Late in their season-opening game against the Rochester Knighthawks, the Buffalo Bandits were clinging to a 12-11 lead when they gained possession with 4.8 seconds on the clock.

After a timeout, Buffalo goaltender Steve Dietrich held the ball for a few seconds before attempting a pass to a teammate; however, the ball was deflected into the crowd. Rochester ball, with a chance to tie.

Somehow, the game clock showed that 2.5 seconds still remained. The Bandits argued that the game should be over, as the clock had not started on time with the whistle and more time should have come off.

It was certainly a good question to ask how much more time should have ticked away. I reviewed the video after the game and found that the game should have ended at that point. I was not so certain when I watched from press row at HSBC Arena, though, and I doubt anyone could have been sure without video.

In the absence of such certainty, it would have been totally inappropriate to end the game. Paul Ravary, the crew chief that night, had to decide how much time should be left in the game. After consulting with the timekeeper, he decided on an even one second.

This seemed to be a fair estimate, considering that the goaltender has four seconds to pass the ball out of the crease before committing a technical violation, thus turning the ball over.

Had Dietrich never passed the ball out of the crease, 0.8 seconds still would have remained after the change of possession.

In the seconds leading up to the restart, the timekeeper was having difficulty setting the game clock. It had been changed from 0.1 to 1.0 second so they could set the play, but flipped to 0.1 immediately before the whistle, back to 1.0 immediately after the whistle, and then began to run.

The Knighthawks somehow scored on a single pass and a quickstick shot but they took more than one second to do it. The problem with the clock caused the light ending the period to come on after the ball crossed the goal line. Mark Triniaistich was the referee nearest to the goal and he properly signaled a goal, based on the goal beating the light.

Ravary, however realized something was wrong. He immediately went over to the timekeeper to inquire. He ruled that the clock had not started on time and disallowed the goal, thus ending the game.

Knighthawks coach Paul Day erupted, charging across the floor to the officials and screaming his displeasure. It was quite a scene.

To say that the league officers handled the aftermath of this situation in a poor manner would be a gross understatement.

They claimed in a press release that the video evidence was inconclusive. That is simply false. The footage clearly shows the sequence of events as I've described them.

They even indicated that two of these events occurred within a hundredth of a second of each other. Considering that the clock only shows tenths of a second -- and that videotape records at one frame every three-hundredths of a second -- I find that an odd way to put a fine point on their attempt at deception.

Unless the folks in the head office have no idea how to work a VCR, they knowingly put forth misinformation. This is the kind of thing that will cause people to keep thinking of the NLL as a bush league.

Another problem is how the league dealt with Day's outburst.

In any other professional league, Day would have been sanctioned -- fined or maybe even suspended, depending on how offensive the behavior was judged to be.

Don't get me wrong. I have a great deal of respect for Paul Day. He has been more than just accommodating to me and to other members of the media and fans. He has a good reputation among the officials and I consider him one of the true gentlemen of the game. However, he lost his temper that night and acted in an unprofessional manner.

As a human being, it is easy to understand how he felt. From an administrative standpoint, his actions cannot be ignored. The real travesty here isn't his reaction, but rather the lack of support the league showed for their officials. Any sanction, even a minor one, would have sent the message that officials will be protected and that coaches are accountable.

Keep in mind that I'm not talking about protecting them from valid criticism; just from abuse. In this case, the opposite of that message was sent. If Ravary was wrong, the appropriate way to deal with that would have been by hearing a protest and sanctioning him but he was one hundred percent right.

Ravary was scheduled to work the game between the Toronto Rock and the Knighthawks the following week, but was pulled off of that game after the controversial finish in Buffalo.

That kind of action sends a dangerous message, making referees subject to political manipulation. If you know a team has the power to have your schedule cut and reduce your income, you'll be less likely to make the right call when it is the really tough one.

That puts the integrity of the game at risk.

Ravary had a good reason to question the last play considering what happened on the one before it. Referees are required to make subjective determinations of time on a regular basis in applying the four second rule for clearing the crease and the ten second rule for clearing the defensive zone.

Referees are also required to monitor not just whether clocks are operating properly but whether they are being operated properly by the people who run them. Ravary righted the two wrongs by the off-floor official and was punished for it.

In the next installment, I'll be talking about the fallout from another controversial finish to one of this year's games.