>>        Those sounds you heard were indeed boos - and well justified
>>in my opinion. There was a penalty called on the play, if it's the
>>same one I remember. The Clarkson player had a breakaway, with an
>RPI player diving to try to disrupt the breaking player. The RPI
>>player's stick made contact with the puck, knocking it away, and then
>>in the process knocked down the Clarkson player. RPI was called for
>>a penalty. If I understand the rules correctly, since the puck was
>touched first, there is no penalty. The boos were at the ref.
 
>     As Ralph mentioned, there had been a penalty called on the play
>prior to and unrelated to the hit on Houle.  He would have us believe
>that it took the fans several minutes (while Houle was down) to realiz
>that a penalty with which they didn't agree had been called against thir
>team, and this realization just happened to collectively dawn on the cowd
>at the same time Houle got up to start skating toward the bench.  Eithr
>ay the traditional sportsmanlike relief that a player was not seriously
>njured was absent.
 
Since I was in the section closest to the play, I'll add my 2.12›  RPI fans
were obviously not booing Houle.  The call on Cuthbert was horrendous, and
I guess it stemmed from the official having poor position to see what really
occurred.  Everyone immediately sprang to their feet (myself included) to
berate the ref for the obvious mistake, and the RPI contingent simply missed
Houle lying prostrate in the opposite corner.  I think many of us in my section
felt a little sheepish that we missed seeing Houle's injury, but in the midst
of combat you don't always see everything.  Anyway, RPI fans are a benign
bunch; if anything Houston Fieldhouse has been inordinately quiet this year.
We certainly aren't like those firebrands in the stands at the CCHA rinks.  :-)
(really, just a joke, only some regional chauvinism, no need for the napalm...)
                    _
            "NYS   // Hockey"
        Go 'Gate  //   Brian Morris
          Go RPI //      Albany, NY
          ______// [log in to unmask]
         (______/