In baseball, if an umpire makes a call that the fans disagree with, they usually react with a chorus of boos, chants of “kill the ump”, or statements that the umpire is blind. But circulate a petition ( Fire NHL referee Chris Lee ), to have an official fired?
That’s the case with veteran NHL referee Chris Lee, who officiated in games three and four of the Stanley Cup semi-finals between the Montreal Canadiens and the Vegas Golden Knights. His calls —or lack of — has angered many Habs fans, not to mention several members of the local sports media. This was strongly exemplified in game four, when Habs forward Nick Suzuki got sucker punched by a member of the Golden Knights within a few feet away from Lee … yet he never called a penalty on that transgression.
That was the last straw for Habs fan Olivier Tetreault. He got so fed up with Lee’s performance on the ice — or lack thereof — that he decided to take action, and started to circulate a petition that calls for Lee to be fired as an NHL referee.
According to a report by CTV News Montreal, as of June 23, the petition has garnered a total 20,070 signatures so far.
”This ref has no place in the NHL. He is a disgrace to the game,” wrote Tetreault on Commenter.
“His incompetence is so obvious, if (NHL Commissioner Gary) Bettman doesn’t see this then he is also part of the problem,” said another irritated fan to CTV News.
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