moves out of the way - it's pretty tough to change where your feet are. I don't see very much difference in those two plays (Warren Foegele penalty and Sam Bennett penalty)."
"I see (Evan) Bouchard got up right away, their guy didn't get up right away."
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmh9QSzC598[/embed]
Watching the play back, you hear the announcers say that the collision was knee-on-knee. Because it happened so fast, it's tough to argue against that. However, Foegele's reaction in the penalty box hints that there might be more to the play than what the few camera angles showed on the replay.
There is a clip making the rounds on social media that is raising more questions surrounding this play. The clip is taken by a fan in the stands. In this clip, you see the thigh-on-thigh contact. After that, you see Eetu Luostarinen swing his leg aggressively to avoid contact. Then you see Luostarinen's stick catch Foegele in the skates right before he sails through the air.
If the officials had a camera angle similar to this one to review, it's entirely possible that Foegele's penalty gets reduced. Luostarinen might even have been called for a tripping penalty instead.
There is no doubt that Luostarinen experienced some pain, given how quickly he moved his leg. But for the penalty to be considered a "knee-on-knee", and be given the severe penalty that followed, feels like an overreaction after viewing this new footage.
Regardless of what actually happened, Foegele was handed a game misconduct and Luostarinen returned to the game. The two teams play again tomorrow night in Edmonton.
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