Hockey Prompt – Written Task – 186 words
Video review in the NHL is in a much better place than it was ten years ago. They can now analyze situations to validate if specific infractions occurred. It was infuriating when you were watching your favorite team and a phantom penalty occurred, and your team got scored on when shorthanded as a result. A perfect example is when some contact on the boards and the sticks went up. Many times, some players accidentally high-stuck themselves or had some friendly fire on a nearby teammate. When this happens, the automatic reaction is to give the opposition an infraction, and that’s not always fair. Now, with video review, they can ensure that it was indeed the opposition that was the guilty party. While this is a good thing, some of the really obscure and close offside reviews that can take a significant period of time are annoying. We really should lean on the linesmen more often to make the correct call, and if it’s within an inch or so of being onside, they shouldn’t review it. Offside review should only be for egregious violations of the rule.