14th hole, and closed his round with a 12-foot birdie putt at No. 18.

Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hey Kerry, Whats the standard for officiating on hits and shoves after the whistle? Andrei Markov laid a late hit on Ondrej Palat after the whistle in last nights Habs-Lightning game, while Radko Gudas was giving extra pushes and shoves after play was stopped as well! How much is too much? Carrie ---- Hi Kerry, I appreciate your candor in your columns. With the playoffs upon us I am going to put you on the spot. Does the league mandate that officials loosen the reins on the rules come playoffs? I have played, coached and been a fan of the game for many years and it would appear there is a different standard (I use Brad Marchand repeatedly punching one of the Sedins after a whistle with no call in the 2011 Stanley Cup final as Exhibit A). As a fan I hate the relaxed standard that is apparent in the playoffs. Andy,Toronto Hi Carrie and Andy: And so the games begin! We all know that game intensity is quickly ramped up in the playoffs. At ice level, a referee must be able to feel the energy that players exude from the opening puck drop and allow the game to unfold. Each game has a unique heartbeat and the officials need to constantly take the pulse into account and determine when it is appropriate to impose themselves. Im not talking about when to call a trip or other obvious infraction but more specifically how to regulate the temperature of a game. The refs need to tap into and differentiate between the positive energy (which they must allow to flourish) and any excessive negative energy (which they must take measures to control). Quite often there is a fine line between the two once we enter the high stakes of playoff competition. One incident can spike the game temp, such as the deliberate snow shower that Ryan Garbutt buried Ducks goalie Frederik Anderson with, or the late body check from Andrei Markov on Ondrej Palat. On the first play, the referee took immediate control by assessing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to Garbutt, thereby sending a clear message that any "cheap" liberties on the goalkeeper would not be tolerated. I asked Marty Biron, whom I sat beside in the TSN studio last night, if a snow shower throws a goalie off his game. Marty said it actually does the opposite and will motivate the goalie to remain focused and play harder. Adding insult to injury, Matt Beleskey scored the fourth Ducks goal with Garbutt in the box. That became a costly penalty once Dallas closed the gap and Anaheim hung on for the 4-3 win. There was less need for the refs to exert control on the late Markov check. It was a clean shoulder check (other than after the whistle), it was in open ice as opposed to into the boards (in which case I am quite sure a penalty would have resulted) and even though it resulted in a scrum, the benefit of the doubt could be offered that Markov was in the act of finishing a check and the whistle was a little late. If after this "freebee" extended by the refs there was another episode of a testosterone rush someone should pay the price of a penalty call. Andy, there is no specific direction or league mandate given to the officials to loosen the reins on the rules. They are instructed to utilize their "best judgment" to ensure that marginal penalties are avoided at all times. This suggestion can plant a seed in the mind of the officials that isnt always positive. As the game moves closer to the end the refs feel an internal pressure to make sure that if they do raise their arm it will be judged as a "solid" penalty call. They want desperately to keep the spotlight off themselves. That thought process, when taken to excess, can negatively alter the standard that had been set throughout the game. Candidly speaking, a referee might avoid calling a foul that occurs 100 plus feet from the net since it doesnt involve a direct scoring opportunity. At that point he gambles and hopes that continued game flow gets him out of a self-perceived controversy. You and I know this is not the right approach, nor is it in the best interest of the game. Those in charge of rating the officials performance have a hand in this process as well. We have seen situations where a ref has stepped up and made a gutsy (and correct) call that impacts a game only to find himself dropped from further playoff assignments due to the nuclear fallout. Brad Marchand rag dolling Daniel Sedin in the 2011 Cup Final is just one example we could cite with regard to ref avoidance issues. Players will take full advantage when they feel the referee has put his whistle away. On the flip side, I recall Jerome Iginla chasing me around the ice after I whistled Andrew Ference for blasting Martin St. Louis into the end boards with less than two minutes remaining in Game 7 of the 2004 Cup Final with the Lightning leading by a score of 2-1. It was an obvious penalty but the score, time and emotion altered Iginlas perception and acceptance of the call. Then came the first lockout season and the "New NHL" spawned an attitude that penalties would be called regardless of the score and time. The standard has eroded somewhat from that strong initiative and needs to be restored before we move much farther through this playoff season. As I mentioned in a previous column, the referees need to demonstrate sound judgment and courage to make the perceived "tough" call. When the refs do make them they must be supported by the Officiating Department managers. That is the seed that needs to grow. Cheap Jerseys From China . Dragic was a game-time decision because of a sore right ankle that had kept him out of Wednesdays loss at Utah, but played all but the last 10 seconds of the second half in the first 40-point game for a Phoenix player since Amare Stoudemires 44 on March 19, 2010. NFL Jerseys Authentic Cheap . Cruz set the tone with a two-run homer in the first inning, and Baltimore scored eight times in the eighth to pull away for a 12-3 victory in Game 1. The major league leader with 40 homers during the regular season, Cruz added an RBI single to his early blast off Max Scherzer. http://www.authenticwholesalejerseys.net/ . -- Canadas Nicole Vandermade won the Four Winds Invitational on Sunday for her first Symetra Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 for a one-stroke victory. Authentic Jerseys Cheap . A Swiss Federal Tribunal ruling published Friday said that FIFAs disputes panel and the Court of Arbitration for Sport correctly imposed the sanction for Nantes enticing Guinea forward Ismael Bangoura to break his contract with Dubai club Al Nasr in January 2012. Wholesale MLB Jerseys . The Extreme Heat Policy was enacted at Melbourne Park just before 2 p.m. Thursday, suspending all matches on outer courts until the early evening and requiring the closure of the retractable roofs at Rod Laver and Hisense arenas before play could continue on the show courts. ENDICOTT, N.Y. -- Kenny Perrys magical ride continues. Chasing his third victory of the year on the Champions Tour, Perry shot a 7-under 65 on Friday to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Dicks Sporting Goods Open. Perry, the Senior Players and U.S. Senior Open winner this summer, had three birdies over the final four holes to surge past Bart and Brad Bryant and Joel Edwards. Esteban Toledo, Jeff Freeman, Rick Fehr, and Russ Cochran were tied for fifth at 67 as more than half the field broke par at the short-and-narrow En-Joie Golf Club under nearly ideal scoring conditions. Perrys round turned with a brilliant shot at the par-5 12th hole. He holed a 6-iron from 187 yards for eagle. He also had six birdies to go with one bogey, hitting 15 fairways and putting just 26 times. "I was 3-under par, playing nicely, cruising along," said Perry, who leads the Champions Tour in money winnings with over $1.5 million. "You have a lightning bolt hit you like that -- Hey man, we can shoot a low score. It really pumped me up. It really got me excited. It got me motivated. It made me more aggressive." Just one shot behind, it felt like the good old days for the Bryants -- save the aches and pains. They were tied for the lead until Perry came along in the final group. "Someone looked at the scoreboard and said, Man, that Bryant, he must be good," Brad said, smiling broadly. "Hes leading the tournament and went back out for 18 more (holes). " Bart, at 50 a rookie on the senior tour, is trying to recapture a lot of what he lost at the end of his PGA Tour career, when two wrist surgeries kept him away from the game for three years. "It was frustrating. It was tough. I was out for a good three years and well over two that I couldnt even putt or chip or anything," Bart said. "Honestly, I really thought that I was probably done. It was a long three years. Just to be out here playing, it just feels so good." Bart birdied No. 2, hitting sand wedge to about 10 feet right of the hole and made a good putt after missing one on the opening hole. At No. 12 he hit to 6 inches out of a greenside bunker and made another birddie, then hit 5-iron at the par-3 14th hole to 15 feet and made that.ddddddddddddHe capped the round with a 30-foot birdie putt on the closing hole. "When I first came out here this year, I didnt have a lot of game," said Bart, whose best finish so far this year is a tie for fourth two weeks ago at the 3M Championship. "My golf muscles were not built back up. I just wasnt back at the level that I was when I left, or even close. As the years gone on, Ive gotten a little bit stronger, Ive lost a little bit of pain, and Im starting to get some of those shots back in my arsenal, so I feel like Im kind of creeping in on some really good golf and maybe having the ability to compete. To win out here is very tough." If not for a bogey at the par-3 fourth hole, Brad Bryant would have had a share of the lead. Still, despite a bad right foot that hobbled him all last year and an operation that has not provided any improvement to his health, Brad had a stellar round. He made three putts inside 6 feet, chipped in from 18 feet for birdie at the par-3 14th hole, and closed his round with a 12-foot birdie putt at No. 18. Happy with his round. Even happier with that of his brother. "Seeing Bart up there is always a good thing. Hes world-class," Brad said. "It was really unfortunate that his wrists basically disintegrated. All the cartilage just went away and the doctors couldnt figure out why. "I had a nice career on the PGA Tour, but I never was good as Bart. He was top 30 in the world for a couple of years. If he could get back physically, just healthy, every time hes been healthy hes really played well." Edwards started strong, rolling in a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 2, then smoked the back nine with four birdies to match his best round of the year. Since tying for seventh at the Principal Charity Classic in early June, his best finish has been a tie for 35th at the U.S. Senior Open. "It was a good, solid round. It was very important for me mentally to get that under your belt and see if you can do it again," the 51-year-old Edwards said. "Its been a long time since I played that well. Thats exciting." ' ' '