Well, i just finished watching the rebroadcast of the MSU/Miami melee, and a
few things came to light...
 
1) It somewhat appeared that Mason and Mazzoleni had words when the two shook
hands before Mason left the ice. Mason turned to walk away, and Mazzoleni had
his hand still and shook it abotu two more times. And Mason walked away and was
shaking his head. Don't know if this is anything, because Mason himself did not
mention anything in the post-game interiews.
 
2) There were two groups of scuffles. First, the entire two teams after shaking
hands, and then a separate group with Harlton, D. Carter, A. Carter, and a few
other Miami and MSU players. Harlton obliterated D. Carter, and A. Carter was
rolling his sleeves up and about to go after Miami #26. Carter was EXTREMELY
violent and vocal in his attempted pursuit of 26, but the refs stepped in and
restrained him.
 
3) Keyes looked like he threw the ice on Mazzoleni (but whoever it was was out
of the picture), and Mazz. went after him and threw two punches at him, obvious
punches. If the league reviews this tape from WELM-TV in East Lansing, it is
apparent. Also visible is Assondre giving the choke sign and the finger to the
MSU bench and turning around to attempt to get into the brawl.
 
 
    Even though I missed a portino of the fight on my way to the locker rooms
last night, I caught the primaily major actions from what I saw (right in front
of the sideboards where the scuffle occurred) and from the reshowing of the
game. I really think the league should do two things from this...
 
a) look at possibly more suspensions of no more than a game for both players
and coaches.
 
b) consider banning defacing or harming an opposing team's ice/rink, etc.
 
Like Steve Klein said, there is no place for these kind of antics in college
hockey, let alone sports in general. I liken this to someone beating you at a
game of chess, then cutting a piece of carpet out of your living room floor.
This is not only disrespectful, it is against al the principals of
intercollegiate athletics - to build men with character and maturity. This is
nothing more than a senseless act of immaturity on both the Redskins for doing
their "scalping" and also on the Spartans for attacking them and making
themselves look like poor sports for losing. But I do see why the event
happened, and I also see why MSU responded the way they did, but both sides are
at fault.
 
Chris Solari
State News