Chris Chelios isn’t the only National Hockey League player holding a grudge against linesman Shane Heyer, who was responsible for making the eye-gouging call last week that led to the Blackhawks defenseman’s four-game suspension. Chelios served the second game of that Sunday against Anaheim.
The Mighty Ducks also recently filed a protest with the league about Heyer. Wayne Gretzky got a major penalty assessed against the Ducks last weekend by persuading Heyer to make the wrong call and the Kings scored twice to break a scoreless tie and went on to win 5-1.
Videotape showed Heyer didn’t see what he thought he saw, which was also the Hawks’ argument. Ducks defenseman Don McSween went to Gretzky’s mouth with his stick and Gretzky skated to Heyer after the play and talked him into calling a major penalty.
After viewing videotape following the game, referee Kerry Fraser acknowledged it shouldn’t have been a five-minute high-sticking and game misconduct on McSween because a Kings’ player had lifted McSween’s stick into Gretzky’s face. The NHL agreed the tape was inconclusive about the Chelios incident against Vancouver’s Dana Murzyn.
Bad boys: Anaheim had the fourth fewest penalty minutes in the NHL before playing the Hawks, second only to Los Angeles in that category. But the Ducks’ four fights with surly Chicago established a team record in one game.
In keeping with Disney boss Michael Eisner’s dislike of fighting in the NHL, fights aren’t replayed on the scoreboard-not even when ex-Hawk Stu Grimson stunned Hawks defenseman Greg Smyth with a flush right hand smack in the kisser Sunday.