Zac Rinaldo’s Reputation Costs Him BS Penalties & Non-Calls

Zac Rinaldo is always good for one thing every game…..a strong, bone-crunching hit. 

It’s early in the season and already the kid’s served (team leading) 56-minutes in the sin bin. Most of those ticks from the clock come from dropping the mitts. But a good handful of those come at the cost from legal hockey plays mistakenly interpreted as infractions by the officials. 

Officiating in this league is sub-par, to put it lightly. Don’t kid yourselves, there is no conspiracy theory involving the referees hating the Philadelphia Flyers and always being one sided against our boys. The charging penalty handed to Rinaldo last night in the Flyers win over Florida was just further evidence of poor on-ice governing — 

When a player is called for charging then that signifies that the offender (Rinaldo) never quit advancing/skating from a considerable distance away from the player he’s hit. 

Or, according to the league’s CBA —

42.1 Charging – A minor or major penalty shall be imposed on a player who skates or jumps into, or charges an opponent in any manner.

A minor or major Charging shall mean the actions of a player who, as a result of distance traveled, shall violently check an opponent in any manner. A “charge” may be the result of a check into the boards, into the goal frame or in open ice.

Zac Rinaldo in this case glided into Tomas Kopecky. His skates were never moving or increasing his momentum at least ten (or so) feet from contact, which completely eliminates the charge infraction altogether. 

The confusion was created because Kopecky got sauced like a high fastball, and the poor bastard’s helmet popped off like the cork off a champagne bottle. This led the referees to believe Rinaldo’s legal hit was a charge. 

Then some may argue about Zac’s contact: