A classy Cale Makar amazingly got referees to wave off a penalty called against an Islanders player

I’m with every NHL fan on Twitter. Shut down the race for the Lady Byng Trophy — given to the player who exhibits the most sportsmanship — right now.

And give the award to Colorado Avalanche superstar Cale Makar.

Here’s why: On Monday night, Makar appeared to get tripped up by a New York Islanders player and a referee immediately called a penalty. But Makar started waving his hand at the ref, explaining that he had slipped and wasn’t tripped by Matthew Barzal.

Sure enough, the referee waved it off. WOW. Who does that? Can you imagine any athlete in any sport doing this? I can’t:

The refs called tripping…but Cale Makar told them he just slipped and the call was overturned 😳 pic.twitter.com/KkU0BJPOkS

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 20, 2022

Here’s what Makar said about it. He said he doesn’t plan on doing that again … and that he felt bad about it:

“Saved the ref from some media attention tonight, that’s for sure”

– Cale Makar on “declining” a penalty in the first period. Said he felt it was the right thing to do in the moment, said he thought it was a pretty easy non-call. #Avs pic.twitter.com/Gjf9Y0JUBB

— Jesse Montano (@jessemontano_) December 20, 2022

So classy. And trust me when I say we’re probably never seeing this kind of sportsmanship again in any sport when it comes to correcting a bad call against your opponent.