Hockey Referee Under Fire For Comments In Red Wings Game

Not only did the ref drop the F-bomb while on a hot mic, he also alluded to the fact he was calling penalties without merit.

The NHL says they are investigating the comments of a referee which were aired on Tuesday during televised coverage of the Nashville Predators and the Detroit Red Wings in Nashville.

The ref's microphone was brought up accidentally during a replay of a Nashville shot on goal during the game. One ref was apparently talking to the other when he said, 'It wasn't much, but I wanted to get a (expletive) penalty on Nashville early in the...' then the mic feed was dropped probably because of the swearing.

The video below is from the game feed is below. It is not edited so you will hear the swearing, so be cool at work, okay?

The swearing is one thing. It's almost expected in hockey, I'm sure. But the fact that he was alluding to wanting to call a penalty on a team to set some sort of tone is kind of out of line, one would think.

The referees working the game were Tim Kelly and Kelly Sutherland. Which ref uttered the words has not been revealed by the league.

The Predators won the game, 2-0.