First, congratulations to the Lakers on their victory. It was a good game,
although I don't think it was played at quite the level of last year's final,
games like that one just don't happen every year.
 
On the penalty situation:  the sad fact is that replay seemed to back up almost
every call the ref made (I am not going to try to spell his name).  There was
only one call that was blatantly bad, and that was the slashing against
McDonald that he then deicided to talk to the ref about and earn himself a 10
minute break.  There were some calls that weren't great ones, but only insofar
as you can say that maybe the ref should have let the guys play.  Howver, in
most of those cases, there was a penalty committed, and by the definition of
the rules, he had a right to call it.  The rest of the penalties were
terribly obvious.  Wisconsin just came unglued about getting the penalties
instead of realizong that the ref was calling the game tight and adjusting to
compensate.  As my girlfriend said, "He (the ref) was calling an ECAC-style
game, and the teams refused to recognize it and play cleaner."  I think that is
a fair assessment of the situation.
 
On the final seconds:  ESPN did not show the group of BAdgers that Lynne (my
girlfriend) said was hounding the refs after the empty-netter.  It sounded as
if they were almost trying to pick a fight with them and that amazingly, Sauer
was doing nothing to keep control of his players.  What did other people think
of this?  I'd like to know how other people in Albany saw the situation.  What
ESPN did show was Jason Zent sucker-punching an LSSU player and someone else
starting a minor scuffle.  Mees and his color-man ripped the Badgers for their
conduct and I would have to agree with them.  I know that they were feeling
like the ref had taken the game, but you have to keep control of yourself, and
failing that, THE COACH must keep control of his players.  About halfway
through the second, Wisconsin started playing against the referee and lost
sight of their true opponent.  You don't deserve to win if you can't stay
focused and composed despite the adversity.  Besides, I again agree with Mees'
assessment that the refereeing was a wash, and both teams got some bad calls
and some good ones.  I really don't believe that Wisconsin has anything to
complain about.  Many of their penalties were obvious and ill-advised, and they
have only themselves to blame.
 
Mees on Zent
 
--he has been the hero tonight for Wisconsin, but he sure doesn't look like it
with actions like that [the sucker punch]
 
Mees on the refereeing
 
--the game was called "tighter than usually I am accustomed to seeing in this
situation"  but felt that McConaghey was consistent and made good and bad calls
both ways.  "officiating was not an allibi here"
 
Mees on Wisconsin's end of game conduct
 
--"This is sad to see from Wisconsin's standpoint."
 
--"It's not a very classy thing to do, frankly, what we saw the Badgers do in
the last couple of seconds of play."
 
LSSU coach Jeff Jackson on the OSU sweep of the Lakers
 
--"We got swept at Ohio State about six weeks ago and [the Laker players] had a
decision to make if they were going to turn it around and play good hockey or
if they were going to continue to struggle a bit."  (BTW, the announcers quoted
the second score of that series as being 8-3 when it was 8-2. Oh well, at
least OSU's program got mentioned for something.  OSU can say that they beat
the snot out of the national champs.  I am sure those wins were why OSU went
from 20 to 13 in TCHCR.  They and UIC (#14 TCHCR) are probably the highest
rated 20-loss teams in the history of collegiate hockey.)
 
I wish the game would have been cleaner with more 5 on 5 play, but what can you
do? The ref has to call blatant penalties, and that plus a couple of bad
bounces made the difference in the game.
A Badger defenseman tipped in LSSU's second goal at the end of the second.
Derksen had it covered, but the last-second change of direction made the puck
hop over his stick and leg.  Also, the game-winner snuck through a gap between
Derksen's leg and the post which was about exactly one puck width in size.  It
also had to go under his glove.  If he bends his leg in just a little more, the
shot goes harmlessly to the side.
 
Congrats again to the Lakers, and better luck next year to the Badgers.  Things
happen.... (Let's Go Bucks, only one stadium and one coach away from a real
program)
 
--
Dave [log in to unmask]
Cornell '91 OSU Med '95
Let's Go Red!