San Jose Sharks coach fined by NHL for outburst against official
San Jose Sharks coach David Quinn has been fined $25,000 by the NHL for conduct demeaning to the officials.
The fine, announced Wednesday, stems from Quinn’s outburst at NHL referee Gord Dwyer during Saturday’s game between the Sharks and Washington Capitals at SAP Center. The incident resulted in a game misconduct for Quinn for abuse of an official.
Colin Campbell, the league’s senior executive vice president of hockey operations, reviewed the incident. The fine money goes to the NHL Foundation.
Quinn’s ejection took place shortly after forward Kevin Labanc was called for clipping at the 5:45 mark of the third period. After the call, Dwyer came over to the Sharks’ bench to speak with a clearly agitated Quinn, who pointed in Dwyer’s face and shouted multiple expletives at him before he was kicked out of the game.
Quinn then shouted some more choice words to Dwyer before he left the Sharks’ bench and walked back to the team’s dressing room. Quinn also became upset at Dwyer earlier in that game for what felt was a missed high-sticking call on Nic Dowd against Logan Couture.
After the game, an 8-3 Sharks loss, Quinn apologized, saying. “It’s not how I certainly want to act and it’s an emotional game. These refs work hard, they do a good job and it’s something that should never happen. So I’m embarrassed by that.”
After Tuesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, a 6-0 Sharks loss, Quinn said he and Dwyer, an NHL official since Nov. 2005, had talked and “buried the hatchet.”
However, Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson had his own issues Tuesday with Dwyer, saying he felt disrespected after officials missed a high stick that drew blood in Karlsson’s mouth. Karlsson, after he skated to the Sharks’ bench to receive repairs, threw his helmet on the ice.
“Just a little disrespectful, I think, from their end, but it is what it is,” Karlsson said. “I understand that they have a tough job and things are gonna get missed, but I found that was a hard one to miss. I didn’t even say anything bad and to get disrespected like that, it’s tough to take.
“I lost my cool a little bit after that. I apologize for that but it doesn’t matter if it’s a 6-0 game or a 1-0 game, we’re still out there trying to play our hardest and keep it within the means we can. Stuff happens sometimes.”
According to Karlsson, the game’s other referee, Corey Syvret, said he was behind the play, couldn’t see it, and did not want to guess.
“I heard some other guy say maybe I fell a little bit too easy or something, and that was pretty much it,” Karlsson said. “Would have been nice to just get, ‘We missed that one. We’re sorry,’ and we could have all moved on, but don’t think we’re going to get to that point now.”
The Sharks (19-34-12) finish their three-game road trip Thursday against the St. Louis Blues (27-31-5). TJ Luxmore and Reid Anderson are slated to be the referees.