If you weren't one of the 5,322 -- well, less than that, but that's the official number so we have to go with it -- in attendance for Friday's game at Amsoil Arena, you missed one of the more incredible plays you'll ever witness.
UMD freshman goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo was already having a pretty strong game against Miami, especially in the second period. As the RedHawks gained a semblance of control over the proceedings, he kept UMD either tied or in the lead once Andy Welinski scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1. A Bulldog power play came up empty, and Miami's Cody Murphy got out of the box. Someone for Miami -- honestly can't remember -- got him the puck, and he rushed up the right wing. Murphy made a strong move to the front of the UMD goal, cutting across from Kaskisuo's left to right.
The rest can be seen on this video that's been making the rounds.
I don't have words for this. Kaz made a couple other very nice saves in this game among his 35 for the night. He told Matt Wellens he got lucky on this one, which might be true. I don't know enough about goaltending to verify that statement for you. What I do know is sometimes you're better off being lucky than good, and I'm happy to say Kasimir Kaskisuo is both.
Unfortunately, Kaskisuo was tagged with a loss, as Sean Kuraly's five-on-three goal with 1:59 left gave Miami a 3-2 win.
Apologies for the somewhat quick blog, but there are errands to run and a lacrosse game to attend before heading back to the rink for Saturday's series finale.
(Well, that and we're choosing to ignore the large elephant in the room when it comes to the Friday tilt. It does no one any good to debate the major penalty call on Dominic Toninato or the high-stick call on Brenden Kotyk. What Dom did was 100 percent a penalty, and unfortunately he was in a position where the officials could overreact to an embellishing opponent and levy a major. Kotyk, well, damn him for being tall, I guess.)
(Short of calling for UMD to change its style of play and not be as physical in all situations, what do you want me to say? UMD needs to play an aggressive style to be effective, and curtailing that could be problematic. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired when it comes to addressing the officials, and I'm sick and tired of UMD players getting ejected from games. It's happened five games in a row, and it's too much in my opinion. But what do you do? Of the plays, only two of them have been even moderately undisciplined in their nature. The hitting from behind majors on Toninato, Kyle Osterberg (Oct. 17) and Sammy Spurrell (last weekend) were highly debatable at best.)
(Dammit, I just addressed the elephant in the room. Sorry.)
Anyway, there were plenty of positives on Friday, including the play of Kaskisuo. UMD has a budding star in goal, it seems. Kaz has a .922 save percentage over his three starts in league play, and I don't care that his record is a pedestrian 2-3. Get this guy some run support, and he'll take care of the rest.
The Bulldogs have to make some adjustments on Saturday.
Miami got too much traffic and too many pucks to the net. The Bulldogs have to do a better job in their own zone to make sure the RedHawks don't get 70-plus shot attempts.
Faceoffs weren't lopsided, but UMD is still not a good faceoff team. Things got worse after Toninato's ejection. But it isn't just on one guy. Everyone who takes draws has to improve. Quickly. Either that, or UMD will run the risk of getting outshot and out-possessed by good faceoff teams like Miami (No. 1 in Division I after Friday; we're No. 50).
I don't know how to accomplish this without a dramatic change in the team's style of play, but UMD has to do a better job staying out of the box. Miami was on power play for over 13 minutes of Friday's game, and it was enough to make the difference in an otherwise entertaining and even game. UMD's 24-plus minutes of penalties per game is the most in the nation, by a five-minute margin over Brown (one game) and Bentley (seven, the same as UMD). Gripe about individual calls as much as you want, but the number isn't acceptable and it has to change soon.
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Elsewhere in the NCHC, St. Cloud State scored the first four goals of the game and went on to beat No. 1 Minnesota 4-1 for the first blemish on Minnesota's record this season. The teams meet at Mariucci Arena Saturday afternoon.
Also, Omaha drew 1-1 at Cornell, and Boston College got a late goal to beat Denver 2-1. Those matchups repeat on Saturday, while Air Force visits North Dakota for the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Unfortunately, frustration seems to come along with any trip we make to Grand Forks for hockey.
More of it came Friday night, as UMD lost 4-2 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in a game that featured over five minutes of action before the first whistle of the game, two goals scored with UMD skaters laying in the net, what felt like about a ten-minute review of a play that had already been reviewed, and your typical inconsistent call-nothing-and-then-call-everything officiating.
Let's pick apart the important stuff.
Early in the third period, a Michael Parks wraparound attempt appeared to be stopped by UMD defenseman Willie Corrin. Why Corrin? Because he was checked into the net behind the play, and couldn't get out of the crease area before Parks got the puck there.
Only, it wasn't stopped.
Referees Derek Shepherd and CJ Beaurline took a look at the video and quickly confirmed there was no goal scored.
Only, they must not have looked closely.
According to what I was told after the game, it seems UND coach Dave Hakstol told the officials that the team's video coordinator upstairs had looked at the replay and seen it was clearly a goal. Armed with that news, Shepherd and Beaurline went back to the replay monitor and started watching it.
Sure enough, television replays confirmed it was a goal. Then TV showed the replay again. And again. Shepherd and Beaurline must have been watching a riveting hockey game on that monitor, because there's no way it took that long to review the goal and determine the correct time. There was some mumbo-jumbo in the press box that there was a problem with the video, but it seems convenient.
It was one of those moments where I would have really appreciated the officials having to crack open a mic and explain what the hell was going on. Of course, that makes too much sense to ever happen.
Ultimately, this sequence didn't adversely impact the outcome, because UMD responded to it well. That doesn't mean that NCHC officiating guru Don Adam shouldn't lob a call to UMD coach Scott Sandelin Saturday morning to apologize. No excuses, just admit that the guys didn't get it done and they'll all try their damndest to learn and be better next time. Keep it simple, eh?
After that Parks goal, UMD got mad and got a couple quick goals to tie it up at 2-2. On the first one, Alex Iafallo was checked into the crease while UND goalie Clarke Saunders went to try to play a puck outside the crease. As Saunders tried to get back, he stumbled, and a Dominic Toninato shot hit Iafallo and went across the line to make it 2-1. Adam Krause scored on a scramble play 20 seconds later to level.
UMD took a couple penalties, though, including a cross-check on Carson Soucy that led to the game-winning goal by Jordan Schmaltz. The Bulldogs also got nailed with a couple extremely ticky-tack hooking penalties in the final eight minutes, calls that were completely unnecessary and luckily harmless from a scoreboard perspective.
******
This brings me to the next point.
There were 18 minor penalties in the game, ten on UMD and eight on UND. As they got into the third period, Shepherd and Beaurline officiated like the game was spiraling out of control. The fact of the matter was that the closest we came to a major fracas was at 17:44 of the first period. Matching two-minute minors were called and life went on.
A huge beef for me over the years with officials has been what I perceive to be a lack of understanding of the game. I'm not just going to attack the guys we have here this weekend, because it's a common thread in college hockey. Either slightly chippy games like the one here on Friday get over-called because the officials are seeing things getting out of hand when they most certainly aren't, or they ignore everything and let the game get out of control.
In Friday's case, it was the former.
Hockey is a fast, emotional, physical game. Things will happen that are in violation of the rules, sometimes because the emotions are so dang high. But games like Friday's don't need to be over-officiated, because they never get close to being out of control. Want to see a game that got out of control? Look at this boxscore.
(In that particular game, post-whistle garbage was let go time and time again until things boiled over. Different officiating crew than what we have this weekend, but the same problem. No real basic idea of game flow, and they let things get out of hand before finally putting their feet down.)
Another complaint: How many times this season has UMD owned puck possession and shots on goal, only to somehow have more power plays against than for? I know we have a couple young guys who have taken dumb penalties along the way, but it's pretty hard to believe that the team chasing the puck a preponderance of the game is the one drawing all the penalties.
Anyway, I've written enough about the officials. Y'all don't pay to watch them work.
******
Can you tell some of us are frustrated with playing well here and losing? Going back to last season, UMD has now played 190 generally wonderful minutes of hockey at The Ralph, only to come away from it with just one league point, a tie last season.
It beats the hell out of what has been generally the only other way I've seen UMD play in Grand Forks, which is not very well. But it still sucks, and it's wearing on a few of us who work closely with this team but don't put on the skates.
I can't sit here and complain about very much that UMD did on Friday. I thought the forwards on the penalty kill did a lackluster job helping on a couple clearing opportunities, and the Bulldogs ended up paying dearly for that with the Schmaltz power play goal.
UMD was pretty good on the power play in limited opportunities. The Bulldogs have to find a way to stay out of the box. Six power plays against doesn't sound like a ton, especially when a couple were abbreviated, but it sounds like a ton when you only have three chances of your own.
Dominic Toninato and Alex Iafallo were dynamic at times in this game, and I really liked the fourth line when it got ice time. Cal Decowski continues to take hard hits to make even the littlest of plays, and he nearly set up Charlie Sampair for goals twice.
UMD blocked 23 shots Friday, including 11 in the first period. Corrin, a guy who hasn't played in a while in part because he hasn't been great at some of the little things, blocked a team-high six. Unfortunately, he was stuck in the net for a huge play in this game, as mentioned above.
The Bulldogs need a split here. This is the perfect time to be playing UND, as it is still trying to find itself in some ways. The high-end skill is there, but UND doesn't have the depth UMD at least thinks it has. That depth needs to come to the forefront for the Bulldogs.
If nothing else, for the sanity of certain people, including me.
******
When I got to the hotel Friday, I was greeted with an email from the NCAA. In said email was a statement from one of the rules gurus, former CCHA referee Steve Piotrowski. It was sent to clarify a rule about video replay. In part, the statement read:
In order to clarify the rules committee’s position, effective immediately, only games that are being televised (e.g., national/regional network, cable, or recognized broadcast entity) are allowed to be used. Therefore, any in-house camera feeds or video that is being produced for an internet streaming broadcast are no longer allowed for this video review purpose.
This didn't make a lot of sense to me for a couple reasons. For starters, the rule is dumb, and I'll outline that in a second. Also, why was it being sent out? Something must have happened, but no one I mentioned the statement to at the arena was aware of anything.
After it appeared UMass tied the game in the third period, Boston College head coach Jerry York called a timeout and asked for the play to be reviewed. After the review, the goal was called back for a UMass player being offsides, however, according to NCAA rules, officials may only review offsides during televised games.
Boston College went on to win the game, 2-1.
"There is a little bit of confusion based on how the rule is worded," said (Hockey East commissioner Joe) Bertagna ... "We can go up and look at and review a bunch of things. ... Offsides and too many men on the ice are not traditionally things you can review. In the current two-year rulebook, it says in championship play, you can review offsides and too many men on the ice. Well, over the summer, the NCAA decided to expand that to any televised games, but it did not really define what it meant by televised games."
Thursday's game was not broadcasted on television, but a webcast was available through the internet.
So in other words, if a rinky-dink cable network somewhere -- a "recognized broadcast entity" -- is airing a college hockey game with two or three crappy cameras and primitive replay equipment, that can be used for video review purposes. But NBC Live Extra's multi-camera, high-quality Notre Dame webcasts can't be.
OK.
Extreme examples, yes. But this rule is dumb. If the cameras and technology exist to properly look at a play like that, do it. Shouldn't matter what those cameras are at the game for. The purpose here should be to get calls right, not confuse everyone and make dumb rules.
Bertagna went on to say that his officials erred in reviewing that UMass goal after being asked to by York. Sound familiar?
(Ah, there I go again.)
******
In the NCHC Friday, Denver rallied from 2-0 down to beat Western Michigan 5-3 in Denver. Trevor Moore lit the lamp twice for DU, while Sam Brittain outgoaltended Frank Slubowski. Non-conference, Miami got another Ryan McKay shutout to beat Wisconsin 2-0. UNO got two in the third, including the scorching Josh Archibald's ninth of the year, to upend Michigan 3-2. Also, St. Cloud State edged past Alabama Huntsville 10-0.
(Prediction: Whoever loses to UAH this season will not make the NCAA Tournament.)
******
One last thing: UMD's series against Minnesota is listed as Friday/Saturday, but those of you who have tickets to Saturday's game should pay close attention to college football. Why? Because the to-be-determined start time of next week's Wisconsin-Minnesota football game will determine the start time -- and possibly day -- of next Saturday's UMD-Minnesota game.
TV rules the world, after all. Oh, and TCF Bank Stadium was built on what used to be a parking lot for Mariucci Arena. When a football game is happening, there is almost literally nowhere to park on campus. They simply can't cram 50,000 in there for a big football and and almost simultaneously have 10,000 at Mariucci for hockey.
If the B1G decides that Wisconsin-Minnesota will start at 11am, then our game next Saturday will shift to an 8pm start. If the football game is placed in the 2:30pm time slot, we won't play Saturday, and instead will play Sunday at 4pm.
So keep that in mind if you have tickets for "Saturday" or plan to get them.
I did this a few years ago, back before I had labels on posts, but you can find the 2006 series by searching the site for "Commissioner For A Day."
I'm bringing it back, largely because I'm tired of not writing on the site, and also because I think there are ideas to improve many of the pro sports I enjoy watching.
Oh, and because UMD's offseason is entirely too long because the season ended prematurely.
I figured it was natural to start the series with college hockey, because it's the sport I dedicate a lot of my winter life to covering. It should be noted that the majority of these ideas are mine and none are being blatantly stolen from anyone.
Your input is welcome, as always.
No more regionals at random sites.
The NCAA regional system is completely broken. Not partially. Completely. Inadequate facilities -- bad ice, small locker room areas, poor press accommodations, problems with internet access -- are hosting events in front of small crowds, while fans who can't afford the expensive short-notice flights are stuck struggling to find someone they know who has ESPNU or ESPN3 so they can watch games on television.
The TV ship has sailed. It isn't going to get any better. I've said for years that you need access to ESPNU if you want to watch the NCAA regionals. More than that, a die-hard college hockey fan should prepare themselves to do what is necessary to get BTN, NBC Sports Network, and CBS Sports Network if they want to follow the sport during the regular season. If you get those three channels, you have ESPNU, too. They're usually on the same tier.
So let's work to fix the regional site issue.
A few years ago (not sure the exact moment, but it was between when the funding for Amsoil Arena was approved and when it opened), the decision was made to move regionals to truly neutral sites. Before, places like Mariucci Arena and Ralph Engelstad Arena could host regionals. But the NCAA pushed away from that, deciding that arenas that served as a team's designated home facility wouldn't be allowed to host, and neither would facilities with Olympic-sized ice surfaces.
That rule should go away. Yeah, it's somewhat irritating to watch host schools gain spots in the Frozen Four while playing on home ice (Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota have all had this luxury in the past). But it's even more irritating to watch a team earn that spot with practically no one in the stands.
Ticket prices are a problem, yes, but if a St. Cloud State fan could afford to fly from wherever to Toledo for that team's regional this year (during Easter weekend on short notice), the $80 pricetag for a three-game pass wasn't going to stop them. That's pretty simple math.
Lowering ticket prices might draw more local fans to the games, which wouldn't be a bad idea if the NCAA insists on keeping the system as is. But I think a better way about gaining a championship atmosphere is allowing home rinks of 5,000 or more seats to host regionals. Let places like Amsoil Arena, The Ralph, Mariucci, Yost, Compton Family Ice Arena (Notre Dame), Conte Forum (BC), and so many others host these tournaments. Put the games in places where college hockey already has a following, lower ticket prices a hair, and see what happens, even if the host doesn't qualify.
(There is a push for best of three first round series on the campus sites of the high seeds. I like the idea, but it adds an extra weekend to the tournament, and I'm not sure it's feasible. I still think the best way is to give the top four seeds the options of hosting regionals on their home ice, provided some easily-met standards are reached. But there doesn't seem to be a ton of support for this, so I'll compromise and propose what is said above.)
Goodbye, dumb rule where a team that scores on a delayed penalty still gets the power play.
I started calling it the "Double jeopardy rule," after the law that prevents a person from being charged twice for the same crime. I have always thought it ridiculous that the powers-that-be in the sport thought this was a good idea.
Basically, the rule says that if a team scores a goal while on a delayed penalty, the penalty is still called and the power play still happens.
You'll notice that no other level of hockey has thought this was a good idea.
So how did it happen? I was told at the time that the rule basically slipped through because so much attention was paid to an even dumber proposed rule, one that would have kept teams from icing the puck while short-handed.
It's all about increasing offense, which is a fine endeavor, but it goes about it the wrong way. It really has no effect outside of being a dumb rule, because it's so rare that a team would score on a delayed penalty. It's even more rare that said team would then turn around and score on the ensuing power play.
If offense is the goal, let's try actually calling the penalties that are in the rulebook, especially those relating to obstruction. What a concept!
Any body contact foul that drives a player into the boards is an automatic ten-minute misconduct, optional ejection.
It's been a few years now since college hockey instituted a rule that called for mandatory major penalties and ejections for checks from behind that took place along the boards.
Have you noticed yet how the officials handle those?
If they don't want to call it a check from behind, it becomes a boarding penalty, or elbowing, or whatever.
Time for that to go. In order to truly promote safety, that discretion has to be taken away from the officials. But not completely.
There are times where an illegal hit simply doesn't rise to the level of an ejection because of mitigating circumstances. Players are deliberately turning their backs to draw illegal contact, which is beyond stupid because of the risk involved, but whatever. Players will also throw themselves into the boards to "sell" these hits. Yes, really. I've seen it happen.
To give the officials some discretion, any illegal hit along the boards should carry with it an automatic ten-minute misconduct, with the officials having the ability to eject the offending player if the hit is deemed to be severe enough.
Find a way to curtail embellishment.
Calling a coincidental minor for unsportsmanlike conduct on a dive isn't working, stripes. It just isn't.
How about putting a team short-handed because one of its players took a blatant dive to sell a penalty? Do that a few times, and see how that works.
Yeah, coaches hate it when players do something to negate a power play. They hate going short-handed even more, though.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Greetings from Anchorage, where it's shockingly mild, and we finally started to get daylight around 9:15am local time.
(Enjoy it while it lasts, Ciskie. It'll be dark by 4:00.)
Anyway, more content on the UMD-UAA series is coming before Friday's series opener at Sullivan Arena. For now, I wanted to discuss some news that broke while we were traveling Wednesday.
Not so long ago, I was lamenting the fact that we have yet to see any supplemental discipline in the WCHA this season, despite numerous opportunities to send a message and make sure kids are held accountable for dangerous and illegal play.
On Friday, there was an egregiously dirty play by Michigan Tech freshman Jujhar Khaira in Madison, as he went vintage Sting on the bit with a Scorpion Death Drop on Wisconsin defenseman Jake McCabe, complete with a facemask grab to start the whole thing off. Officials assessed a two-minute minor for holding, and Khaira was inexplicably allowed to play in Saturday's series finale.
Obviously, what happened late in overtime could have happened to anyone, but it's hard to imagine it's a coincidence that one of Wisconsin's seniors -- alternate captain Ryan Little -- happened to throw an equally dirty hit on Khaira.
Little was suspended one game by the WCHA, as announced by the league Wednesday afternoon.
Listen, I'm not going to sit here and rip the WCHA for inconsistent enforcement of hockey rules that govern basic competitive decency. The fact Khaira didn't get a game DQ for his actions is a joke, and the league needs to be willing to step in a spot like there where the officials somehow bungle the call.
(You know, like Saturday, when there was no penalty assessed to Little.)
However, one miss does NOT justify two misses. In this particular incident, Little launches himself into a player (Khaira) who doesn't have the puck, and during the sequence you see on this short video, Khaira doesn't ever have possession. Little appears to launch toward Khaira's head, which makes it even worse.
This should have been a major and a game disqualification, but instead was nothing. That's not excusable, but supplemental discipline exists -- in part -- to help governing bodies penalize plays like this that are missed by game officials.
It's inherently wrong to suggest that no player should be eligible for a suspension unless a penalty is called on the play in question, and it's also wrong to suggest that leagues suspend officials for missing these calls.
In the WCHA, officials work part-time. There is no need to publicly scrutinize these guys any more than what we already do (I'll raise my hand on this one). As we saw with the RandySchmidt debacle in Denver a few years ago, the WCHA doesn't like to publicly announce anything regarding game officials, and typically won't unless it's a major deal.
In this case, the league has screwed up more than the officials did. The league missed a chance to send a message to Khaira, a hell of a talent who plays the game on edge and already is developing a reputation as the kind of player who will cross the line once in a while. That edge will get him places when you look at his size and skill set, but if he doesn't tone it down, we'll be wondering about potential WCHA supplemental discipline again, because he'll cross the line again.
Thursday, however, it's Little who pays a price for crossing the line. It's a justified suspension, and hopefully that sends a message to players, too.
I think it's safe to say frustration is setting in for the Green Bay Packers.
I don't think that's necessarily a good thing, but only time will tell for certain.
Sometimes, the news reports on NFL teams on Wednesdays can be a little scarce. Teams typically give Tuesdays off to the players, with Wednesday being the first day of practice ahead of a Sunday game.
Green Bay has the most penalty yards in the league with 390 and the fourth-most penalties with 40 in five games.
After correcting this issue a year ago, it's back, and this is not a distinction the Packers really want to accompany their 2-3 record.
... "It's definitely on us as players," one Packer said Monday. "But I think the refs are out to get us this year."
Oh, boy.
It's just one quote from a player who didn't want to be identified.
But it's a sign of frustration.
Yes, a number of close calls have gone the way of Green Bay's opponents over the last three weeks. There were three bad ones in the Seattle loss, most notably the play at the end of the game. There were three more in the New Orleans game: Darren Sproles' fumble that everyone talked about, but also the trap by Jimmy Graham that was inexplicably ruled a catch and upheld after a Mike McCarthy challenge, and the obvious push-off by Marques Colston before a first-quarter touchdown catch.
To add to it, the Packers aren't playing as well as they are capable, and everyone from McCarthy on down is well aware of it. Even Aaron Rodgers isn't terribly sharp, missing on throws he wasn't missing on last year, and making decisions uncharacteristic of him.
It doesn't get any easier in Houston Sunday night. But the answer isn't to point a finger at the officials. I'm the first guy to rag on them, but I would like to think I'm smart enough to not accuse them of some sort of bias.
The quote stinks of paranoia, but is likely the simple result of frustration. This team isn't used to not playing well, and these first five weeks really haven't been up to anyone's standard in that organization. If this frustration is used to fuel the team, it can be a good thing. But if all it does is get guys playing over the line where they commit more penalties, it's obviously not going to be helpful.
With the Packers holding on to a 12-7 lead late in Monday's eventual "loss" to Seattle, I texted a friend/co-worker, a Vikings fan who was enamored with the way Green Bay clawed back and took the lead.
Livid at two horrific calls against the Packers in a Seattle drive, and already practically foaming at the mouth after the shenanigans at the Metrodome Sunday*, I had seen enough.
(* - If you missed it -- and I'm not sure how you could have -- the replacement officials in the 49ers-Vikings game allowed San Francisco two timeouts over and above the three each team is allocated in a half. This happened because 49ers coach and raging lunatic Jim Harbaugh called a timeout after a play to stop the clock, then persuaded the overmatched, clueless referee to let him challenge that the Vikings fumbled on the play. When said clueless referee ruled -- incorrectly -- that the Vikings fumbled, he gave San Francisco the ball and gave back the timeout. On Minnesota's next possession, the same scenario played out, only the call was upheld and the 49ers were actually charged the timeout.)
I told my buddy that I was done watching NFL games until the real officials were allowed to return. At the time, the Packers led 12-7, but had just seen an interception nullified for a bad roughing the passer call, and then an atrocious pass interference penalty called on the Packers got Seattle out of what should have been second and 25.
It was as if I was foreseeing the future.
Just a few minutes later, one of the worst calls in NFL history took a win away from the Packers and handed it to Seattle.
(Wasn't the worst. It's Week 3, and these are unqualified replacement officials.)
That seals it.
I decided there would be no more live NFL football for me, until the league figures out that it's damaging its product in ways money can't take care of. What a coincidence that has happened, with word coming Wednesday that the real officials will likely return this weekend.
The NFL has embraced things that are good for business, like fantasy football, because they aren't things that are harmful to the integrity of the product.
The NFL then suspended a bunch of Saints players and coaches for their roles in the bounty scandal, largely under the guise of protecting the integrity of the product.
However, it's clear that the league has forgotten the importance of "The Shield," as Commissioner Roger Goodell describes it.
The replacement officials damaged the integrity of the sport in ways that the Saints players couldn't dream of, even with the most blatant bounty.
It's positively insulting that the NFL hadn't moved to make a deal with the Referees Association until this week, and only because of what happened in the Green Bay game Monday.
The league has been asking -- practically begging -- for a team to get screwed or a star player to get seriously injured by an uncalled illegal hit, ever since allowing replacement officials to work games that count.
So far, we've avoided (mostly) players getting maimed by illegal hits, though the headshot on Raiders receiver Darrius Heyward-Bay on Sunday was pretty egregious.
Monday, though, was pretty bad.
The end of the game was bad enough. But it never should have come to that. After Green Bay scored to take a 12-7 lead, Russell Wilson was intercepted along the Green Bay sideline on a tipped ball. As Wilson threw, he was hit low by Green Bay linebacker Erik Walden, who was called for roughing the passer. So, now, you can't hit the quarterback when he has the ball.
Later in the drive, on a first-and-25, Sam Shields ran a better route than Sidney Rice did, causing Rice to grab and pull at Shields to prevent an interception. Shields was called for pass interference, so instead of second-and-25, Seattle had a first down in Green Bay territory.
It's water under the bridge now, but still highly irritating. We all knew it was coming. A team was going to see a win taken away by these clowns, and it happened to be my favorite team.
Hopefully, the Packers can use this as further motivation to go on a run. The defense has played exceptionally well recently. The offense made some nice adjustments to slow down Seattle's pass rush Monday after eight first-half sacks, and those moves are ones Mike McCarthy has to remember. The best way to ruin this season is to abandon the run, open the Packers up to pass pressure, and get Aaron Rodgers killed.
Cedric Benson isn't explosive, but he's a chain-mover. As long as the Packers are keeping him going in the offense, they should be just fine. 1-2 sucks, but it's not anything that can't be rallied from.
(Oh, and Seattle's going to be pretty good, too. They can rush the quarterback, have a big and physical secondary, and Marshawn Lynch is really good. I'm still not sold on San Francisco -- look at the Minnesota game, which the Vikings controlled from the start -- and I think Seattle is a real threat in that division.)
MANKATO, Minn. -- Oh, the things you do when you're bored. After walking around downtown Mankato, I fielded a call from a friend, and was immediately inspired to start doing some counting.
For UMD's series against Minnesota State, the assigned referees are Brad Shepherd and Todd Anderson. While it should be noted that I don't know either individual and certainly have nothing personally against them, it did make me start thinking a little bit.
When the same pair worked UMD's series in Omaha a month ago, my brain started churning, but I didn't do the research.
After seeing Brad and brother Derek for three out of four WCHA series since that weekend, I really started thinking.
As it turns out, UMD will have played 32 games this season as of Saturday night. Of them, either Derek or Brad Shepherd will have worked 16 of them. The two have combined to work two-thirds of UMD's 24 WCHA games this season.
That's a lot for two guys. Derek has worked with Marco Hunt for each of the six games (three weekends) UMD has had him for, while Brad Shepherd has worked two series with Todd Anderson and three with CJ Beaurline.
Conversely, UMD has only seen Don Adam and Timm Walsh once (last weekend). Brad Shepherd has worked ten UMD games. Adam and Walsh two each.
So that has to lead the WCHA, right?
Well, I went through each team's WCHA schedule, counting games worked by a referee named Shepherd. I did not distinguish between league games and non-conference games, nor was I watching for specific opponents or locations.
Here are the totals, listed alphabetically.
Alaska Anchorage: 30 games played, four refereed by Shepherds (13.3 percent)
Bemidji State: 32 games played, 12 (37.5)
Colorado College: 30 games played, eight (26.7)
Denver: 32 games played, four (12.5)
Michigan Tech: 32 games played, ten (31.25)
Minnesota: 33 games played, nine (27.2)
UMD: 32 games played, 16 (50)
Minnesota State: 34 games played, six (17.6)
Nebraska Omaha: 32 games played, nine (28.1)
North Dakota: 31 games played, ten (32.2)
St. Cloud State: 32 games played, ten (31.25)
Wisconsin: 30 games played, ten (33.3)
Someone who is much smarter than I am can try to analyze what it all means. Obviously, the Shepherds all live in the Cities, so there might be something to be said for them working UMD games, since they'll be home by 1am Sunday when they do.
However, of those series, one was in Omaha (approximately five hours from the Cities), one was in Houghton, one was in Alaska, and one was in Madison. So half of the 16 games haven't been worked in the state of Minnesota, meaning the "close proximity to the Cities without working too many Gophers games" theory really doesn't hold much water.
Is there something behind this, or is it just the luck of the draw?
Familiarity with officials isn't a terrible thing, because they are not thrown off by your style of play. However, it opens up the possibility of personal biases being cultivated over the course of a long season, too. That's why it's usually a good idea to spread out the assignments.
It's a bit of double-whammy for UMD. On one hand, they probably don't see the Shepherds nearly as much if the team wasn't so relevant. On the other, these are the same guys who will work games in the WCHA playoffs.
Of course, if UMD makes the NCAA Tournament, they are guaranteed to not see a Shepherd -- or any WCHA official -- again. So maybe it's not really all that bad a thing in the end.
Whether it's just luck of the draw or whatever, it's interesting to look at.
MANKATO, Minn. -- For the UMD Bulldogs, Saturday's win over North Dakota wasn't necessarily a shining example of how to play a third period with a lead.
Friday did the trick, however.
Travis Oleksuk scored two second-period goals, including a back-breaking tally with 0.8 seconds left in the period, as UMD beat Minnesota State here 4-2 Friday night.
The Bulldogs displayed a suffocating forecheck and played an incredibly simple game in the third period. They were all over the puck, chipping it deep, forechecking the snot out of the Mavericks' defensemen, getting scoring opportunities, playing physical, and generally keeping MSU from mounting any sort of attack.
Over the first 18:45 or so of the third period, MSU had four shots on goal. Coach Troy Jutting was able to get goalie Phil Cook off for an extra attacker in the final 75 seconds, but the Mavericks still couldn't do much, only scoring after JP Lafontaine found a loose puck off what appeared to be an errant clearing attempt. Either that, or someone was trying to thread the puck back to goalie Aaron Crandall for a cover. Something, but it wasn't good.
It wasn't just the Jake Hendrickson line, though it was a big part of the third period. It was everyone. Scott Sandelin rolled all four of his lines out for shifts in the third period, and all four did something significant in terms of generating a forecheck and some offensive zone pressure, even if they didn't get a lot of scoring chances.
If I were to go through the list of guys I thought played well, we'd be here virtually all day. I thought freshman Adam Krause -- playing with Hendrickson and David Grun -- had his best game of the season, and that's coming off a noticeably strong performance in Anchorage two weeks ago. He had the primary assist on Grun's goal, but beyond that, Krause was strong on the puck, smart, physical, and his presence on this line in place of Keegan Flaherty didn't seem to cause any dropoff in its overall play.
I also want to acknowledge what I thought was a strong two-way game from Mike Seidel, who busted his ass down the rink in the first period to beat what would have been an icing call against his tired line (they'd been out for around a minute at the time, if memory serves, and the line was changing behind him as he worked to beat the MSU player -- who had a head start -- down the rink). Linemate Jack Connolly was all over the puck, and Flaherty just isn't afraid of anything. Joe Basaraba had a nice night, too.
Former Superior Spartan Tim Smith also played well, I thought. He made smart, simple plays with the puck, and he did a good job protecting the puck with his body a few times in the defensive zone, avoiding turnovers. He is doing well with freshman Chris Casto, who committed a bad turnover late in the first but did everything else right on his way to a plus-two.
In place of Kenny Reiter (virus), Aaron Crandall played well. He wasn't fighting the puck at all, he saw it through screens a couple different times to make difficult saves look easy, and the few times he did play the puck, he did it with poise and generally did the right thing. I expect Reiter to start Saturday's series finale, but Crandall's last two appearances -- two periods of that disastrous loss to Tech Jan. 28 and then Friday -- have been strong (33 saves on 36 shots). That has to be a nice boost to his confidence, as well as the confidence of the guys in front of him. It was Crandall's first WCHA win in almost a year (Feb. 19, 2011, 6-2 at Minnesota State, of all places).
UMD looks to make it a four-point weekend on Saturday. A win or tie will clinch home ice in the WCHA playoffs for the Bulldogs. Moreover, it keeps them very much in the conversation for the MacNaughton Cup, something that hasn't been won by this program in nearly 20 years (1993). It might be looked upon as a sort of kiss of death by some, given how long it's been since the MacNaughton winner won it all in April, but these kids care, and they want to win it.
I'm not one to tell them "No."
******
It was a total team effort Friday, and one that makes a little bit more history for this group. Friday was UMD's 20th win of the season, marking the fourth straight season UMD has reached that total. It's the first time since Mike Sertich's first four years at UMD (1982-1986) that the Bulldogs have posted four straight 20-win seasons. For Sandelin, it's his sixth 20-win season in 12 years at UMD, something that was never accomplished under Sertich.
(Not being said to besmirch Sertich, a wonderful coach and better man, in any way. Just pointing out that this is success UMD has never really seen before.)
Expectations have changed at UMD over the years. 20-win seasons do that, but so do NCAA appearances and national titles. UMD is virtually assured of home ice in the WCHA playoffs for the third year in a row. It is also almost a mortal lock to make the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time under Sandelin.
I know expectations can be a funny thing, but one of the perks of this job over the years has been watching them change on the outside. Sandelin's biggest accomplishment, in my opinion, has been working his players hard and driving them to be different. The culture in that room is not what it was when I arrived on this job in October 2005. Now, the culture on the outside is also not what it was. People saw the team playing well, and they just waited for something bad to happen. Usually, it did.
Now, however, when something bad happens, people act with surprise and disbelief. A 5-0 home loss to anyone is wholly unacceptable, but it was a regular occurrence -- or at least felt like it was -- not too terribly long ago. Now, it's cause for near-panic among the fans, who just don't see such things happening anymore.
This is a good thing. The coaching staff and the players that staff has been recruiting have made it happen. They won't accept accolades at this point, but that doesn't mean said accolades aren't warranted.
******
Naturally, since there was a WCHA game on national television, there has to be a controversy. It's like some sort of magnetism.
Anyway, Friday's Nebraska Omaha-Colorado College game was on CBS Sports Network. To celebrate, the WCHA sent Don Adam and Timm Walsh to officiate the game. They inspired confidence in their abilities with their performance in Duluth last weekend (insert proper levels of snickering here). With time winding down and the home team up 4-3, this happened.
(Can't say enough good things about CJ Fogler -- @cjzero on Twitter -- for his work in getting many of the college hockey videos you see on YouTube as quickly as he does. Dude's a rock star, so at the very least, give him a follow and a holla.)
The NCAA hockey rule book notes the following -- Rule 6, Section 18 (a):
A goal shall not be allowed if the puck has been kicked or directed into the goal off an attacking player’s skate or any body part. When in doubt, the goal shall be disallowed. A goal shall be allowed if a puck deflects off an attacking player who is in the act of stopping.
The last part is key.
When in doubt, the goal shall be disallowed.
Basically, this encourages officials to go against their own instinct ... go against the call on the ice. It's vague enough that it can be safely applied to any close call. In this case, the rule appears to be written to disallow this exact goal.
UNO's Dominic Zombo clearly redirected the puck with his skate -- and I believe he did so intentionally, based on the replay. He did not kick the puck, but go read the rule again. In college hockey, you don't have to kick it to get the goal disallowed. Simply directing the puck into the goal off your skate is enough, by the letter of the law.
And by the letter of the law, Adam and Walsh got this one right.
(This isn't meant to rip the CBS Sports Network announcers in any way, by the way. That rule is screwed up and confused all the time. Matt McConnell is the TV guy for the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes, and Dave Starman spends his spare time scouting for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The NHL rule on this requires a "distinct kicking motion" to disallow a goal. So, basically, you have to go all Pele in the NHL, but the same standard is not applied in the college game. It's actually not a big deal for the TV guys to not necessarily be aware of that, since they're part of a very, very large group of people -- even diehard college hockey fans -- that don't get it.)
Oh, and yes, you just read words -- written by me ... and not under any kind of duress -- that state WCHA referees got a controversial call correct. Satan is looking for his parka.
******
Colorado College ended up winning that game 4-3, as Zombo's potential game-tying goal was disallowed, and the Tigers held UNO to four shots on goal in the third period. Jaden Schwartz got credit for the game-winner, and also assisted on brother Rylan's 20th of the season earlier in the game. Brock Montpetit had two assists for the red version of the Mavericks.
Alaska Anchorage had played 34 games at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. It had lost 30 of those games, while tying the other four. Heading into this weekend, UAA was coming off a miserable 1-5 homestand, while St. Cloud State had been playing better hockey as of late, perhaps getting itself in a position to push for home ice. That, however, didn't matter on Friday. Eric Scheid's second goal of the game gave UAA a 3-2 overtime win, its first win in St. Cloud since 1987, when the Huskies played home games at the Municipal Athletic Complex.
Minnesota shut out Bemidji State 3-0 behind two Zach Budish goals. Kent Patterson somehow stayed awake amid an onslaught of 13 shots by the Beavers, who did not have a power play in the game -- and it sounds like they didn't really deserve one. The win keeps Minnesota one point ahead of UMD in the WCHA, two points ahead of Denver.
Denver did indeed keep pace, winning 3-0 at Wisconsin. Luke Salazar, Jason Zucker, and Nick Shore had the goals in support of Sam Brittain, who tossed a 28-save shutout at the 11th-place Badgers.
Also, North Dakota got two goals each from Corban Knight and Carter Rowney in a 4-2 home win over Michigan Tech. It was a night for players to score twice, as that's what Jacob Johnstone did for Tech in a losing effort. UND lost goalie Aaron Dell to an undisclosed injury, and Brad Eidsness made the start. Like he did in Duluth last Saturday, he played well and got the win for the Sioux, who move into fifth with UNO losing.
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In local Division III hockey, UWS upset UW-Stevens Point 2-1 in the opening game of their NCHA Peters Cup quarterfinal series in Stevens Point. Andy Singerhouse had the third-period game-winner for UWS. The Yellowjackets need a win or tie in Saturday's 7pm game to clinch the series and avoid a winner-take-all minigame.
St. Scholastica blew a 4-0 lead and had to settle for a 4-4 tie against No. 7 seed UW-Stout at Mars Lakeview Arena. Former Duluth Denfeld forward Chris Stafne -- a one-time UMD recruit who ended up not attending the school after a May 2010 arrest -- had the game-tying goal with 1:50 to play. The teams play a winner-take-all game at 7pm Saturday, but will play a minigame to decide the series if the regularly-scheduled game ends in a tie.
The UMD women beat Minnesota State 4-1 Friday at Amsoil Arena to clinch home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs next weekend. The Bulldogs will play Ohio State in a best-of-three series starting Friday.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- In the wake of the hit that left Benilde-St. Margaret's hockey player Jack Jablonski paralyzed, hockey organizations started to look long and hard at the way they were policing the game.
Two prominent Minnesota groups -- the Minnesota State High School League and Minnesota Hockey -- quickly announced stiffer penalties for hits from behind and boarding fouls, along with contact to the head.
College hockey has not made a move, largely because hits from behind along the boards and hits where the principal point of contact is the head are already supposed to be major penalties. No need for rules changes there.
However, as I've written in the past, and will probably write again, there is very much the need for a change in how the rules are enforced.
(I should note here that I've noticed -- and so have other observers around the WCHA -- players doing a better job avoiding many of the situations that can lead to dangerous hits. Guys are pulling up instead of plastering opponents into the boards from behind. They're doing better at avoiding contact to the head. It's been generally good.)
Last weekend, there were multiple examples of hits that should have been major penalties, but were not. The three I am going to discuss are the only three I'm aware of. There might be others. There will likely be more.
Why am I bringing this up? The weekend after Jack's Pledge was launched, and UMD became the first WCHA team to get involved in it, there was an egregious hit from behind in the Minnesota-North Dakota game by UND's Danny Kristo. I wrote at the time that my strong feeling was that Kristo should face a suspension for the hit. I felt the WCHA erred in not issuing a suspension, given the aggressive nature of the hit, his follow-through after the hit, and the blow-up on his way to the locker room.
There were two hits from behind in the UMD-Michigan Tech series. The first, on Michigan Tech's Tanner Kero, was not called. The second, on UMD forward JT Brown, was called a minor penalty. The hit on Brown was pretty blatant, a shot to the back that took him head-first into the boards.
On Saturday, there was a pretty bad hit in the Wisconsin-North Dakota series. Badger freshman defenseman Jake McCabe cross-checked UND forward Brock Nelson in the head after Nelson collided with Wisconsin's John Ramage behind the net. Nelson was on the ice when McCabe leaned over and delivered a deliberate cross-check to the head area.
All three of the hits could have been majors. I did not have access to replays on either hit in the UMD series, so I'm going to lay off a little bit on those. But I DVRed the Wisconsin-North Dakota game as part of my normal preparation for an upcoming UMD opponent (the Bulldogs play UND next weekend). The McCabe hit -- called a two-minute minor for cross-checking -- was not handled properly by the game officials, and there really isn't much of an excuse. The puck was there, there was an official nearby (but not so close as to cause him to not have a good vantage point), and the hit was clearly to the head.
It's the kind of play we don't need in this game, especially in light of the Jablonski play.
Basically, the onus should not only be on the players to take this contact out of the sport. With increased visibility comes increased responsibility. There is a need for more effective and more consistent enforcement. Without that enforcement, we will never get the game where we need it to go.
While I applaud the efforts of so many people to clean up the game, there is still work to be done. Based on the track record of inconsistent enforcement, maybe it's time for a MSHSL-esque crackdown on illegal hits in the WCHA. It might be the only way to make the officials feel empowered enough to actually enforce existing rules on hits from behind and to the head.
SHELTON, Conn. -- It's officially Saturday on the East Coast, by the way. So don't even think about it.
Watching ESPN's NCAA hockey selection program on Sunday, you'd have thought UMD had some middling, pathetic power play that clicked at like 12 percent.
Nope. 22 percent.
Friday in Bridgeport, UMD made Union pay for a week's worth of hearing about the Dutchmen and their wonderful special teams. Union -- 31 percent on the power play this season -- put up a doughnut in nine power play chances, and UMD scored two man-advantage goals to win 2-0.
The Bulldogs prefer to play a skating game, not a muck-and-grind game. Union tends to lean more towards the muck-and-grind, though they certainly have some guys up front who like to move it move it.
In this game, UMD played more of a grinding style, killing penalties with hard work and a lot of good ol' "want to," blocking shots, paying the price to clear pucks, and winning a lot of one-on-one battles.
I've said all season long that, while this is not the preferred way for UMD to play, and it's obvious when you watch some of their skill guys, they are more capable than ever of grinding out victories. UMD teams of the past weren't as good at this, and it showed when they played teams like Alaska-Anchorage, Michigan Tech, and Bemidji State, who have the muck-and-grind style perfected when they're playing well.
Then UMD would go up against a more skating-oriented team like Denver, and they'd do well, no matter Denver's position in the college hockey pecking order relative to UMD.
With Friday's win, UMD has moved into the NCAA East Regional final Saturday night against No. 1 overall seed Yale, a 2-1 overtime winner over Air Force. UMD is 3-0 in NCAA Tournament openers under Scott Sandelin, who had nothing but praise for his players' effort after the game.
As he should. The Bulldogs rolled up their sleeves, fought off some tight officiating (it wasn't bad at all ... just tight), and won a game that most probably figured they wouldn't win, given the circumstances.
UMD's matchup with Yale Saturday night should prove very interesting. I didn't watch a lot of Yale this season, but did get a look at them in their win over Air Force Friday evening. It seems they want to play a style that will make UMD a bit more comfortable. The Bulldogs will have to be cognizant of a few things in the regional final.
Take care of the puck. They only give you one. UMD was pretty smart, especially on penalty kills. They got in a bit of trouble at times by not taking the safe play on clearing attempts at even-strength, but that didn't happen often, because not much of the game was played five-on-five.
Discipline. Yale might not be as good as Union on the power play, but you know the one about what happens when you keep playing with fire. UMD just can't afford to play the kind of game they played Friday. It might not doom them, but it certainly increases the odds that Yale will move on.
Skate. Move the feet. Make sure the officials have no reason to call anything.
A crew from Hockey East worked the UMD game Friday, while a CCHA group did the Yale game. I know the gut reaction of UMD fans is to hope the CCHA crew works Saturday (one or the other will get the assignment, and I don't know which one at this point). I'm not sure it matters. Whoever it is, UMD has to do a better job avoiding the avoidable penalties.
UMD hasn't made the Frozen Four since 2004. Experienced guys like Justin Fontaine, Kyle Schmidt, Mike Montgomery, and Mike Connolly led the way Friday with superb performances. Noticeably good were J.T. Brown, Wade Bergman, and Travis Oleksuk, who worked his butt off all day long.
They all need to do it again Saturday.
One more win, and a goal -- the Frozen Four -- will be reached.
******
Friday's opening NCAA games weren't completed without some controversy. Michigan "scored" the game-winning "goal" early in overtime to beat Nebraska-Omaha 3-2.
I tempered my initial reaction on Twitter (twitter.com/bruceciskie if you aren't already a follower) for the simple reason that watching a small picture online isn't exactly the best way to judge what really happened in this world of 42-inch high definition televisions.
Since I'm watching online and not getting a great picture much of the time, I figured I'd allow others to help me out a bit. When those others only confirmed what I had already suspected, it became clear that what happened here was, as the great Gorilla Monsoon was prone to say, a miscarriage of justice.
For years, common sense has not been accepted as a standard to overturn a call on the ice. In the eyes of ECAC referees Harry Dumas and Chris McDonald, there was no need to use this years-old standard by which reviews are conducted. Instead, they adopted their own standard.
Since they were probably sure that the puck crossed the line, and everyone talked about Michigan getting screwed in overtime last year (though the difference between a quick whistle and a video review should not need to be explained), they called it a goal.
As the old commercial says, "probably" doesn't cut it.
Being 90 percent sure isn't good enough. Neither is 95. That's not the long-adopted standard, and it shouldn't be the standard. The standard is and should be 100 percent certainty. At some point, the officials have to be encouraged to make calls and trust what their eye tells them. Otherwise, why not just take the officials off the ice, out of the way, and let a video replay judge make all the calls after the plays are completed?
What happened to UNO was wrong, and it's unfortunate that such a well-played, entertaining game had to be ruined by such a dumb mistake by two officials who should know better.
******
How about those Tigers? UNO might have been jobbed out of the tournament, but there was no such luck knocking the WCHA's other team out Friday. Colorado College whacked No. 1 West Regional seed Boston College 8-4 in Friday's big stunner.
The Tigers struck twice on the power play and twice short-handed. They hung a touchdown on BC goalie John Muse, who had exactly zero losses in eight NCAA Tournament starts before Friday. What a way to go out ...
Colorado College plays Michigan for a spot in the Frozen Four Saturday night in St. Louis. It won't be a cakewalk by any means, but CC certainly has been playing well. If you don't believe me, ask Dave Hakstol, whose North Dakota team got by in a 4-3 thriller last Friday at the Final Five. Or ask Jerry York, who isn't used to seeing his teams give up eight goals in a game, especially in the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers are for real. After a .500 season in the WCHA, Scott Owens appears to have his team peaking when it counts the most.
******
Here is a full capsule of Friday's results and Saturday's games. All times are Central.
FRIDAY EAST REGIONAL Bridgeport, Conn. UMD 2, Union 0
Yale 2, Air Force 1, OT WEST REGIONAL St. Louis, Mo. Michigan 3, Nebraska-Omaha 2, OT
Colorado College 8, Boston College 4
SATURDAY MIDWEST REGIONAL Green Bay, Wisc.
North Dakota vs. RPI, 12:30pm
Denver vs. Western Michigan, 4pm
NORTHEAST REGIONAL Manchester, N.H.
Miami vs. New Hampshire, 3pm
Merrimack vs. Notre Dame, 6:30pm
EAST REGIONAL Bridgeport, Conn.
Yale vs. UMD, 5:30pm
WEST REGIONAL St. Louis, Mo.
Michigan vs. Colorado College, 8pm
We'll have the UMD game on 94X and the Bulldog Sports Network starting with a 5pm pregame show. You can hear the game at www.94xrocks.com.
ESPNU will have live coverage of the regional finals, as well as a couple of the Saturday afternoon games. They will also have all the games streamed live on ESPN3.com, whether they are televised live or not.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Irritating, frustrating, gut-wrenching, flat-out tough.
Those are accurate terms to describe UMD's 5-4 loss to Colorado College here Friday night.
It's a tough loss to take because UMD fell to No. 11 in the Pairwise, and they're now fourth in the WCHA. Dreams of a MacNaughton Cup are practically dead at this point. Suddenly, there's pressure to win, or the NCAA dream could find itself in peril.
It was irritating because, while the Bulldogs didn't exactly shut down the Schwartz brothers, they did contain the dynamic tandem in five-on-five play. The Tigers scored three even-strength goals, and the Schwartz line accounted for precisely none of them. It was a point of emphasis for coach Scott Sandelin in our pregame chat. He wanted to see his team avoid the penalty bug (meh, maybe one or two avoidable penalties in there, but it wasn't an epidemic at all), and he didn't want the Tigers' third- and fourth-line players to beat UMD.
In the end, that's what happened. Archie Skalbeck's line -- with Dakota Eveland and Tyler Johnson -- was out for Joe Marciano's third-period goal that gave CC a 4-3 lead. Then David Civitarese, William Rapuzzi, and Alexander Krushelnyski were on the ice 18 seconds later when the Tigers went up two.
Frustration sets in when you realize the chance squandered with the loss. UMD could have tied for second place in the standings, putting tons of pressure on North Dakota to keep winning. Instead, that's Nebraska-Omaha applying the heat, and UMD's got heat on them to stay above water in the Pairwise. Amazing how things can turn against you.
The gut-wrenching part? Well, that came with 13.5 seconds left, as Mike Connolly appeared to score the game-tying goal. From the goal line, referee Todd Anderson signaled it was a good goal. But Brad Shepherd thought he saw a hand-pass in the slot by Justin Fontaine, and from 100 feet away (or so), Shepherd waved the goal off.
UMD only had time for one single rush after that, as a hand pass means a defensive zone faceoff. Even after winning that, the Bulldogs didn't have time to set anything up in the offensive zone. Their single shot attempt was blocked, and that was the game.
******
The character or the ability of the referees will not be assailed in this space. They might be nice guys, and they aren't refereeing Division I college hockey because they're blind and stupid. Honestly, there were times Friday night where they had a good understanding of how the game was flowing, and they generally stayed out of the way. As far as I'm concerned, that's all we need sometimes, especially with up-and-down skating teams like UMD and Colorado College. Just stay out of the way and let the kids play. Put your arm in the air if something egregious happens, and make sure not to let the game get out of hand.
The unfortunate thing about a game like Friday is that there were a number of questionable calls -- and, as it were, non-calls. Mike Seidel was called for embellishment, apparently guilty of diving head-first into the boards after he got hit in the back while in a vulnerable spot near the boards. I believe we're in year five now of the "automatic major for a hit from behind near the boards" rule, and this is the first time I've seen a referee not only eschew the major penalty by calling a minor for something else (cross-checking in this case), but also call the player who was hit for embellishment.
I bring that up because when they put the rule in place, I did state that I thought some players would try to take advantage of the rule. To the credit of players nationwide, they seem to understand that diving head-first into the boards to sell a penalty is not exactly a smart tactic.
The no-goal call is tough. Anderson obviously didn't see a hand pass. He watched the play and signaled a goal. There was very little discussion between the two afterward, and Anderson could be seen on the ice defending the call to the UMD bench. So he may not have seen it, but clearly Shepherd did, and he was certain he saw a hand pass.
From what I have been told, the video is inconclusive. There was no replay shown in the arena. In Colorado Springs, most games are shot by a single camera in the press box. What you see on B2 Network if you buy the game is that single camera shooting the action. It's the feed off the arena's scoreboard. Few replays, many of them not good replays. That camera is situated approximately six feet from me, and it's not exactly high definition, if you catch my drift.
Even with its ability to zoom in on the action, it's not a good look. Obviously, the angle is different from the one Shepherd saw from, but that doesn't necessarily make it better or worse.
Any time you see an official 90-100 feet away skating in to make a crucial call that his partner on top of the play doesn't make, your reaction is likely going to be negative. The fact that Shepherd was that far away doesn't mean he is automatically wrong. The fact that Anderson didn't make the call doesn't mean he (Shepherd) is auotmatically wrong. The fact that UMD fans think Shepherd has it out for their team -- which is, to be blunt, pretty ridiculous -- doesn't mean he is automatically wrong.
It just means it's a tough pill to swallow.
Saturday is a big game. If for no other reason than the Pairwise. UMD is getting to a point where a couple more losses will have them seriously on the bubble. That's not going to sit well with a fan base that watched their team swoon last February and miss the NCAAs. But this is a different set of circumstances.
UMD generally played well on Friday, and the effort was more than there. They have to clean up some things on the penalty kill, and they have to be better at supporting the puck in the defensive zone. We knew going into the season that goaltending wasn't going to be a strength, but if this team is going to play deep into March, it has to be better than it's been lately.
******
Saturday is a big day in northern Minnesota, as all the area high school hockey sections are conducting playoff games.
In Section 7AA, Amsoil Arena is hosting the semifinals, featuring top seed Duluth East against Elk River, followed by No. 2 Grand Rapids and No. 3 Cloquet/Esko/Carlton locking horns. There have been some memorable section playoff games involving these four teams before, and this should be a great afternoon of hockey. You can listen to the games with Jeff Papas by clicking here and following the link to listen to your game of choice.
Section 7A plays semifinals, too. In Hibbing, No. 1 seed Virginia/MIB battles Duluth Marshall in an afternoon tilt. The night game is in Grand Rapids, where No. 2 Hibbing takes on Duluth Central. In Section 5A, top seed Hermantown hosts St. Cloud Cathedral, and Proctor visits No. 2 Rogers.
So much for that mundane getaway day game in Cleveland Wednesday.
Before the Chicago White Sox held on for dear life to defeat the Indians 5-4, the game was already headline-worthy.
In the third inning, White Sox starter Mark Buehrle and manager Ozzie Guillen were ejected from the game after a dustup with veteran umpire Joe West, who was manning first base for the game.
Buehrle was called for two balks in the third inning. Neither of them were balks, based on virtually anyone's understanding of the balk rule. After the first call, Guillen came out to argue and was eventually ejected. Buehrle then got the gate after the second balk, when he flipped his glove to the ground in anger.
Apparently, a mundane act of frustration is now considered to be a blatant show-up of the umpire.
Here is the video, which includes White Sox television voice Hawk Harrelson -- probably my least favorite baseball broadcaster -- speaking the truth.
I don't get the "stick it right up his behind" theory, but Harrelson is right. West was out of line, deserves a suspension (remember, he was fined by baseball for his comments in April about the pace of Yankees-Red Sox games), and was obviously interjecting himself into this otherwise innocent afternoon baseball game.
"Because he's a f---ing a--hole, that's what he is. I just went out to ask him ... I wasn't asking about the balk because you're not allowed, anytime you go out there to ask about balk or whatever. The thing I went out to ask him about was why he was embarrassing Buehrle. I'm not going out to argue about the balk because the rule, but I went out to ask him why he's embarrassing Buehrle and he give me one of this [dismissing him with his hands]. When you're a professional and you have to respect the managers, the way we're supposed to respect the umpires, they are supposed to respect back. Obviously they have more power than we have and we have to wear it every time that happens. That's the reason I got tossed. I don't think he has the right and the power to let people know who is the chief on the field. We know he has to control the game, we know he has to control all the s---, but in the meanwhile, I don't think it was the right thing to do, like we balked him while we were on the field. Joe has been like that for a lot of years, and he's always going to be like this. I'm not going to change it, nobody is going to change it, but sometimes he thinks f---ing people pay to watch him f---ing umpire. He's the type of guy that wants to control the game, it's good for the game, and to me one of the best umpires in the game, no doubt. But in the meanwhile, those years are on his shoulders and kind of heavy and showing people who he is. I deserve respect and the players here deserve respect here, too. When you tell the manager to get the f--- off the field, I don't think that's a good way to handle situations. No matter what you say, what you do, how long you talk here, Major League Baseball doesn't do s--- for anything. I'll be waiting for my fine, get 'em the next day."
"I said why are you embarrassing Buehrle? He said, 'Well Buehrle was doing ...' well, you got two choices, the second choice he has, and he was wrong the first time or the second time, either one was wrong. Because you don't like what Buehrle did the first time you should toss him. You shouldn't embarrass him. That's the way he is."
Did you see the second one that got Buehrle ejected?
"It's not about balk. It's all different. Buehrle has been doing the same stuff, what? Seven years, eight years? All of a sudden [West] just gets up today and says, 'Well, I'm going to call a balk on Buehrle no matter what.' He's got the right, I don't know if it was a balk or not, you couldn't tell. In the meanwhile, I was kind of upset with the reaction. He thinks he's the s--- in the field. People pay to watch f---ing players play, not to see umpires and managers. I don't see any people say, 'I'm going to see Ozzie Guillen manage or Joe West f---ing umpire.'"
Hard to blame him. West's ego is out of control. Obviously, he's a bit set on making a name for himself, and he's done that already. Perhaps he should consider this singing career idea full-time, because he's burning quite a few bridges in baseball right about now.
There is something ironic about Guillen -- as guilty of attention-grabbing behavior as any manager in baseball -- talking about West being out to get noticed. But at least the manager in this case has a job. Guillen's gig there is to take the bullet so Buehrle doesn't get tossed.
West isn't sticking up for wronged umpires around the sport when he acts like an egomaniac. Instead, he's out for himself and only himself.
Guillen may be, too, but at least he has a viable excuse.
Why is it that no fanbase ever can just let a call go against them?
It's one thing to cry about a call you don't like. I should know about this. But we look stupid when we start talking about conspiracies.
Of course, that's where fans go whenever a call goes against them in the playoffs.
Monday night in Los Angeles, such a call went against the Vancouver Canucks.
Watch the video a few times. I did, and here are my conclusions.
To be totally fair, this was a very tough call. Hardly a no-brainer.
The fact it wasn't a no-brainer does NOT mean the league was wrong to overturn the call on the ice, which was that it was a good goal. It just means it was a harder decision than many others they'll make in these playoffs.
You can't argue that the puck was propelled into the net by Sedin's skate. If Daniel doesn't hit the puck with that kind of force, it never gets across the goal line without hitting something or someone else first.
Yes, Sedin was stopping. No, he might not have known what he was doing. But it looks like he intentionally hit the puck in a manner that allowed it to be propelled into the goal.
You can argue that it should have counted, but you can't fairly argue that the league was absolutely wrong. With that being said, how the hell is it a conspiracy?
After the game, which Vancouver ended up losing 5-3, the Canucks were livid. The Vancouver media -- predictably -- went along for the ride.
Apparently Mike Murphy said all this with a straight face.
Asked by the CBC to comment on the disallowed goal by Daniel Sedin early in the third period, Murphy, the NHL's vice president of hockey operations, had this to say: "He knew what he was doing when he stopped in front of the net. . .I think he knew where the puck was, absolutely."
Murphy said it wasn't a "distinct kicking motion" but a "kicking motion." Oh, there's a difference.
He said Sedin "twisted his toe" and pushed the puck in the direction of Jonathan Quick's five-hole.
Twisted his toe? Is that any relation to Twisted Sister?
That was a horrendous call. The Canucks deserved to lose the game, but that goal should have counted and it would have made for a very interesting finish.
I loved Henrik Sedin's quote after the game.
"I didn't even think they were going to take a look at it," Henrik said. "I thought it was a great goal. Then they went upstairs and it took forever and I was like, 'wow, this is unbelievable.' Sometimes it seems like the guys in Toronto they sit there and make their calls anyway they want. This is the playoffs. They had to over-rule it, too, that's the toughest part. If the refs said no or it's questionable, that's fine. He said it was a good goal. It's awful."
Whenever you read your local paper and think the writers are biased, or complain about the slants you see in blogs that cover your teams, remember this.
Let's re-enter the real world, shall we?
Henrik is expected to be upset. That's why you let him blow off his steam, and you DON'T PRINT HIS INCENDIARY COMMENTS. Idiot.
The league didn't overturn this goal because they wanted to. They overturned it because -- based on the rule in place -- they felt it was the right call. The NHL doesn't care who wins and who loses, and they certainly don't care about a franchise that doesn't make a dent in the local television ratings and hasn't made the playoffs in close to a decade.
If you need to blame someone for Vancouver falling behind 2-1 in this series, how about the goalie who couldn't stop a beach ball Monday night, or the penalty kill that has allowed five goals in the Kings' last six power play chances?
One week after all the attention in the WCHA was on a near-fight that came after a real fight was broken up, all in response to an improperly-handled illegal hit from November, we can start paying attention to YouTubes of illegal hits again.
Of course, these are the worst types of illegal hits. They're the kind that don't get called.
A major emphasis in college hockey this season has been on hits to the head. You're supposed to see a virtually automatic penalty anytime a player hits an opponent square in the head. There have been a number of silly applications of this rule (including penalties on players who were merely trying to protect themselves and brace for a hit), but it's all in the name of player safety.
Naturally, however, the ability of officials to consistently apply this mandate in such a fast-moving game has come into question.
We take you first to Saturday's St. Cloud State-Wisconsin game, as Badger captain Blake Geoffrion -- usually on the other end of borderline or dirty hits -- ends up in a heap in the middle of the ice, courtesy of SCSU's Aaron Marvin.
Yes, that Aaron Marvin. Obviously, officials Brad Shepherd, Todd Anderson, "Big" Brad Roethlisberger, and Mike Gulenchyn didn't see an illegal hit.
They missed it. This is, by definition, an illegal hit. Maybe Marvin is guilty of nothing five years ago, though you'd like to think a dangerous hit that sees Marvin aim for Geoffrion's head would have been a penalty even before the sport started to wise up on things like this.
Especially given that Marvin is developing a bit of a reputation for crossing the line in his physical play.
This isn't meant to be a rip-job on the officials, but it's rather hard to believe that four guys in striped shirts could miss an illegal hit on the player who had the puck when he got hit.
Also on Saturday, as North Dakota was completing their sweep of UMD, Bulldog sophomore Mike Connolly, who has been hit in the head this season without anything being called, was once again the victim of an illegal hit.
You can't tell for sure on this video if Corban Knight of the Sioux hits him with an elbow, but Rink and Run's Kevin Pates reports that is the claim of the UMD coaches. Regardless of what part of Knight hit Connolly, it's obvious that something hit the winger in the head, as he has a concussion and a black eye from the hit.
Officials C.J. Beaurline, Peter Friesema, Nathan Freeman, and Matt Ulwelling, like their colleagues in Madison, didn't see anything illegal and didn't call a penalty. In their defense, I was at the game and didn't see anything illegal from my chair, either.
We'll see how touch the WCHA wants to be in this headshot mandate. No, penalties were not called on either hit, but at least the Marvin hit -- if not both -- deserve a serious look on video. The league hasn't been nearly tough enough on supplemental discipline this season, and if they don't start getting tough, none of this is going to stop.
NFL officiating czar Mike Periera appeared on NFL Network Tuesday night. It's a weekly bit they do where Periera addresses some of the weekend's more controversial calls.
He spent time Tuesday talking about the final play of the Packers-Cardinals game from Sunday. On that play, there was some crowing that quarterback Aaron Rodgers got hit in the facemask by defensive back Michael Allen, who jarred the ball free for Karlos Dansby to recover and take to the house for the game-winning score.
Reality is that the officials called the play correctly. The contact with Rodgers' facemask was incidental, and it had no impact on his ability to secure the ball. It was coming out no matter where Allen's hand ended up.
The Packers -- to their credit -- handled it well, blaming themselves for, you know, sucking on defense and not showing up on offense until the second quarter.
Fans are fans. No surprise they didn't take it well.
What's surprising about this whole thing is that Periera ignored two more obvious calls in that game.
Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald was clearly guilty of pass interference on his second score, one where he went out of his way to run over Packers cornerback Charles Woodson.
Even more egregious was the non-call that came just two plays before Rodgers' fumble. Take a look.
Apparently, referee Scott Green was too busy doing something else, and he missed what has been the referee's primary responsibility all season: protect the quarterback.
Why did Pereira choose to ignore this bad call?
Who knows? Maybe he's got short-timer syndrome, as he's retiring. Perhaps he is tired of admitting on live national television that his guys screwed up a huge call.
Either way, had the Packers played half as well in the first half as they did in the second, it would never have come down to these calls. For once, I fully agree with the attitude of Mike McCarthy on the issue. He knows that talking about officiating sends a message that you're making excuses.
In my view, there's nothing wrong with addressing these controversial calls, but you have to recognize that they happen, they suck, and they usually even out over the course of a four-month season.
Many UMD fans have asked my opinion of this since Saturday, but I've held off for a number of reasons. However, I figured I'd leave you for the holiday with a few words on the controversy that erupted in the third period of the UMD-Minnesota game.
It's a controversy that was rendered irrelevant by Mike Montgomery's late game-winner, but still one worth discussing.
If you missed it, UMD had an apparent goal taken off the board about halfway through the third period. The Bulldogs got the puck to Gopher goalie Alex Kangas, who couldn't find the biscuit to cover it up. Instead, it was free for freshman defenseman Wade Bergman, who crashed the net. As Bergman got to the net, he appeared to have his skates clipped by the stick of Gopher Tony Lucia, which sent Bergman crashing into Kangas. As he went down, he got his stick on the puck and tried to steer it past Kangas. Before anyone knew it, he had crashed into Kangas, and the puck was across the goal line.
Referee Don Adam stood over the net and signaled ... absolutely nothing.
Adam and partner Timm Walsh headed to the scorer's table, prepared to look at the play on video. More than five minutes later, Adam returned a "no-goal" verdict, and play eventually continued.
I had a couple problems with the call.
The idea of video review is to look at a play and determine if the call on the ice stands. To overturn it, you need indisputable video evidence to show you, as the referee making the call, were wrong. It's very hard to do this if you don't make a call on the ice. Adam failed to do that, and so no one knew what he was trying to accomplish in the video review.
Had Bergman kicked the puck into the net, the goal wouldn't have counted. While the final determination couldn't be made whether he had the puck go in off his skate or not, it was obvious that the puck did indeed touch his stick as he crashed into Kangas.
Our buddy Kevin Pates got on the horn with WCHA officiating czar Greg Shepherd this week, and the results were kind of interesting.
Shepherd, said Tuesday, first of all, that a call should've been made at the time by the on-ice officials before any video review. He said that not making a call was a mistake. He said that if an offensive player, on his own power, goes into the goalie and into the net, with the puck, there is no goal. He said that if an offensive player is pushed or tripped into the goalie and into the net by a defending player, along with the puck, then the goal is legal.
I'm not in favor -- believe it or not -- of throwing officials under the bus. They work hard, get paid little, put up with way too much grief, have a ton of pressure, and generally do a good job. Case in point: Adam and Walsh almost flawlessly navigated their way through a hard-fought two-game series. In both games, the visiting team (justifiably) had more power plays, and stuff was missed both ways. Since these guys are human, that stuff's going to happen. The point is that they were fairly consistent, let the kids play, but didn't let the overly flagrant stuff go.
(I saw a couple e-mails referring to the elbowing call on Drew Olson that launched the Gophers' five-on-three in the first period. Yes, that was an incorrect call, but it looked live like Olson elbowed a kid in the head, and the officials are under strict orders from the NCAA to crack down on head contact. Given that edict and the look of the play when it happened, it's hard to get too upset about the call.)
Unfortunately for Adam and Walsh, it was their second controversy in as many weeks (they were the ones who called a major penalty on the wrong guy in the St. Cloud-North Dakota series the previous weekend). Those things don't tend to sit too well with any officiating boss.
Our friend Kevin Pates says UMD defenseman Jason Garrison is likely out for the season with a broken leg. Just spoke with head coach Scott Sandelin, who would only confirm that he's likely out for a while, and that he would be re-evaluated after the team returned to Duluth.
In short: This sucks. It was the ultimate in unfortunate situations, as it appeared Garrison lost an edge just before being hit from behind. The Wisconsin player who hit him, Patrick Johnson, had no shot of slowing up and jumped to try to avoid major contact. What he did probably didn't help the situation, but there's really no way of knowing what exactly caused Garrison's injury.
No one is dumb enough to suggest Johnson tried to hurt Garrison, though what he did has been a penalty in college hockey ever since the infamous Paukovich/Bina Final Five incident, and it's terribly frustrating to report that nothing was called on the play.
