When you come down to a game seven situation after being up three there’s bound to be some finger pointing.

Most people point at the Canucks goaltending, some blame lack of fighting spirit and others pin it on coaching; however there will always be a few out there who spin any and all events into a conspiracy theory; even the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs (seriously).

There have been rumours following the Canucks loss to the Hawks in game six that the league does not want Canadian teams to advance. So they say by edict from the powers that be in the NHL - referees and linesmen are calling the game in favour of the Hawks. That’s a little out there, but is there any merit to such a theory at all?

Well let’s recap: puck goes over the glass, delay of game penalty for the Canucks, Hawks same thing no penalty (sure they said it went over the bench but replay showed it clearly did not). Also what was all that covering their mouths while talking between the refs, what they were afraid the teams had lip readers watching them, and so what if they did, what advantage would that give them? Unless of course they were saying something along the lines of, “Bettman says it’s not a penalty and also that we should penalize the Canucks for unsportsmanlike conduct for challenging the call.” “Oh come on we can’t do that, can we?” “Of course we can he’s the Prince of Darkness what he says goes.”

Now the Canucks were not actually levied a penalty there so perhaps Bettman isn’t the completely all-powerful evil entity some say he is. But there were still an awful lot of uncalled penalties against the Hawks. There were several would be high sticking and slashing penalties against the Sedins that went uncalled; this while Canucks landed in the penalty box (it seemed) if they even came to close to certain players on the opposing team. And perhaps most egregious of all was the non-call against Bryan Bickell when he launched himself at Bieksa’s cranium in overtime. Sure refs are reluctant to call penalties in sudden-death overtime when a power play could mean the game, and the series in the playoffs. But when it’s now 15-10 for power plays in favour of Chicago in the last three games, after the Canucks took a 3-0 lead in the series you start to wonder, is there something to this conspiracy theory after all?

And is it possible Lord Voldemor…oops, Gary Bettman would really pressure officials to swing games in favour of teams in large U.S television markets?

To be honest most officials have way too much respect for the game of hockey to be a party to such back room machinations. Which is why a new conspiracy theory has popped up: That Bettman a.k.a The Great Satan, has replaced living breathing officials with his own evil androids that do his bidding no matter how underhanded and nefarious. Okay a little out there sure, but does it have merit, let’s analyze…