HOCKEY PROMPT

I think the referees have to have the opportunity to hand out embellishment penalties. Just so that nobody will be tempted to pull any ridiculous dives without a direct consequence. If the consequences were just fines or suspensions, you could get away with basically anything in a game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals - a suspension early next season wouldn't really hurt you.

From what I have seen, the embellishment calls are 50 % justified and 50 % unjustified. A lot of embellishments go unpunished, and at the same time the refs pick up situations where the player just genuinely trips. So seems that it is very hard to judge the situations from the ice-level, at real-time speed.

I understand that players to everything that's within the rules to gain an advantage, and embellishing unfortunately is one of these tricks. High sticks especially would go way more often not called if players didn't whip their head back and put their glove on their face. So yeah, it's not easy.

Personally I would hand out way harsher penalties than the ridiculously small fines afterwards. If you get caught embellishing, it should be a 3+ game suspension immediately. That way we would at least make some kind of a real effort to reduce embellishing.