I still have not yet located a media account of the 1976 BU-Minnesota brawl
from a source outside the Twin Cities.  The UofM Libraries have the Boston
Globe only back to 1980, and the Denver Post back to 1988.  Here's an article
that appeared in the Minneapolis Star of March (got the month right this
time) 27, 1976.  The Star was the Minneapolis evening paper, later merged into
the Star Tribune.  This article needed a good copy editor.  Here it is:

BU charges brawl was 'game plan'

by Dan Stoneking, The Star's Sports Editor

DENVER -- The bench-clearing brawl beteen the college hockey teams of
Minnesota and Boston University was the result of a "premeditated game plan,"
BU coach Jack Parker charged last night.

"The Gophers were running at us from the start," said Parker after Minnesota
beat BU 4-2 to advance to tonight's NCAA title game against Michigan Tech.
"It was clear they were trying to get us involved in something and they did."

"That is a stupid, immature, sour grapes statement," countered Herb Brooks,
Gopher coach.  He gave a disgusted gesture with his hands.  "Running at them
deliberately ... hogwash.  In a seven-game series you might try and intimidate
them.  But not in a single elimination like this tournament.

"Besides, BU is bigger than us.  What sense would it make to run a team bigger
than you?  And they've got that power [play?] (which scored both BU goals).
What sense would it make to intentionally take penalties and let that power
play work you over all night.

"Premeditated ... game plan ... hogwash."

The facts of the incident which took place just 68 seconds into the game
supported Brooks' rebuttal.

At the opening faceoff, BU's Mike Eruzione caught Gopher defenseman Russ
Anderson with a high stick.  No penalty was called.  Anderson retailiated a
few seconds later when he caught up with Eruzione along the boards.  With only
33 seconds gone the Gopher defenseman was whistled for cross-checking.

Out came the BU power play which had scored on seven straight chances in the
Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association [sic] tournament, a remarkable record
that Brooks has cautioned the Gophers about during the pre-game meeting.

The BU power play included Terry Meagher, the team's top scorer with 30 goals,
14 of them on the power play.  Meagher, BU's captain, was also [one] of 11
holdovers from the NCAA tournament two years ago.  That team lost in the first
round to Minnesota on a short-handed goal.

The BU power play came on like one of those sudden storms out of the Rockies.
Gopher goalie Tom Mohr, however, stopped several good chances and finally
gloves [sic] one shot and, amid plenty of body bumping and thumping, held on
to force a faceoff at 1:08.

Meagher jousted with Minnesota defenseman Joe Micheletti on that faceoff.  The
Gopher held his ice against Meagher's efforts to get a better position.
Finally in apparent frustration, Meagher balantly [sic] slashed Micheletti in
the leg.  The referee signalled a penalty.

"They boys on the bench were giving it to him pretty good as he went to the
penalty box," said Gopher trainer Gary Smith.

The penalty box in the Denver University Arena is small, wedged between to
[sic] two players' benches.  Last night it had no guards.  Meagher was
obviously fuming when he joined Anderson in the box.  The BU forward spit
toward a Minnesota player on the bench.  Instead he hit Smith.

"I grabbed at his stick and that's when he jabbed the stick at me," said
Smith. "Then all hell broke loose."

Players from both teams left their benches and paired off.  While most of the
altercations were only sweater pulling, there was [sic] some punches thrown.

Among the skirmishes Meagher and Anderson ended up wrestling on the penalty
box floor.

The melee lasted a little more than 5 minutes when it appeared that order was
restored.  Then another series of sweater tuggings broke out and the delay
reached 10 minutes.

In that period the NCAA tournament [officials?] hastily gathered in the press
box to sort out the tinder box situation.  "Under the rules every player who
came on the ice during that incident could have been thrown out of the game,"
said Burt Smith, former Michigan State athletic director and chairman of the
NCAA tournament committee.  "We decided that wasn't what we wanted to do
because it would have ended the hockey game since it affected every player."

Instead Anderson and Meagher were given game misconducts, penalties which
carry over to today.  Anderson must sit out the Tech title game.  Meagher will
miss the consolation game against Brown University.

"It seems like a long way to come to play only 33 seconds," said Anderson.

--30--

-- Erik