In case this score has not yet been reported (I get the digest so I don't
know), Notre Dame and Michigan State tied here in South Bend Thursday night.
I'll not make extensive comments, except to reiterate my opinion that the Irish
are all heart, but just don't have the fundamentals down well enough yet.  MSU
seemed a little flat tonight and the Irish could have won, but they just had
too many botched passes, too many men out of position, too many shots taken
when a pass would have made more sense.  This team is young and talented.
Watch out for them when they gain experience and confidence.
 
I was surprised by MSU's lack of aggressiveness.  Their offense seemed to hang
back a bit and their power plays were not effective against an Irish team that
is vulnerable when the other team gets its power play set up.  Buzak was solid
in net, stopping a couple a breakaways.  Louder was spectacular at times for
ND in net, although he sure gives up a lot of rebounds.
 
The referees were the same bozos who did the WMU-LSSU game in Kzoo last week-
end.  Their names are Edwards and Breach.  Perhaps the two most inconsistent,
gutless refs that I've ever seen.  Their philosophy seems to be let it all go
for a period or two.  When things start getting out of hand (as they did
during the 2nd period tonight as I'm sure the box score will show) start
calling penalties randomly.  But never call anything that directly affected the
play.  It should always be petty, behind the whistle stuff that no one sees
and thus can't complain about.  I think the officiating marginally favored MSU
tonight (they at least got the key power plays) but did not have a substantial
effect on the outcome.  ND never seemed to be together enough to seriously
challenge Buzak even when at full strength.
 
James Old