I'm operating on 3 hours of sleep, so try and bear with me okay? :-) From an
article in this morning's Star Tribune which was titled: WCHA's effort to
speed up games has had reverse effect.
"After only two weeks of the WCHA season, no team is undefeated, and only St.
Cloud State--which didn't play the first weekend--is winless. But it isn't the
closeness of competition that has the league's coaches and players buzzing. It
is the NCAA's and WCHA's strict interpretation of the rule book that has made
for lengthy, frustrating games.
The intention of the crackdown is to speed up the game by penalizing the
hooking, holding, and interference techniques that have become prevalent and
slow the pace of play. However, the first two weeks of play have produced so
many penalities for marginal infractions that nearly all games have been
slowed to a standstill."
"In Denver, meanwhile, they're calling the WCHA the 'Without Contact Hockey
Association', because light contact that used to be allowed now is penalized.
Denver Athletic Director {who is on our list btw} Jack MacDonald said he was
preparing a letter to the WCHA and/or NCAA to protest, onbehalf of the fans.
'We've got to remember that we're in the entertainment business first and
foremost,' MacDonald said."
For example, in Friday nights contest with Denver, which was a pretty clean
game...there were 15 penalties on Minnesota and 12 penalties on Denver (all
minors). In Saturday's rematch Minnesota received 19 penalties and Denver 16
penalties. The Friday night game contained only SIX stretches of full-strength
play lasting longer than one minute, with only two stretches as long as four
minutes. On Saturday, there were eight stretches of more than a minute of
full-strength play, but only one stretch of 4:22!!! This is ridiculous!
This will make for a VERY interesting season if this continues. I applaud the
fact that the NCAA wants to speed up the game, but something isn't working
here. Have there been any similar problems in the other leagues? And I hope
you give 'em heck Jack, and keep us updated on the outcome of your
correspondence with the league and the NCAA.
Carol
U of M
Minneapolis-St Paul
Home of the 1991 WORLD CHAMPION MINNESOTA TWINS!!!!!
GO Gophers!!!
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