John An writes:
 
>Craig Lisko wrote:
 
>>Of course fans are going to try to do anything they can to agitate a
>>goaltender, but as long as its within the bounds of sanity, pretty much
>>anything goes.
 
>>Having had the luxury of playing at Munn, their fans are so kind to the
>>opposing goaltender. They have songs, but one of the classics is the sieve
>>that gets thrown on the ice when MSU scores their first goal. Thank
>>goodness I won more games than I lost at MSU. But its all part of the
>>"atmosphere" that I would consider acceptable.
 
>I agree that fan support and heckling is an integral part of the game (we
>Cornell fans were, and hopefully still are, good at heckling).  The sieve that
>gets thrown on the ice is AFTER a goal.  I does not interfere with the game.
>However, wouldn't you say that pointing a laser pointer at the goalie's face
>BEFORE a shot goes beyond the boundary, and actually detracts from the
>"atmosphere" of the game?
 
        Of course, Cornell fans also wave their arms during a faceoff
to distract the goalie.  I agree that there's a boundary to be drawn
here, but I think it's between having a psychological and a physical
impact on the game.  It's like in a football game, where a crowd
making so much noise that the visitors feel demoralized, or perhaps
even distracted, is acceptable, but a crowd making so much noise that
the visitors simply cannot hear their signals, or throwing snowballs
or dog bones at the players, is not.
                                         John Whelan, Cornell '91
                                     Official Scorer/PA Announcer
                                        U of Utah Ice Hockey Club
                                               <[log in to unmask]>
                      <http://www.cc.utah.edu/~jtw16960/joe.html>
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.