Perception . . . or reality?

Perception . . . reality . . . reality . . . perception.
There is a perception in the WHL that the Vancouver Giants, because of the presence of veteran head coach Don Hay, will get a break now and then when it comes to the officiating.
Of course, you aren’t going to find too many people, if any, who will speak publicly on this subject for fear of a) offending anyone in the powerful Giants organization; b) ruffling feathers in the WHL office; or, c) causing the referees’ union to turn on them.
Regardless, that perception is there.
Which brings us to Friday night at the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops, where the Giants overcame a 1-0 deficit with a late third-period power-play goal and beat the Blazers 2-1 in a shootout.
WHL on-ice officials are young men who get paid a relative pittance to do an important job -- important, at least, in terms of the game. And just as the league is developing players, it works to develop officials.
But the officials really are up against it because the coaching in the WHL never has been at a higher level. There are head coaches in the league like Hay, Curtis Hunt, Lorne Molleken, Guy Charron, Craig Hartsburg, Mark Lamb, Rich Preston and Marc Habscheid, all of whom have NHL experience. Others, like Willie Desjardins, have ample international experience.
In other words, the coaches in the WHL have far more experience and at higher levels than most of the on-ice officials.
But for as long as there have been referees and coaches, coaches working the officials has been part of the game. Some observers will tell you that it is, indeed, a fine art with some coaches.
On Friday night, Hay spent a good part of the first period ‘working’ the two referees; either that, or he was campaigning as he mounts a run for political office.
And for most of the game’s first 45 or 50 minutes, Kamloops was, believe it or not, the dominant physical team. The Giants simply couldn’t handle the Blazers’ cycling game, but the visitors took very few penalties.
Kamloops earned a number of scoring chances off its cycling game, too, but some solid play by goaltender Mark Segal and some bad puck luck limited the home team to just the one goal.
While the Blazers established their cycling game, Messrs. Hanson and Papp kept their whistles in their pockets. They chose to let the puck battles go on and on and on, and there were some terrific battles. And the longer the game progressed, the more defenders’ sticks came up to a position parallel with the ice surface, something that, on most nights, is a no-no.
On this night, however, the referees said: Play On!
Until late in the third period, that is.
The Giants forwards finally began to take over the physical part of the game in the last 10 minutes of the third period. James Wright, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound forward who was returned to Vancouver from the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning last week, started to look at least a bit more comfortable and he became a presence in the Kamloops zone as the Giants worked the corners.
And with the Giants cycling the puck in one corner, Blazers defenceman Bronson Maschmeyer was called for holding.
Was it a penalty? Yes, according to the rule book. No, according to the standard established by the two referees through the game’s first 50 minutes.
Yes, the Giants scored on the power play. And, of course, they went on to win in the shootout.
But if you were at the game, you had to wonder why the officials, who chose not to impose their will on the game for 55 minutes, decided to change their approach and get involved with 4:13 left in the third period.
Was it because of The Don Hay Theory that is whispered about throughout the WHL?
Or is that theory simply perception?
Just asking . . .