Greg Berge asks
 
> Notice the ridiculous number of powerplays in the Cornell-Harvard game
> last(Cornell 11, Harvard 10).  Was this chippiness, poor execution, or
> officialdom silliness -- anybody who attended have an opinion?
 
and Jeffrey Anbinder replies
 
> For the most part, I would have to say that Noeth and his crew were
> dead-on last night.  I found myself nodding in agreement with his calls
> and his assistants' calls far more often than I usually do with ECAC
> officials. Both the Crimson and the Red tried to get away with some
> questionable things, and simply failed to do so.  There were chippy
> moments in the game, but there was also a lot of good execution; it just
> so happens that it was combined with a bit too much brute force on
> occasion.
 
I thought Noeth called a pretty pathetic game (and I usually rate
him at least mid-pack among ECAC officials).  There were too many
phantom penalties.  One-third the number actually called would have
been about right.  Keep the trips leading to scoring chances
heading out the the defensive zone but forget about the taps or
less along the boards called roughing.  Noeth was also at fault for
calling the most piddling things during the course of play while
letting go trips and punches after the whistle--exactly the
opposite of the way the game should be called.
 
> The other thing I would mention is that you might have noticed looking
> over the box that there was not a single instance of coincidental minors.
> 22 penalties (I believe it was 11 for each team) isn't all that unusual
> for a single game of hockey, but 22 power plays is.
 
Yes, but he accomplished the same thing by invariably calling a
penalty on the other team during the course of the power play.
There couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 full-length power plays
all game.  That's one reason for the poor power-play percentages
for both teams, although both penalty kills looked great.
 
 
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Chuck Henderson  <[log in to unmask]>
 
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