No overtime penalties?  That's full-fledged baloney.
 
I don't get it.  Just because a game is in overtime, that does not give
players the right to break the rules of hockey.  If a player commits a
foul, he should be penalized for it, especially if it is as clear as
several of the ones not called in the national championship game on
Saturday night.  If you're stupid enough to commit a penalty in OT, too
bad, you must pay the price, and so must your team.  A team can't fault
a referee for losing and OT game on a power-play goal.  The power play
would not have existed if the player had not committed the penalty in
the first place.
 
I'm saying this under the assumption that there is nothing in the rule-
book regarding leniancy of overtime penalties.  If there is such a rule,
then perhaps it should be modified.  For example, a player would receive
two minutes in the box for a penalty, but the team does not go short-
handed.
 
They say, "let the players decide the game" in overtime.   Well, if a
player chooses to commit a penalty, he should understand the risk he
takes by doing it, especially the elevated risk by committing a penalty
in sudden-death OT.  The "Swallow Thy Whistle" (as Tom Mees put it)
mentality in OT is ridiculous.  The players understand the rules, and
they should be followed regardless of the period.
 
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Jim Baines, a.k.a. "Sportscaster",  BITNET: IO60312@MAINE           |
|"Fill the Steins to Dear Old Maine..."  GO BLACK BEARS!!!           |
|   The only team in the nation with four straight 30-win seasons.   |
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