Not to add fuel to the fire, but I was at the post-game press conference
with Walsh and Parker and I just happen to have my notes here with me now...
 
Neil Goldberg of the Daily Free Press asked Walsh directly about the extra man
on the ice the last 8 seconds of the game.
 
Walsh's answer was: "We didn't realize we had five guys out there...it must
have been overlooked in the heat of the moment."
 
Walsh also said that ultimately, it is the officials' responsibility to
cite penalties in such instances.
 
Jack Parker said "Shame on us for not seeing it..."
 
He refused to comment on wether or not he thought the extra man was intentional.
 
 
I'd like at add a few brief comments, all of which are my own opinions:
 
It's sad that Maine's visits to Walter Brown Arena are consistently marred by
some sort of controversy. Last night it was the extra-skater incident; last
November ('92) it was the huge bench-clearing brawl where Peter Ferraro threw
his stick into the BU student section. The bright side is that when the two
teams meet, you are almost guaranteed an exciting game with lots of great play
at both ends, as was the case last night.
 
I didn't really have the chance to query folks in the pressbox about it...most
people were wondering what sort of recourse there would be. It seems that since
no penalty was called at the time of the infraction, the end of the game was too
late. Even if the referrees had callled a bench minor against Maine at the end
of the game, it couldn't have been carried over; thus, it would just appear
in the books as a penalty assessed at 20:00 of the OT period. I think it's a
dead issue. Both teams, especially BU, would be better served to put this in
the past and try to play as well tonight as they did last night.
 
On a final note, I'd sincerely *like* to believe Walsh made an honest mistake,
but I'm having a hard time doing that. The rivalry between these two teams has
become extremely intense and emotional. Not a single strategic move can be
underestimated.
 
My reasoning is that Walsh is a meticulous coach. He is very careful to keep
an eye on even the most insignificant aspects of the game. He has been known
in the past to summon referees for opponents' sticks with illegal curves;
he was sharp enough to notice a few years back when the "CCM" logo on the
Boston College game jerseys was a violation of Hockey East rules (forcing
BC to cut them off with scissors just moments before the opening face-off);
and he has insisted on changing sides midway through games played at BC's
Conte Forum because the goal BC defends for 2 periods is the one closest to
their own bench. I think it is reasonable to assume that Walsh most likely
would have noticed had another team had one-too-many players on the ice.
I also think that yes, the emotion was running high at the end of the game,
but the job of the Head Coach is to ensure that such emotion is does not
interfere with, or violate, the rules of the game. A good coach knows how
to keep focused in emotional situations. Walsh is no exception.
 
The bottom line is that Walsh's job, indirectly, is to win games. If this
was intentional, and I suspect it was, it was strategic move designed to get
both a physical edge on BU (at the end of the game) and a psychological edge
by trying to get BU rattled before tonight's game. No wonder Joe Carr called
it "a brilliant move."
 
--Sid Whitaker
Boston University '95