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While it is seemingly obvious that many officials have biases against players, coming out and telling those players that you have it out for them is not exactly the smartest idea. This is what supposedly happened Monday night between Vancouver Canucks left winger Alexandre Burrows and referee Stephane Auger.

After the contest between the Canucks and Nashville Predators, Burrows told the media that Auger came up to him shortly before the game began and told Burrows that he was going to "get back at him" for "making him look bad" (here is a short video of proof that Auger did speak to Burrows during the pregame). Auger was supposedly getting back at Burrows for feigning an injury in a game last month after receiving a hit from Predators forward Jerred Smithson. Auger gave Smithson a game misconduct for the hit on Burrows, who, at the time, looked very hurt. However, Burrows returned to the ice without missing a shift after Smithson received the penalty. Burrows scored two goals against the Predators Monday night, but Auger called 16 minutes worth of penalties on him in the third period - diving, interference, and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a game misconduct with less than five seconds remaining in the game. After watching the highlights of the game, the penalties that were called for diving and interference were there, but incredibly weak calls in my opinion.

People have biases against others. One would like to hold officials to a higher level and hope that they wouldn't stoop to such a childish way of dealing with their biases. However, as much as people don't want to admit it, officials are people, too, and they behave like the rest of us. It probably happens way more than you would think in the NHL, and in all of the other professional sport leagues. However, to come right out and admit to a player that you have it out for him is just incredibly stupid.

"To come right out and admit to a player that you have it out for him is just incredibly stupid."

Burrows is definitely a pest on the ice. However, that should not take any validity away from his argument, and he should not be written off because of the role he fills. After all, what did he have to gain by telling the media of what supposedly happened? It certainly is not to get attention; Burrows has scored nine goals in his last five games played. Before this season, he had only scored four goals in his entire NHL career, so self-promotion really couldn't be what he is after seeing as he is already getting lots of attention from his recent play. Besides, if it turned out he was lying about the whole thing, it would only hurt his reputation - nothing good could come from him making this up. Auger has not issued a rebuttal or made any claims that the accusations Burrow made were false, which leads me to believe that there is some truth to what Burrows said about Auger. Not to mention that Auger has had his hand in a few controversial calls in the past. Auger was a part of the officiating team that disallowed a Red Wings goal that clearly should have been allowed earlier this season (link), and he also gave Coyotes captain Shane Doan a 10 minute misconduct when a linesman accused Doan of saying slurs about Auger (Auger is French-Canadian), which Doan fervently denies ever occurring.

The league has fined Burrows $2,500 for speaking up to the media about what was supposedly said to him by Auger, and the NHL has said that the matter is closed. How the league can claim that a case is closed after only a day is beyond me. If the league doesn't at least investigate Auger and suspend and/or fine him if there is any validity to what Burrows has accused him of, then they really should be ashamed of themselves.

Tags: alexandre burrows, nhl, stephane auger, vancouver canucks