My take on the game.  I agree with Mark, and Andy, but not at the same
time:
 
On Sun, 1 Feb 1998, Andrew J. Weise wrote:
 
> I've never seen Union do better on the power play than they did
> in the first period. They did everything they had to - set up plays,
> cycle the puck around the defense, put shots on goal, etc. - except
> score. They finally did that 20 second into the 2nd period.
>
Agree pretty much.  RPI's power play in contrast continues to suffer from
an inablity to cycle the puck around.  RPI's PP tends to hold the puck too
long, and when the shot is taken it's telegraphed.  The power play must
release quicker, and someone needs to learn to one-time.
>
> Healey was skating in the neutral zone with the puck towards the RPI
> bench when he just got leveled on what (I thought) was a clean hit. He
> fell into the boards and his stick broke. He got up and, out of frustration,
> threw his stick (what was left of it), but apparently not intentionally trying
> to hit the official with it. It hit the linesman in the face, but I don't think
> Gallagher saw it. At the next whistle, the officials convened. They called
> a bench minor probably because the lineman never knew what hit him
> and found immediately after the incident, two Union players on the ice
> (both with sticks) and an RPI player diving into the bench. Thus, he didn't
> know WHO threw their stick, but he knew which team he played for.
 
But there were two broken sticks on the ice.  Where did the other one come
from.  Healy was clearly irritated on the no-call.  And in general he was
roughed up pretty good all night, especially behind the play.  And could
someone please explain to me what the role is of the "assistant" referree.
They certainly don't call any penalties in the ECAC.
 
> >The third period was wide open hockey with both teams playing
> >well. As time started winding down, the play tended toward tight
> >defense as no-one wanted to make the mistake that would lose the game.
 
RPI's third goal was a textbook rush with Garver getting behind the Union
defense to start the play.  Murphy was there to do the garbage work of
getting the puck in the net.
 
> I was quite impressed with Union's composure. After dropping behind
> 3-2, they didn't give up. They stuck with the game they had been
> playing all night and their blue-collar, scrappy effort gave them the
> tying goal.
 
Well, yeah.  But the tying goal was a result of an RPI mistake on the
power play.  Neither Andy nor Mark mention it was a short-handed goal.
RPI was trying to work the puck down low on the power play and the puck
lazily squirted toward the boards and out the zone.  Seeing there was no
one to control the puck RPI's point man (didn't get his name) rotates down
to retrieve the puck from the boards.  However the RPI PP doesn't rotate
to fill his space on the point.  The result: when the pucks off the boards
past the two RPI players on the side, it's off to the races with three
Union penalty killers joining the puck down ice, against RPI's lone
defenseman.  Obviously Prekaski was totally helpless, with the Union puck
carrier playing it perfectly waiting until Prekaski is forced to face up
to him, leaving the major part of the crease unguarded.  I am sure Fridgen
delivered a tasty lecture to his PP unit after that debacle.
>
> Being at the opposite end of the ice, I never saw it happen. However, seeing
> the type of game that was being played (tight-checking, evenly-played, yet a
> little bit open), why on Earth would you call a major penalty??? It goes back to
> the unwritten rule of calling a one-sided penalty in an OT playoff game - you
> just don't do it unless it's clearly blatant. In this case, it may have been a
> blatant penalty by Moxham, but a 5-minute major and game disqaulification????
> I know this game will not have much of an impact on who goes to the NCAA
> tournament or anything, but Gallagher just gave RPI a chance to win the game
> with 3 minutes left in OT. I can easily understand a 2-minute penalty for
> roughing
> or something similar, but not a 5-minute major.
 
Andy I absolutely disagree with you here.  Murphy was standing alone
with his back against the end boards.  He mistakenly raised his arms in
celebration of a phantom goal, the puck getting stuck in the webbing
behind the net, and Moxham skated in hard and jabbed his stick with force
into his gut.  Murphy's back crashed against the boards and he crumpled to
the ice.  Very ugly looking, and after the game, Murphy showed the T-U
interviwer the large red mark where it occurred.  If that isn't a major,
than you might as well just duke it out for the rest of the game,
regardless of whether it's in the third period or OT.  BTW Moxham got a
game DQ, but that doesn't carry over to the next game.
 
>
> I can see why RPI fans were disappointed with the tie. As Mark said, RPI is
> better
> than Union - on paper. But, THAT'S WHY THE PLAY THE GAME!!!! Union
> was not intimidated whatsoever by the "freaks" in the stands and showed a lot
> of poise and composure. I feel that Union is better than their 4-15-2 record
> shows,
> but that statistic doesn't show up on any piece of paper, unfortunately.   ;-)
>
> Regarding the "5500+ screaming lunatics".....
>
> Where was the screaming?? I was expecting to not be able to hear myself think.
> However, I could hear the Union contingent in Section 11 (opposite end of the
> ice from my seat in Section 1) more clearly than the "screaming lunatics"
> two ro behind me! Saturday afternoon's mass at St. Edward's would rival this!
 
No argument here.  Quietest Freakout I've ever witnessed.  RPI's students
screamed louder for the band to play "Hawaii Five-O" than at the Union
team.  Pretty lame display.  The crowd in the Fieldhouse is dead and it's
not going to improve in the near future.
 
But on the brighter side, at least the Union fans left their oranges in
their lunch pails.  And it was a lunch pail victory for the Dutchman.  At
this point in the season, I think the Engineers have simply lost all of
their killer instinct.  As Mark said, it's a very mediocre team.
***************************************************************************
Brian Morris                RPI Engineers--Mediocre at Best
[log in to unmask]
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.