CBC Host Ron MacLean Calls Out NHL Punishment Czar Colin Campbell for Having ‘Conflict of Interest’

by Kyle Leathers on Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 3:49PM

CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada Hot Stove got heated on Saturday when Mike Milbury joined host Ron MacLean, Calgary Sun writer Eric Francis and ESPN.com reporter Pierre LeBrun to talk about whether Colin Campbell’s leaked e-mail scandal is serious.

Francis said that he didn’t think Campbell did anything wrong, but MacLean disagreed.

“No matter how you slice it, it’s a conflict of interest,” MacLean said.

MacLean was disturbed that Campbell was discussing calls in games that his son, Bruins forward Gregory Campbell, played in.

The league’s disciplinarian sent several e-mails to former director of officiating Stephen Walkom about referees who gave his son a penalty that ended with the other team scoring a tying goal.

“What referee reading those e-mails or this story this week wouldn’t think, ‘The next time I have the Boston Bruins, if Colin Campbell has the ear of [director of officiating] Terry Gregson and I make a bad call in that game it’s going to jeopardize my chances’?” MacLean questioned.

The exchange begins at 3:25 in the video below.

What do you think should happen next in the Colin Campbell e-mail controversy?Market Research