Wow!  Howard is some amazing!!  What a game!  I'd sure like to see those BC
games coming up!

I watched the game on television which had the advantage of replays.  In my
opinion, with some experience as a hockey coach and player, most of the
penalties are the result of the refs trying to figure out how to call the
game, and the players trying to figure out how the refs are calling the
game.  Every game is a little different in that regard.  Now most good refs,
(my opinion of "good" coming up) are the ones that let the players play with
as few penalties as possible and at the same time keep the game under
control.  The disadvantage of this is that there are a lot of calls that
could be made that the refs let go.  Human nature is such that when you're
really pulling for a team you tend to see the hooks and trips that the other
team is getting away with much better than those of your team.  So when the
ref finally does make a call it seems unfair.  And that's mostly it, it
"seems" that way.  And of course it's complicated by the fact that the refs
for college games just aren't as good as the NHL refs.  They're not as
consistent and they miss calls and sometimes they just don't see the play as
well as they might have.   The notion that the refs are unfair and are
making calls to help one team or another is very unlikely.  The whole main
goal in reffing is making sure that the game is fair.  I know it sure
doesn't look that way sometimes but you can be sure that if there was a
biased ref out there it would become pretty obvious after awhile.  And all
the refs are periodically evaluated reffing actual games.   I figure that
the coaches and the players on the ice are a better judge about a particular
call than I am.  If the players and the coaches aren't complaining then I
figure the call was probably was ok.  Nevertheless it still "appears" that
the other team is getting away with a lot more than my team.  Like I said:
human nature.

Retaliation is an ongoing part of the game.  Sometimes it happens on the
same play and sometimes the next and sometimes the next period or even the
next game.  If you retaliate with a high stick etc. it's still a penalty and
is more often seen than the original infraction.  Sometimes a really hard
hit is completely legal but retaliation still occurs.  A penalty is still a
penalty.  And you're right there is certainly something to be said for
discipline.

Now what I would do to make hockey a better game would be to call ALL the
hooking in accordance with the rule book.  According to the book if you
retard a players progress AT ALL with the stick it's hooking.  So I would
suggest that any intentional use of the stick to retard a player should be
called.  There would be a lot of whistles for awhile but after the learning
curve was realized it would be a better game.  Same for the NHL.

Oh, and by the way, while I'm on the soapbox here, according to the rule
book, a trip is a trip, and it doesn't matter if you get your stick on the
puck or not.  Even the NHL announcers don't even seem to know this rule!
The refs do however, and they call it.

GO BLUE!!!   BEAT BC!!



-----Original Message-----
From: Zerb [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 4:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Penalties.....

Listening to the game on the internet, the ice sounded slanted during most
of the game, and the reported SOG seemed to reflect this.

Not seeing the game, I ask those of you who were there-> were the whistles
against MAINE a result of relaliations?

If so, then discipline is in order (right Coach?) because the schedule is
only going to get tougher from here on in.

All things considered, come on now, remember :

The Boston teams have a knack,,,,,,, no......always had the talent in
sucking a player into responding to a cheap shot... and New Hampshire is
really a suburb of Mass., now isn't it?

r/
Zerb
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Hill" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2002 1:59 AM


> About 10 minutes left in the third and I have one question.  Why are we in
the damn box so much this year.  This problem will only get worse if not
corrected early in the season. IMHO
>