It was brought up in both newspapers here today (Mpls) that the officiating
was horrid during the Championship game. Mostly they were pointing fingers at
the refs in the ECAC as the two refs in question did the NMU-Mich quarter-
final game in Detroit and then McCongahy in Albany.
Here is part of the article from the Star Tribune written by John Gilbert.
For Lake Superior State, and for college hockey in general, the ugliness at
the end of the NCAA hockey final left a black eye on what should have been a
major showcase for the sport.
After beating Wisconsin 5-3 before 12,491 fans and a national television
audience, even the Lakers' celebration in the dressing room seemed subdued.
The 1992 championship at Albany's Knickerbocker Arena will be remembered more
for Wisconsin's hassles with referee Tim McConaghy than for Lake Superior
State's big victory for small schools.
At the end of the penalty-filled game, the officials, who had been using the
Badgers bench exit as their route to their dressing room, hurried off through
the Lakers bench. Wing Blaine Moore was one of several Badgers who went after
McConaghy, and when Moore reportedly reached over the boards after McConaghy
with his stick, he instead struck linesman Marty DeMers who had intervenened
in the walkway.
NCAA officials reportedly are considering punitive action against the Badgers
for their behavior. McConaghy, a referee from the ECAC where games generally
are less physical than games in the west, had called enough penalties to make
the Badgers two men short twice and LSSU once in the first period, when the
Badgers took a 2-0 lead on two of Jason Zent's three goals. In the second
period, McConaghy called five straight penalties on the Badgers, twice more
causing them to be two men short, once for 45 seconds and once for 1:15, and
the Lakers came back to tie the score at 2-2.
Although the Lakers also had penalties -- 10 minors to Wisconsins 13 --the
Badgers also got the first two penalties of the third period, and with each
penalty the Badgers seemed to lose their tempers and any hope of winning.
As for all the penalties, (Laker coach) Jackson added: "You've got to realize
that you're dealing with young men who are real emotional ... and *old* men
who are real emotional. I think the difference was that we learned something
from our loss last year to Clarkson; this time we kept our emotional control."
Jackson went out of his way after the game to praise the officiating. -----end
quoted material------
Saturday after the game I was at one of the media suites at the Hilton and the
only topic of conversation was the officiating and how poor they thought it
was. One comment that particularly amused me, was that so-and-so thought that
this McConaghy was better than Ron Foyt (who happens to be the WCHA supervisor
of officials) and the reply was "That's not saying much." The other comment
that was overheard was that "When was the last time you were at a hockey game
and the officials were the first ones off the ice with a four-bodyguard
escort!"
Now I personally didn't see any of the disputed actions of the Badgers because
I was sitting behind the opposite net, but I am curious to see the tape of the
game now and may watch it sooner than I had planned this week.
Carol
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