"Unreal" Brawl Premeditated?  That's "Sour Grapes":  Brooks

By Dick Connor
Assistant Sports Editor

One of the fiercest brawls in NCAA Ice Hockey Championship history is over
but the aftershocks lingered in the corridors under University of Denver
Arena late Friday evening.

"Premeditated," snapped Boston University Coach Jack Parker of what he felt
were deliberate Minnesota Gopher plans to come out and try to intimidate
his team.

"Sour grapes," Gopher Coach Herb Brooks retorted when informed of the BU
mentor's feelings.  He then added he felt Parker "choked" by not yanking
his goalie in the final minute when BU had a power-play advantage and
trailed 4-2.

"He blew his team's chances by not pulling the goalie and creating a 6-on-4
situation in that last minute.  If he says we came out deliberately trying
to run at them, it shows an immature coach and it's sour grapes."

The incident that triggered the verbal exchange came with only 1:08 gone in
the semifinal game. Minnesota defenseman Russ Anderson had drawn a penalty
for crosschecking with 33 seconds gone and was in the penalty box.

A half minute later, there was a faceoff called to the right of the
Minnesota goal on the south end of DU arena, but it never took place.

Boston star Terry Meaghar [sic], lined next to a Gopher on the side of the
faceoff circle nearest Gopher goalie Tom Mohr, slashed his stick against
the Minnesota player.  Western official Dino Panniccia of Detroit quickly
whistled Meaghar and sent him to the penalty box.

What happened next depends on which story is accepted.

Parker claims that Meaghar, moving into the penalty box, was spat on by a
Minnesota player standing behind Gopher trainer Gary Smith.  "He tried to
spit back and it hit Smith, who grabbed his stick and slashed at
him."  Parker said Meaghar was speared on the ice.

The Gophers contend Meaghar, undergoing some heavy bench jockeying from the
Minnesota side as he neared the penalty box, spat at Smith.

Smith gives his version:
"He got the penalty and was coming over while our bench was giving him
stuff like happens in any game.  He spit at me.

"'That shows a lot of class,' I told him.  'Words are one thing, but
spitting's something else.' That's when he jabbed his stick at me.  I took
his stick and all hell broke loose."

Smith, along with both coaches, blamed part of the incident on the fact
that the DU penalty box -- which has been criticized by Western teams in
the past -- is a cramped affair that offers no separation of players
serving penalties as do some more modern facilities.

OUT SATURDAY, TOO

In this instance, Anderson, the most penalized player on the Minnesota
team, was already in the tiny cubicle next to the Gopher bench when Meaghar
arrived.  When the ensuing battle was finally quelled and cleared up some
25 minutes later, both Meaghar and Anderson drew game misconduct penalties
for leaving the penalty box, and will miss Saturday's games as well.

"We don't question that decision," said Parker.  "That decision was
right.  The question was how the whole thing started.  There's no question
in my mind their game plan was to come out and run at us.  We lose a
30-goal scorer and they lose a defenseman.

"But none of these things lost the hockey game.  We lost because we stopped
skating in the third period and were exhausted.

"We got a little legless after leading 2-1 going into the third."

Extending his criticism to the officials, he said he felt they allowed
Minnesota to "grab and hold all night long," contending Western official
Dino Panniccia was quick to "even up" calls while Eastern official Frank
Kelly didn't call as close as game as Parker thought should have been called.

Bob Gilray, supervisor of officials for the Western Collegiate Hockey
Association, said the bench-emptying fight was on a scale "I've never seen.
Not in 20 years and 13 NCAA playoffs.  It was unbelievable, and neither
official had a chance (to prevent it)."

"We could have sent off most of the players on both teams and wouldn't have
had a game," said Ice Hockey Committee chairman Burt Smith of Michigan State.

"It was a regular East-West game," said Mark Lambert, who drove home what
proved to be the winning goal in the third period after Tom Vannelli's low
shot drew Minnesota even at 2-2.  "There's been so much in the papers about
how good they are and we had a lot of pride going.  We might have been a
little chippie but they were, too. We talked to 'em a lot.  We've got this
Canadian-American thing going."

Minnesota is composed entirely of players our of Miinnesota high school
ranks, while the Terriers' roster includes 12 Canadians.

Both Brooks and senior Gopher goalie Tom Mohr, a "walk-on" as a sophomore
who hadn't played a minute until this season, said they felt Vannelli's
tying goal in the third period was a key one.

At the finish, Gopher fans were standing, chanting, "We want Tech," while
Michigan Tech fans in the upper corner of the building mounted a "We're No.
1" chant of their own.