This is kind of an interesting story.  With 8:40 left in last Saturday's
exhibition game between Colgate and Toronto (won by Colgate 9-5), Toronto's
Mark Haarmann cross-checked Colgate's Brent Wilde and was called for it.
Haarmann then proceeded to belt Wilde in the face, and the referee then
issued a double minor on Haarmann for roughing.  Colgate coach Terry Slater
says he wanted to know why Haarmann wasn't thrown out of the game, and since
the rules state that the only players who may speak to officials are team
captains, he sent Red Raider co-captain Jason Greyerbiehl over to find out.
 
However, Greyerbiehl was not on the ice at the time (I assume Colgate's
other captain was not either).  The referee interpreted Greyerbiehl's action
as leaving the bench during a fight and called a game disqualification
penalty on him, which means that the senior wing will have to sit out
Colgate's ECAC opener at Yale on Friday night.  _The Post-Standard_ reports
that Slater has sent a letter of appeal to the ECAC athletic directors'
executive hockey committee (which is meeting at RPI), and he is asking that
Greyerbiehl be reinstated for tonight's game due to the circumstances of the
penalty.  Says Slater, "I would never complain where one of my players was
at fault [but] in this case he wasn't.  It's the principle of the thing."
 
Joe Bertagna, the executive director of ECAC hockey, has said that there is
not much precedent for a coach's appealing an official's decision to the
AD's hockey committee, and he added that it is unlikely that a referee's
judgment call would be reversed:  "There's no doubt in my mind Terry sent
the kid just to talk....  But if it's a question of judgment, there's really
not much precedent for overturning a referee's decision."
 
I don't think the decision will be overturned either -- nor do I think it
should be, whatever the circumstances were.  If committees go around rever-
sing judgment calls made during hockey games, they will end up seriously
undermining the authority that the officials have (and need to have) on the
ice.  Nevertheless, as the old refrain goes, "something's gotta be done."  I
can't tell from this report whether Greyerbiehl did something that made the
ref feel he was going to join the fight (such as skating in from the bench
VERY fast) or whether it was just an automatic reaction on the official's
part, but if only the team captains are going to be allowed to discuss
calls, interpretations, etc. with the referees, then the referees may need
to realize that sometimes those players will have to come in from the bench
to do so.  As if the refs didn't have enough to worry about already.  This
incident will probably warn some coaches off about sending captains in to
talk to the officials -- but then, that's not good either.  If a team has a
question and is not being belligerent or threatening about it, they should
be allowed a chance to try and get an answer.  Hopefully, this type of
situation won't arise again during the season, but it is a rotten break for
Greyerbiehl and Colgate.
--
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and probably '94
LET'S GO RED!!
"I used to work in a delicatessen.  I got fired, though, because I would refuse
 to serve tongue to the customers.  I thought it was disgusting -- I don't like
 the idea of tasting something that might be tasting me back."
-- Elayne Boosler