As a long time RPI fan who was at the game (but did not see the hit, only
the aftermath) and as someone who saw the same hit while watching the replay
on TV, I agree with your assessment completely. I do not think there was an
intent to injure, but I think that the check/shove (which is exactly the
same way I saw it) deserved the boarding and the game DQ .
On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 10:13 PM, Bill Fenwick <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> At 02:12 PM 1/19/2009 -0500, Mark Lewin wrote:
> >To be perfectly aboveboard, the replay actually showed Burgdoerfer hitting
> >the Cornell forward in the side, propelling him towards the boards. So by
> >the letter of the definition, he was not guilty of checking from behind.
> He
> >also did not charge into him. On replay, it actually looked like a clean
> >check. Unfortunately, it was hard enough to cause the forward to lose
> >balance and go crashing into the boards to cause injury. The only honest
> >call the ref could make was boarding (not that refs are necessarily
> >interested in keeping their calls honest) and the idea of excessive
> >roughness was the only way a DQ could be justified.
>
> The official box score lists the call on Burgdoerfer as a boarding major
> and game DQ.
>
> I taped the game, and I just re-watched the final seconds. I'm sorry, but
> there was a bit more going on than a clean hard check gone wrong. Just
> after Cornell's Taylor Davenport had taken a shot from the goal line
> extended, Burgdoerfer checked him from the side (not from behind) and gave
> him a hard two-handed shove. That's what propelled Davenport backward and
> off-balance into the end boards. I'm not sure whether Davenport's shoulder
> or head hit the boards first, but both did hit, and he crumpled to the ice.
> He was later helped off by the Cornell trainer and a couple of teammates.
>
> The shove and injury IMHO made the hit major-worthy, and I think the DQ was
> partly due to excessive roughness and partly the officials saying, "We're
> not going to let this get out of control." (Although the coaches shook
> hands after the game, and the RPI players started lining up, the officials
> directed both teams to proceed to their locker rooms without the post-game
> handshake) Tensions were high toward the end of the game, and to be
> honest, the Cornell squad did nothing to ease those tensions. Finding
> themselves with a power play for the last minute of regulation, the Big
> Red spent most of it teeing off on RPI goaltender Mathias Lange, in marked
> contrast to their other PP's of the night, which were considerably more
> deliberate. In fact, Davenport's shot came just after a faceoff in the RPI
> end with nine seconds left. If the Engineers were to claim that Cornell
> was trying to pour salt into their wounds, I'm not sure I would be able to
> provide a counter-argument. I suspect that Burgdoerfer was frustrated and
> wanted to put Davenport down on the ice (hence the shove) as a way of
> saying, "stop shooting the puck -- enough is enough!" I do not think he
> was deliberately trying to injure Davenport; if Burgdoerfer had done the
> same check-shove at center ice, he would probably have gotten off with a
> roughing minor or something.
>
> I will also admit that my perception of the incident is probably a bit
> biased, in part because of the team I root for and in part because the last
> time these two played at Houston, in January '08, Burgdoerfer hit Joe Scali
> from behind and sent him into the boards with a couple minutes left in the
> game. Burgdoerfer received a major and game DQ for that one as well. Not
> that that had, or should have had, any bearing on the severity of the
> penalty for Saturday's incident.
>
> >I've not seen or heard anything about the Cornell player who was injured.
> >Wondering about the extent of his injury. Anyone from Cornell out there
> >that has heard something specific?
>
> I haven't heard anything other than that Davenport was injured. He looked
> pretty woozy as he was helped off the ice.
>
> Bill Fenwick
> [log in to unmask]
>
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