I've been reading the comments on the officiating and the effect it may or
may not have had on the game, and I have been wondering whether I can add
anything that hasn't already been said.  I hope so.  But first, a few
non-hockey words.
 
As others have said, thanks to all who organized the hockey-l dinner, those
who attended it, and those who attended the games in Albany.  I thought all
were great successes.  It was great to meet everyone although I am sorry to
say I may not be able to put everyone's name with their face in a year!  The
short time I had to talk with you all was fun and if I can get someone to
drug me up and throw me on a plane, I'll be in Milwaukee next year. :-)  But
no talk about that 1986 Mets-Red Sox game that some of you think happened!
 
Oh yes, since David asked, I wasn't in the picture because I was being pulled
in two directions - and after a three hour-plus drive, one game and the dinner,
the men's room won. :-)  Carol did come down to my seat during the championship
game to shoot me in my Holy Cross hockey cap.
 
As Carol knows, I ended up being kidnapped by the other two people I was with
and taken to New York City the day in between games.  We drove back to
Cooperstown Saturday, then to Albany for the final.  I'll refer you to my
attorney for all other details.
 
Now, the game.  First, those of you who either know me or have read enough of
my postings should know that 1) I do not go after officials, and in fact,
I usually defend them; and 2) with a final between LSSU & UW, I wasn't pulling
for either team, nor would I consider myself to have viewed the game with
cardinal (Wisconsin) colored glasses if I wore glasses.  OK, several points:
 
*Why McConaghy?  Regardless of what kind of game you want called, or how good
 you think the referees are, it seems clear to me that this was a political
 decision to let as many different conferences as possible get officials in
 the final four games.  HE's Cole did one semifinal and the WCHA's Shepherd
 did another.  Since the CCHA couldn't have a referee do a game, we had to
 have an ECAC ref.  I'm not making any kind of judgment here - but it can be
 noted that both teams knew for days what league the referee would be coming
 from, at least, so they had time to discuss the way games were called there
 and what they could expect.
 
 I'm not sure if McConaghy was considered the best referee available, but I
 would prefer to see the best one do the game.  I also do not know if he was
 the top-ranked out of the ECAC.  (Each conference ranks its top three
 referees and four linesmen and then the NC$$ DivI Hockey Committee selects
 from those lists.)
 
*My complaints with the officiating are not based on the number of penalties
 called, or the number of 5x3s, etc. - if these are deserved, they're deserved.
 The reason the officiating was poor was that, despite Tom Mees' comments to
 the contrary to make everyone happy (I did watch the last few minutes of the
 tape, and besides, Mees does 1-3 games a year), it was NOT consistent.  And
 that is the worst thing a referee can do.  When you allow some actions to go
 and then call the same thing seconds later on another player, the players do
 not know what they can get away with, and this was going on all night.
 
 Both LSSU and Wisconsin are physical teams, so both should have been hurt
 equally by this inconsistency.  Unfortunately, I saw up close (front row
 seat) too many LSSU non-calls and Wisconsin calls for my liking.  I watched
 Lakers take dives three feet in front of me and Badgers were sent to the
 sin bin.  I'm not suggesting in any way that this disparity in calls was
 intentional, but it did seem to be taking place, and this was before LSSU
 came back to go ahead.
 
*Even with all of this, as I have seen someone mention, LSSU still outplayed
 Wisconsin and deserved to win.  The effect that the inconsistency in
 refereeing had did not show up on the scoreboard.  It led the Badgers to
 lose their focus on their game plan and on beating LSSU.  Perhaps the point
 is correct that LSSU adjusted and Wisconsin did not.
 
*Most of the people reading this probably watched the game on tv, and tv
 doesn't come anywhere near to showing all of what happened after the empty-
 netter; I checked the tape because I wanted to see for myself.  They focused
 on the LSSU celebration.  But as McConaghy went to the scorer's bench to
 announce the scoring on the goal, he was accosted by several Badgers who
 not only verbally abused him, they threw punches at him, pushed him, and
 even swung sticks at him (not hitting him).  It was truly ugly.  The linesmen
 had to get between McConaghy and the players.  McConaghy quickly skated to
 center ice and screamed at the timekeeper - he wanted to just drop the puck,
 let the time run out and get out of there, but before he could do so, Zent
 and a Laker nearly got into it themselves.  Once the puck was dropped, the
 officials turned and ran for the exit, and they were followed by several
 Badgers who I didn't think had made it down the runway after them.  (So no,
 the game was not called with two seconds left.)
 
 I don't care how bad the officiating was - this was disgraceful, in my mind,
 and put a black mark on a sport I love.  In fact, I felt my face get red as
 I was watching this, and I turned to Kap, two seats away, and said that this
 was embarrassing and he agreed.  This came after we had noted before the game
 that with the NHL strike, it was a perfect chance to showcase college hockey.
 I can understand the Badgers being upset, but you still have to maintain
 your composure.
 
 I don't know whether any action will be taken against any of the Badgers.  It
 wouldn't surprise me, although I'm not sure what kind of evidence exists
 since most of it is not on the ESPN tape - maybe it will be necessary to
 confiscate the team videotapes and radio tapes.  The key thing is that the
 officials were physically abused, and there is absolutely no justification
 for that whatsoever.  There are procedures in place for handing down
 penalties for abuse of officials, so we'll see what happens.
 
 However, it was good to see that tempers subsided and the teams shook hands
 afterwards in the ultimate display of sportsmanship.
 
*Even after all of this, I want to second Glen Keeney's very important remarks
 on referee-bashing.  I thought a sub-par performance was done here.  I also
 think that is rare.  It is unfortunate that it had to happen in a national
 championship game, but star players perform poorly occasionally in big games
 too.  Just look at Christian Laettner in last night's Duke-Michigan hoop
 game.  The officiating may not have been good, but looking back now, it did
 not decide the game.
 
Finally, congratulations to LSSU for its second national title and for Jeff
Jackson's first.  Madeley did not seem to be at his very best this weekend,
from the little I have seen in the past and from what I have heard, but he
was still the best on the ice and sparkled at times.  The Lakers weren't
supposed to have much in the way of offensive talent, but they controlled the
puck for long stretches in Wisconsin's end and forced Derksen to work harder
than he had to in most of Wis's other three tourney games.  When you give
up an average of two goals a game, you are not going to lose many games, and
their combination of great goaltending and superb two-way defensemen was
probably second to none this year.
 
 
- mike
 
PS also, congrats to Maine's Scott Pellerin for winning the Hobey Baker.  Some
 players have won in the past by putting up incredible numbers.  Pellerin won
 by playing some of the best two-way hockey ever seen in these parts - *and*
 putting up great numbers.  After a great freshman year, he didn't meet some
 expectations the next two years, but he rebounded to win the HE Player of
 the Year and then followed it up with a well-deserved Hobey.  There were
 several players who had Hobey-like years and deserve recognition, but
 Pellerin simply earned the right to be called the best college hockey player
 in America.  Good luck to him with New Jersey.