National Hockey League referees have a very important job and within the scope of their duties is the necessity to be impartial however if who the league has scheduled to officiate Thursday night's game between Edmonton and Florida is any indication of how things may go, then go bet ten bucks on the Panthers because that's the safest bet.
Game three will feature veteran referee and Calgary native Dan O'Rourke. One of the teams skating tonight has an impeccable record when he's on the ice, while the other does not. But that doesn't necessarily matter, or does it?
Many people already believe before the puck has dropped that the fix is in as indicated in the comment section in the above tweet. While they may be onto something, O'Rourke is a professional and will likely do his best to call it as he sees it, but do stats lie or is there more to the story than meets the eye?
Understandably, fans and the like are already writing off the Oilers for game three, it just doesn't make sense. Does a referee have the ability to influence the outcome of the game? Sure. Does it happen? Maybe, but it's likely more out of absolute circumstance than an official going out of his way to allow one team to win over the other. What is true is that fans will have to wait to see what happens and formulate their thoughts after seeing the outcome.
