As I said in my Info-Hockey-L post, I believe that Jim Teresco's biased
account of last Saturday's Brown-Union game is an opinion piece that
belongs in Hockey-L. This is why I've chosen to respond in this list, and
not in the other. Below are my own biased comments.
 
 
What I witnessed last Saturday at the Achilles Rink was a pretty
interesting hockey game, with a lot of shifts in momentum. I agree with Jim
that the officiating was terrible, but the bad calls went both ways. By
focusing so much on the officiating, however, Jim failed to underscore the
positive aspects of Union's play. Union played well for two periods, and at
times put pressure on Brown during the third period, outshooting the Bears
13 to 12.  Union had a couple of nice power play goals, particularly the
one in the first period, but wasn't as effective five-on-five. In my
opinion Kevin Sneddon is doing an excellent coaching job, getting the most
out of a group of players whose talent level is more like that of a good
Division III team than a Division I squad.
 
Jim also neglected to mention that Brown made several pretty plays
five-on-five, which unfortunately the Bears couldn't finish off, or the
final score wouldn't have been so close. Worthy of note was Brown's fourth
goal, which came off an outstanding set up by Matty Kohansky.
 
 
>I try not to criticize officiating when I put together a game summary,
>but for this one, I can't help it.  A sequence of poor calls late in
>the second period by referee Drew Taylor helped turn a 2-2 tie into a
>3-2 Brown lead along the way to a 5-2 Brown win over Union Saturday
>night at Achilles.
 
What Jim fails to mention is that Union tied up the score at two on a
five-and-three advantage that resulted from a highly questionable penalty
to Brown's Daren McPeak. Had Brown lost the game, Brown fans might be
talking about that bad call. Union's second goal definitely tipped the
momentum towards the Skating Dutchmen at that point in the game.
 
 
>The first period was pretty rough, some might say "clutch and grab".
>Just about everything was allowed, especially holding, with only two
>penalties called in the period.  Brown took a 2-0 lead with two
>even-strength goals.  It took a slash to the throat of Bryan Yackel to
>get Union its first power play.  They were able to capitalize when
>Joel Bond's hard shot from the left point found its way past Scott
>Stirling.
 
The high-sticking penalty on Josh Barker was a good call, but Jim forgot to
mention that the Skating Dutchmen were carrying their sticks high,
Princeton style.
 
 
>The momentum
>really seemed to be with the Dutchmen when the controversial calls
>came.  At 19:17, Dave Smith took a hack at the puck after Stirling
>covered for a faceoff.  Stirling took offense and knocked Smith over
>with a spear to the midsection.  Smith went down and stayed down while
>the trainer attended to him.  Taylor apparently saw it differently
>than the crowd and the Union coaching staff, as Smith and Stirling
>were each given two minute minors.  That was bad, but it got worse
>just a few seconds later when Union's Mason Anderson was called for a
>slash in the neutral zone.  Union coach Kevin Sneddon just stood and
>applauded sarcastically for Taylor when he made the call.  Brown took
>advantage of the 4-on-3 advantage and scored their third goal in the
>final seconds of the second period.
 
So now each team had taken advantage of one bad call.
 
 
>I always think that if you feel the officials may have cost you a
>game, than you didn't play well enough to win.  Bad penalty call?
>Then kill off the power play.  Union wasn't able to do that.  They
>didn't play well enough to win during the third.  But the sequence of
>calls at the end of the second was a huge momentum shift.
 
Yes, the calls resulted in a huge momentum shift first for Union, and then
for Brown.
 
 
I understand the disappointment of the Union fans, players and coaching
staff. They all probably thought that Brown was the one team Union could
beat. Brown's ECAC record is, however, a bit deceptive, as the Bears are a
very young team that has lost several close games. In my opinion, this
year's Brown team is not as bad as its record suggests, just as last year's
team was not as good as its record indicated.
 
 
Luiz F. Valente
 
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