I'm not lucky enough to have the cash to attend a regional, even if  
it is in the neighboring state. But if I were, I'd enjoy the hockey.  
I didn't miss a game on TV this weekend and while I did notice all  
those things, it didn't deter from the fact that I enjoyed the  
hockey. I'm not sure you did. Your first comment is about an  
announcer. The second (and others) question the officiating (if it  
wasn't a head hit, why did O'Neill need several stitches in HIS head;  
I didn't like the call on the goal against UNO either and wish it  
wasn't so, but the hockey was great). I didn't see a lot in your post  
that you liked about the weekend. Get over it. Move on. There's  
nothing you can do. These things, or things like them, will happen in  
every tournament. Enjoy the kids who play this great game, enjoy the  
hockey for crying out loud.

On Mar 27, 2011, at 11:41 PM, Mark Lewin wrote:

> Thats a lot of hockey to watch in one weekend.
>
> I keep forgetting how much Barry Melrose sucks!!!
>
> As much as the NCAA stressed contact to the head penalties this  
> year, as
> long as each league maintains control over their own referees,  
> inter-league
> play will be inherently unfair.  There were instances of pounding  
> people
> into the boards during the Michigan-CC game with no penalty calls  
> while, at
> the same time, an open ice check in New Haven may have arguably  
> changed the
> outcome of the Yale-UMD game.
>
> Did anyone notice that the referees wear no names or identification  
> as to
> which league they're from. I assume the referees were announced at  
> the start
> of each game, but I missed them and the announcers never mentioned  
> it during
> the play of any of the games I watched.
>
> I'm sorry, even if I have to agree with Barry Melrose, but that  
> center ice
> hit by Brian O'Neill of Yale, was a clean hit.  Maybe you could  
> argue it was
> a charging minor, but even on the replay, I didn't see any contact  
> to the
> head.
>
> And the OT goal during the Michigan-UNO game?  If the referees had  
> the same
> view of the goal line as the tv audience did, there was no way they  
> could
> have seen the puck, let alone "conclusive evidence" to overturn the  
> "no
> goal" call on the ice.  Its a good thing to bring technology into  
> play in
> national tournaments but that call gives technology a bad name.  I  
> hope that
> is some further explanation of what happened during that interminable
> sequence, but I doubt we'll hear anything else about it.
>
> I was glad to see that in every game I watched, the referees did  
> not put
> their whistles away in the 3rd period.  If they called it in the first
> period, they called it in the third period (or even the overtimes).
>
> I really got tired of hearing how Miami got the short end of the stick
> having to go into Manchester to play UNH in the first round.  It  
> didn't seem
> to have any bad effects on Jeff Jackson and Notre Dame.
>
> It may provide an advantage to a team to be sent to a regional near  
> their
> home ice, but did you notice that there seemed to be signs of life in
> Bridgeport and Manchester but nothing but empty seats in Green Bay  
> and St.
> Louis.  Having been to numerous regionals in Albany, I know its  
> tough to
> gauge the size of a crowd since a lot of fans come for only a  
> single game.
> It will be interesting to see the attendance stats for the  
> different venues
>
> Doesn't it seem kind of ridiculous that hockey players (and fans)  
> now have
> to wait two weeks for the championship, just so we don't  
> "interfere" with
> basketball?
> Roundball semifinals are on Saturday and the finals on Monday  
> night.  Whats
> wrong with with hockey semifinals on Friday and championship on  
> Sunday?
> What are they afraid of, people not being able to attend both  
> basketball and
> hockey championships?  Both sports sell out their respective arenas  
> anyway
> and the games are broadcast on different networks so there's no  
> conflict on
> tv either.
>
> Did anyone get a chance to listen to interviews with Paul Stewart  
> (director
> of officiating in the ECAC) during the ECAC championships  
> broadcasting?  He
> kept going on and on about how the ECAC encourages the referees to  
> use their
> discretion calling (or not calling) penalties when the effect of  
> the penalty
> has no effect on the play.  According to him (I'm paraphrasing  
> here), if
> someone is hooked in center ice, away from the puck and it doesn't  
> prevent
> the victim of the hook from a scoring opportunity, the referee  
> might want to
> "let it go".  After listening to him,  I no longer wonder why the  
> state of
> referees in the ECAC is as bad as it is.  He seems to want to
> institutionalize incompetence.
>
>
> I'm  getting sick and tired of putting up with people bad mouthing  
> the ECAC
> and eastern hockey in general.  However, maybe we'll talk more  
> about that
> next year, eh?
>
>
> I'm looking forward to hearing from people who attended each of the  
> regional
> sites to hear their impressions of the arena and how the host city  
> treated
> them and how the local restaurants and accommodations were.
>