In article <[log in to unmask]>, Ryan G Stone
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
|>
|> On another overtime note:
|> IS anyone else disappointed with the lack of penalties called in OT??
|> I can understand loosening up a little in overtime and not letting a
power-play
|> resulting from a marginal call decide the game.  HOWEVER,  the blatant punch
to
|> the head delivered by Michigan's goaltender (Turco) to a Maine forward after
the
|> whistle was outrageous as were many other "TACKLES" made by both teams, many
|> times stopping good scoring chances.  It has always been my opinion that a
|> penalty in the first minute of a game should be called at any other time
during
|> the game.  I thought that all the way through the game this was not the
case.
|> The officials would let a play go and a m,inute later the identical play
would
|> happen and a penalty would be called (right at the beginning of the game
this
|> happened).  Maybe the officials just had a bad night, anyway, their no-call
|> menality probably was one of the reasons we witnessed the longest game.
Without
|> the hooking, holding and tackling, IMO, the game wouldn't have made it past
the
|> first OT.
|>
Before I say anything, I'd just like to say that the Michigan team is a class
act.
Even as a die-hard UMaine fan, I really feel for the players and the coaches.
 
Back to the topic at hand ...
 
Clearly, both teams were guilty of committing penalties that were not called.
It has
always been said that the reason why refs don't make these calls is that they
don't
want to directly influence the outcome of the game.
 
I've two problems with that, (1) the ref doesn't commit the penalty ... the
guilty
player does, and (2) more importantly, NOT calling a penalty can directly
effect
the outcome of the game.  While there were examples that occurred for either
team,
the one freshest in my mind was a no-call against Michigan.  Shermerhorn (I
think)
was carrying the puck out from behind the UMaine net when he was hooked/hauled
down.  Michigan got the puck and one or more shots on net.  What if the puck
had gone in and Michigan had won the game?  A clear (seemed that way to me ...
a biased UMaine fan) example of how not calling a penalty can have a direct
effect on the outcome.  The reason why I remember this one instance is that
Walsh
was very upset/vocal on the bench immediately following the next stoppage in
play.
 
I repeat, there were instances where UMaine got away with similar infractions
(i.e,
Imes on either Morrison or Knuble on a partial breakaway).
 
I agree that one of the contributing factors that influenced the length of the
game
was that the refs "all but refused" to call a penalty from about the 15:00 mark
of
the 3rd period.
 
--
REcursive thanks,
 
Steve Philbrick                             [log in to unmask]
UMaine Department of Computer Science
237 Neville Hall, Orono, Maine 04469        TEL: (207) 581-3942
 
"It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it."
  -- Stephen Wright
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