I'm really sorry guys. The lag was terrible today, and I couldn't do as good of a job reffing as I would have liked. When things like this happen I take it very hard, the NDZHL is a pet project of mine and when it doesn't work out perfectly I feel really bad about it like I'm wasting your time.

The first game was a fiasco, I'll admit. With me constantly lagging out I was very thankful to have Lazedkik (is that the correct spelling?) there to co-ref for when I lagged out. I know there was a lot of Excessive Roughing but I was trying not to call it because I felt everyone was lagging.

Before I say anything else, I just want to reiterate for everyone: The ref's word is law. I wish I didn't have to say this, because it's going to be followed up by me explaining why I made a call people didn't agree with, but just know that in every sport you have to listen to the ref. Players cannot influence the game or be allowed to change the ref's mind because then the game just devolves into chaos, where the strongest argument and not the strongest player wins.

With 20 secs left and Mt. Augusta down by 2 goals, I called Excessive Roughing on Wanado. I'll admit, it was a little odd since I hadn't called it all game but this is what I saw: Wanado punching repeatedly and indiscriminately. I don't blame him, when you're down by that much and time is running out you're going to try everything to win. But while most of the excessive roughing was a late punch here or a punch with the puck there, I saw Wanado clicking repeatedly and in every direction. This is just what I saw, and I called it.

Remember, as a referee you cannot let your judgment be swayed. In restro-spect, it was a bad call. The Avalanche were losing, there was hardly any time left anyways, and the whole game had been a fist fight. But a ref has to live with every call they make.

I apologize, but I stand by it, whether it's a mistake or not doesn't matter anymore, what matters is it happened. Props to Wanado for immediately heading off the ice into the box, obviously he didn't like the call but I appreciated his compliance.

Then the first game ended. And the second game was about to start and I thought my internet problems were finally over.

Before the face-off, Joesiv was asking about timeouts. I can't recall if I said anything then but I know Darkflame said there are none. There are no timeouts in the NHL (except for a 30 second one that can only be used during a stoppage) and that's basically how we try to run things in the NDZHL: as close to real hockey as possible.

Now, I dropped the puck in after counting down from 3 even though Joesiv wasn't crouched because most of the times when I drop the puck in players aren't crouched. I thought I saw him crouch before and DarkFlame confirmed it. Crouching is not necessary, it's merely a signal and I was trying to speed the game up since Mt. Augusta couldn't stay on much longer. Joesiv asked for me to stop the clock, claiming he wasn't ready. I cannot stop the clock when you ask me. Joesiv didn't move, instead typing to appeal for a timeout but again I can't just give players whatever they want, especially when it's against the rules. There are no timeouts, and I'm sorry if Joesiv thought there were and I was just ignoring him. But again, I cannot just stop time because you ask me too. If one of your players logs out for some reason, play will continue. If one of your players dies on the ice, play will continue. If your entire team stops playing and starts shouting at each other, play will continue.

Now I'm very sorry my internet was crapping out, because right after this fiasco my internet failed again and I lagged out. When I should have been giving you guys an explanation I was cursing Comcast for being terrible. So this post is your explanation.

My point is this, and it's true of any sport: You cannot argue with the referee (I mean, you can, but don't expect it to actually work). I don't care if the referee is blind, you cannot change their mind. If they change their mind for you, then they have to change their mind for the next players, and then they have to just follow whatever everyone tells them.

Again, I'm super sorry today wasn't as smooth as we had hoped, crappy internet will do that I guess. Lag is just a natural hazard we have to deal with. Take the good with the bad, and all that.

This post is not for arguing about who's right or wrong, and I will promptly remove any comments trying to incite arguments. We're here for fun, fellas, and if you're really upset about it PM me instead and we'll try and sort our differences out behind closed doors.

Thank you for reading.