My perspective from watching many a HE game is that referees have
been very good about protecting the goalie, and differentiating between
"running the goalie" and a player's hustle.  Over the past two weeks, I
have seen an opposing goalie go down twice, one eliciting a penalty, the
other receiving nothing.
 
        The first instance that I am referring to happened in the Nov. 4
game between BU and Northeastern at Walter Brown Arena.  The whistle had
clearly blown when Brendan Walsh (?) charged the goalie.  The officials
immediately sent Walsh to the box for a five minute major for charging
the goalie.  Northeastern then proceeded to score two goals on the
ensuing power play to make it a 3-2 game.
 
        Just this past weekend, in the Nov. 11 game against UNH at Walter
Brown arena again, another incident occurred in which the opposing goalie
went down as a result of contact with a charging BU forward, however,
this one was not blown for a penalty.  After BU had dumped the puck in,
Chris Drury charged down the ice in an attempt to beat the defenseman to
the puck.  UNH goalie Trent Cavicchi left the crease and turned his back to the
charging player as if he were going to block the rebound from going in
front of the net.  Cavicchi instead decided to freeze the puck, and
spread his legs out wide to avoid allowing the forward to slip in and
knock the puck away.  Drury, now moving at full speed, had to make his
turn to get around the net, and was given only about 3-4 feet between the
post and Cavicchi's left leg.  Drury inadvertantly brushed Cavicchi's
pad, and Cavicchi went down.  No call was made, and Cavicchi protested
vehemently, to no avail.
 
        IMHO, I believe the officials made the correct call on both
plays.  These two circumstances stick out in my mind since they happened
very recently, but in my eight or so years of watching HE (specifically
Maine and BU), I do not recall any serious charging call which did not
receive the proper punishment from the referees.  If anyone else has, I
would be interested to hear about it.
 
        What I am saying is this:  Often times, goalies take liberties to
stray quite a distance from the crease, where the puck is live for any
other player.  When said player then brushes the goalie in attempting to
play the puck, the goalie then goes down and acts as if it were the
biggest hit of his life.  Just what then defines when a charging or
interference call should be made, aside from when the goalie is in the
crease?  I am very interested in hearing how people respond to this topic.
 
Sincerely,
Tom Fortier
BU '97
GO TERRIERS!!!
 
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