"Tell me you never played without telling me you never played" - NHL fans react to Ron MacLean breaking sacred hockey rule involving Oilers jersey

Canadian broadcaster Ron MacLean sparked outrage during Game 4 of the Edmonton Oilers-Dallas Stars Western Conference final series when he placed an Oilers jersey on the floor during Hockey Night in Canada.

MacLean held an Oilers jersey and then casually placed it on the ground beside him. His colleague Kevin Bieksa immediately appeared shocked, telling MacLean,

"You can't just throw a jersey on the floor."

Another voice off-camera said:

"That's a fine".

Placing a jersey on the floor is considered disrespectful in hockey culture, with many of the opinion that jerseys represent the team and its history and should be treated with care.

Fans quickly took to social media to criticize MacLean, One fan commented:

"Tell me you never played without telling me you never played."

Another fan commented:

"Does anyone have a reason why Ron needs to be around anymore?"

One fan appreciated Bieksa.

"Bieksa is f**ing gold," wrote a fan on X.

Here are some more fan reactions:

"The look on Biesksa’s face! He was seriously distressed that that jersey was hitting the floor," one fan wrote on X.

"Ron would throw the countries flag on the floor to keep his job so no one should be surprised by this. Woke sellout," another fan wrote.

"RonMaclean, as usual, is so outta touch, it must be Thursday. You don't treat jerseys like that," a user wrote.

Oilers win 5-2 against the Dallas Stars in Game 4

The Edmonton Oilers leveled the Western Conference Final series against the Dallas Stars by clinching a 5-2 win in Game 4. Mattias Janmark, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan McLeod, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm scored for Edmonton. Goalie Stuart Skinner made 20 saves.

Wyatt Johnson and Esa Lindell found the net for Dallas, while Jake Oettinger stopped 24 shots.

Coach Kris Knoblauch acknowledged the back-and-forth nature of the series:

"You've seen this right through the series where both teams have absolutely dominated, and then, the other team has dominated. It's been back and forth, and we didn't have our start. When you're down 2-0 in a game like this, it's hard to overcome, but I think we just got back the way we were supposed to be playing."

Star forward Leon Draisaitl emphasized the belief within the Oilers' locker room:

"We know how good we can be, and when we put everything together, we're a really hard team to beat, but so are all the other three teams that are still playing. Four really good teams are still playing, and we're one of them."

The series shifts back to Dallas for Game 5.