Some "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out" news.
 
From John Gilbert's article in today's (2/11/94) Star-Tribune:
 
The article is mainly about rumors of a brawl to occur in the warm-ups of the
Minnesota-North Dakota game tonight -- more on that later.  Mention is then made
that North Dakota will be without 3 players DQed in the brawl last Saturday
against Denver "when the North Dakota team came off its bench."
 
<begin quoted stuff>
 
Yesterday, WCHA commissioner Otto Breitenbach altered the call of game
officials, rescinding two or the three disqualification penalties assessed to
Denver in that incident.  Mike Naylor, Chris Kenady, and Craig McMillan had been
disqualified, but Denver coach Frank Serratore insisted he held Kenady against
the boards to prevent him from fighting, while McMillan was in the training room
during the brawl.
 
Breitenbach's ruling was based on the fact that the Sioux bench emptied while
nobody came off the Denver bench.  Both teams were sent a letter of reprimand,
in addition, with North Dakota getting the more strongly worded of the two,
which threatens that any similar incident could result in a forfeit.
 
<temporarily end quoted stuff>
 
A real shocker!  I think the DU folks should send some thanks to Minnesota coach
Doug Woog for telling Breitenbach last week that he ought to uphold ONE protest
before he retires.  :-)  (Woog, who filed his first two protests EVER this year,
asked if any had ever been upheld and was told that none had.)  I'm sure Doug
would have preferred Chris McAlpine's penalty in the Hall of Fame game to be the
first, but it certainly sounds as if this was a deserving case.
 
==================================
 
<Now back to the tale of the rumors of a brawl tonight:  first, a quote from
early in the article:>
 
He (North Dakota freshman standout Landon Wilson) was knocked unconscious in the
last Gophers-Sioux game when he was bodychecked by Chris McAlpine and struck his
head on a pillar adjacent to the Minnesota bench.
 
<back to quoted stuff after mention of the Denver-North Dakota brawl>
 
The incident (refering to the DU-ND brawl) only renewed the hostile overtones
that lingered after the Sioux-Gophers series at Mariucci Arena on Dec 11-12.  No
penalty was called after the McAlpine check.
 
There was also a fight, during which the Gophers accused Scott Kirton of leaving
the North Dakota bench to challenge the Minnesota bench, and North Dakota
accused Minnesota's Charlie Wasley of coming off the bench to accept thte
challenge.  Then, the Gophers lost McAlpine when he was taken down by a leg
check to the knee, and the Gophers hinted that the Sioux were attempting a
payback.  Subsequently, rumors have flown that there would be more repercussions
when the teams met again, including those who said that Wilson was planning to
jump McAlpine during pregame warmups tonight.
 
"I don't think that will happen," Wilson said.  "That's all rumors.  I have
nothing against McAlpine.  I saw it on replays, and he was just following
through on a check and it was a freak accident."
 
Also mentioned in the article is the fact that WCHA supervisor of officials Ron
Foyt will be on hand tonight.
 
=============================
 
Oh, and you may note that, in keeping with its PC team names policy, the
Star-Tribune never referred to North Dakota as the "Fighting Sioux" in the
quoted material above.  That is perceived as a negative image (and, in the
context of this article, I think I might even agree.), but the name "Sioux" is
used.
 
Pam Sweeney                            Go Gophers!!!
[log in to unmask]         1993 WCHA Playoff Champions!!!
[log in to unmask]              Ski-U-Mah!!!