Gee Nate, Don't like the Gophers much, do you?
 
I will not contradict the DeBus penalty.  Rule 407(d) in my USA Hockey
"Official Rules of Ice Hockey" book states:  "A minor penalty shall be imposed
on a goalkeeper who leaves the immediate vicinity of his crease during an
altercation."  And 407(e) states:  "If a goalkeeper deliberately participates
in the play in any manner when he is beyond the center red line, a minor
penalty shall be imposed upon him."  (Almost seems like the ref called the
wrong penalty!)  And yes, he should have gotten a roughing as well, he did take
some swings after getting down to that end of the ice.
 
Now, when Robitaille skated out of the goal he was not going to the aid of his
defenseman or to chat with the ref.  He headed straight toward Spehar with one
thing on his mind.  Dave's hands never left his side as Robitaille skated up to
him and proceeded to throw his stick/blocker/glove into his face.  I'm sure
that earlier in the game Spehar camped himself out in his crease or came
through looking for a rebound and Robitaille didn't like it too much.  Spehar
certainly isn't afraid to crash the net, most good forwards aren't.  But where
I coach (Bantams in Minnesota) if a player takes a swing (fist/stick/whatever)
at another players head it's a fight and that player sits down for the rest of
the game and another game (or more) to boot. Even a goalie (I've seen it done
this year).  A 4 minute rough and a 2 for high sticking seems more than fair to
me in this situation.  Rule 407(d) above could also apply if you want to get
technical about things.
 
Now that poor defenseman that was getting his face pounded into the
ice...hmmm...I wonder why it was that the Gopher player couldn't get up
initially.  It couldn't be that the Huskie was holding a leg under him, could
it?  This was no different than many other plays/calls that I've seen
throughout the year thus far.  Offsetting penalties:  A hold on the defensive
player and a rough on the offensive.  No biggie.
 
What really started the whole melee was Robitaille taking the shot at Spehar.
 Dave didn't do a lot to get out of Robitaille's way, but I don't imagine that
it would have mattered.  He made a bee line to where Spehar was standing and
took his shot.  I don't recall exactly where Spehar ended up during the rest of
the bumping so I can't comment on what he did after getting hit. If the ref
didn't think he deserved a penalty then he shouldn't call one.
 
And on that note, while I often disagree with individual penalty calls or
non-calls the referees this year have been doing a good job in the WCHA games
I've seen.  Sure, that's only 10-12 of them, but if there was a major problem
(as you seem to suggest) I think I would have seen it in that number of games.
 In this particular case the referees needed to gain control of the game at
that time, it was getting pretty chippy on both sides.  I won't even bother to
comment on your suggestion that the referees were calling penalties only to
help out the Gophers.
 
-----Original Message-----
From:   Nathan Eric Hampton [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
 
Mr. Ames,
 
First of all, I really enjoy your postings from the Star Tribune and Pioneer
Press. Otherwise, alot of information would get easily past me.  But secondly,
DeBus had to get something, and if you think the "crossing the red line" call
was a travesty, other things were much worse about the referees' calls during
that "fight". The fight was on, the play was dead, and DeBus makes a really
stupid move = 2 minutes. The bigger question is why did Robataille (sp?) get
six minutes (and Spehar gets nothing). After the Gopher finishes pounding the
Huskie defenseman's face into the ice while sitting on his back with his stick
on the neck, the Huskie goalie skates
over to where I do not know (his defenseman, the ref???) and gets confronted by
Spehar who skates right up to the goalie, if not into him.
 
Granted Robataille should have gotten the high sticking for disposing of that
little brat Spehar, but an additional 4 minutes for roughing is unfathomable.
If he got 2 for fending off DeBus, then DeBus should have had an additional 2
min. for roughing unless that is the meaning of "crossing the red line."
 Granted the home team (Gophers) were losing and needed some help, but that
should have come from the players, not the referee -- there was no reason for
giving the Gophers a four minute powerplay, AND NO WAY on earth should Spehar
have gotten off unpenalized. But the bigger question is, what is wrong with
WCHA refs this year? I thought things would get better with Shepard gone, but
now that he is director of referees, what is there to be expected?
 
Nathan Eric Hampton
 
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