Inside Wes McCaluey's conflict of interest with Sheldon Keefe

Last night, the Leafs dropped game 1 of their playoff series 7-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and despite a dominant performance from Tampa and a dormant one for the Leafs, referee Wes McCauley has made himself the story - and this time the league is unlikely to market it.

There were some questionable calls that began to fall under extreme scrutiny from Leafs fans, but also hockey fans in general. From a called-goal that perhaps never conclusively crossed the line, and weak minor penalties against Schenn and Kampf at critical times in the game, the Leafs seemed to be fighting the rules from puck drop.





The Leafs deserved to lose in all respects, but some of McCauley's calls were suspect enough to revive the discussion of his brother in law, David Frost, who was accused but acquitted of sexual assault against members of his minor hockey team in 2008. Sheldon Keefe was on Frost's team, and testified against him in court. A teammate also involved in the case, Mike Danton, was arrested on charges of a plot to murder Frost for the pain caused about the incident. Since then, Frost has been known to assume the name Jim McCauley, to avoid association with the allegations.

The situation raises far too many questions for impartiality of officiating to be certain. With all the facts at hand, it's ridiculous that there is no consideration of conflict of interest in games involving Wes McCauley and Sheldon Keefe. With a myriad of other NHL officials available, McCauley should simply never be refereeing a game with Sheldon Keefe coaching.