Kathleen Nelson wrote:
"I was at the game. The WMU players were celebrating at "their" end of the
rink, slowly drifting towards the scorers table, waiting for the goal to be
put on the board before leaving the ice.  The fight started when Chad Alban
skated over to the group of WMU players and attacked Joel Irving,..."
 
This brings up a question: What is the rule on players from one team skating
into the other team's end of ice once a period is over. I know this incident
was after the game but I recall a 2 minute minor penalty being called on Army
at Notre Dame last year when an Army player inadvertantly crossed the
centerline as he came over the boards to the ice on his way to the locker
room between periods. Last weekend, at Union, the whole Union team skated
among and past the Army team, as Army was proceeding to leave the ice, to
congratulate their goalie(since it was the end of the second period, he was
at the far end of the ice from the Union bench). No problem between players
existed, but I began to wonder what the rule was and if called correctly at
Notre Dame in 1996, why not at Union in 1997. Is it different league rules or
just another referee inconsistency.
 
Dave Chamberlain
 
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