>
>   Contrary to what Kenny Z. says, I thought that Tim McConaghy ruined the
> game for the players and fans. He was a disgrace.  It was one of the
> few (of the many) hockey games I have seen and/or played in that ref
> had such an obvious impact.  He took the game away from the players. I
 
I have to side with Kenny Z. on this.  The players know the rules just like
anyone else. Had McConaghy been inconsistent or made a lot of bad calls, that
would be one thing, but the replays I saw tended to show that all McConaghy did
was call the penalties he saw. (If I remember correctly, this is what he is
supposed to do.)  There was a hold early in the game that was non-existent and
the slashing to McDonald that were bad calls, but the rest were indeed
penalties.  A couple of poor calls is within an acceptable margin of error.It
is true that one could make a case that since some of the penalties were not
flagrant, maybe McConaghy could have let them play a bit more instead of
calling the game so tightly.   The point is though, that McConaghy called the
game CONSISTENTLY tight.  He didn't start off lax and finish tight, and he
didn't swallow his whistle in the third.  It wasn't like the players had to
guess what he would and wouldn't call; he was going to call everything he saw,
and it was up to them to adjust and play cleaner.
 
Thus, it is my position that if anyone took the game away from the players, it
was the players themselves. McConaghy was consistent and by the definition of
the rules, had a right to call almost all of what he called.  Knocking him for
doing that is like pleading "not guilty" to doing 63mph in a 55mph zone.  Sure,
everyone knows that most cops won't stop you unless you are doing over 65mph,
but the simple fact is that you were speeding according to the law, and the cop
has a right to ticket you.  (If you were caught in Pennsylvania, where they are
known to do this consistently, it is your own fault for not adjusting and
slowing down--Pennsylvania is probably a good McConaghy metaphor here.)
 
I wish McConaghy had called the game looser, but he started out tight, finished
tight, and everyone knew it.  Given that, the only reason he had an impact was
because the players never compensated and thus allowed him to have an impact.
An example is Wisconsin's McDonald.  He is a captain; he should have known
better than to talk back and take a
chance on pissing off the ref, and from that point on, Wisconsin was more
interested in fighting the refs than fighting LSSU.  Part of being a
championship team is being able to adjust to whatever the game situations are.
The refs, as long as their calls are consistent and not totally unjustifiable,
are just another part of the game situation.  (But that still won't stop me
from chanting anti-ref cheers at games :-)
 
> He STUNK!!!  -- Also, for the record I was an impartial observer --
 
Impartial as far as team loyalties, but you were once a player, Tony.  I have
never met a player who committed a penalty :-)
 
--
Dave [log in to unmask]
Cornell '91 OSU Med '95
Let's Go Red!