In light of the recent ref bashing and discussion of the Pierre
Belanger
Award, I believe the following incident adds to the discussion of memorable
referee incidents.  I believe the setting was the 1991-1992 season and upon
searching the archives (Thanks to a post from Mike Zak) I was reminded that it
was the inaugural game in Clarkson's new cheel arena where the Golden Knights
played Boston College for a preseason opener.
 
        The situation involved Scott Thomas, who in my estimation was
Clarkson's best player in the past 10 years.  Thomas delivered a hard body
check (as was his custom) on a opposing BC player in the BC zone.  It was in
the third period and Clarkson was winning handily when Earle (the ref) whistled
Thomas for a boarding penalty.  As Thomas turned around, his body language
indicated that he had no idea why there was a whistle.  Upon seeing Earle
indicating the penalty on him, Thomas, without hesitation, fired the puck in
the direction of Ealre's head.  The shot missed slightly to the left and the
puck banged off the glass behind Earle's head.  The resulting penaltys were
read over the P.A. system as 2 min. for Boarding, 5 min. and a game misconduct
for ...Molesting the Referee - Hence the chant at Cheel Arena,
 
                         1,2,3....Molest the Referee!
 
 
Note:  My memory seems to indicate that the referee was Galagher and not Earle.
 This is due to my thinking that the ref had the same namesake as Clarkson's
then president - Galhager.  This may however have been a result of Gallagher's
numerous poor attempts at officiating Clarkson games of this time period.
 
BTW, Final score was Clarkson 9 vs. Boston College 3
 
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(Clarkson logo taken from Rick O'Donnell's post)
 
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