OK, this is necessary since I'm sure you watched the game on tv, Kevin,
and Bob Norton just plain blew it when he criticized the way we awarded
assists on several of the goals. I don't know how many other people
watched the game, too, but it was shown again twice on Turkey Day so
there may be many of you who did see it. Let me preface this by saying
that I taped the game and went back to watch the tape late Wednesday
night, so I got to see if what we called was correct. I will try to
explain what happened.
Kevin writes:
>Lowell went ahead again at the 11:36 mark. It was a weird goal. Greg Carter
>was announced to have gotten it, but the puck bounced off a Merrimack player,
>I believe it was Brenden Locke, for the goal. It was unassisted.
This was one of the goals Norton (NESN color man) argued with us about.
He thought Scott Wenham, Lowell D, should have been awarded an assist.
What happened was that Wenham took a shot from the right point and Goose
knocked it aside (or it went wide behind the net, but it's irrelevant
here). Carter, behind the net, tried to center it out in front, but it
hit Goose's skate and he kicked it in. So, we awarded no assists. More
on this later.
On Merrimack's first goal, Kevin says:
>Merrimack tied the game at one at the 3:48 mark. Jim Gibson scored his first
>goal as a Merrimack Warrior. He picked up a loose puck in front and lifted the
>puck over Lowell's goalie Mark Richards for the goal. The assist went to
>Brenden Locke.
Norton claimed it should have been Gibson, unassisted. The replay (which
Norton had access to) clearly shows the bouncing puck hitting both Locke's
stick and Gibson's before Gibson shot it in. (Gibson had started the play
by picking up the puck behind the net and moving in front for a shot
that resulted in the bouncing puck.) It is arguable whether or not Locke
had an involvement in the play, but we determined that he did. Norton
argued vehemently on the air (causing play-by-play man Bob Kurtz to ask
him if he was picking up a check as official scorer too) that Gibson's
goal should be unassisted and Carter's should have been from Wenham.
Then he claimed that it was "home-town scoring" because the Merrimack
player got an assist and the Lowell player didn't. Now, I have to rebut
this since I had already announced here, publicly, that I am one-half of
the assist-calling team at Merrimack. Norton *neglected to mention* (he
may not have known) that B.L. Elfring, Lowell SID, was the first one to
suggest that there were no assists on Carter's goal. We tend to go with
what visiting SIDs give us since they know their players better, unless
we are sure they are wrong - then we make the call. It's a courtesy that
is usually afforded to visiting SIDs at every rink, from my experience.
Why would we want to give assists to some players and not to others? It's
just plain ridiculous. Needless to say, I was steaming as I watched the
tape and Norton just would not leave it alone. I think he does a good
job on color, but here he was just plain wrong.
By the way, Norton & Kurtz do their broadcast about five feet from where
we sit, so there is a lot of interaction as the game goes on. Especially
this game.
OK, next goal.
>Merrimack went down again at the 17:08 mark of the second. Steve Albitt was
>credited for the goal. Assists were announced as Shane Henry and Brendan
>Flynn. I believe these announcments are incorrect, as the puck was shot in
>by a defenseman, and all the names are forwards. Anyway, it was a powerplay
>goal.
The tape showed this call to be correct. Ablitt has been splitting his
time this season between forward and defense, and due to D Dan O'Connell
being out with an injury for the Chiefs, Ablitt played the game at defense.
The puck was in the corner to Goose's left and came out to the far point,
where Ablitt shot it through Goose's pads. That's also how his injury
resulted, but since I have some updated info regarding that, I'll put it
in another message.
>Merrimack went ahead for the first time at 9:33 of the third. On a wild
>scramble out front, Teal Fowler banged home the loose puck. Agostino Casale
>got the assist.
We originally announced this goal as Rosenblatt from Fowler and Casale,
as it looked like Rosenblatt had knocked in Fowler's rebound (the two were
both whacking at it), but tape showed that Fowler was the one who put it
in and so we changed it. Of course, the fact that Norton had been
lambasting us all night made us look worse when we had to change this goal,
but Norton did agree that he wasn't sure who it was, either.
>Lowell made it interesting when Brendan Flynn was given credit for a goal (At
>least on the announcement.) Albitt and Daley got the assists again, but
>again I think this announcment is wrong, because the puck was shot in by a
>defenseman. Anyway, it came at 16:00, and made it 5-4.
Another one Norton argued with. Daley dropped the puck back to Ablitt at
the right point, and he floated one by Doneghey. It was a slow shot that
seemed to take years to head towards the net. Flynn was battling with a
Warrior in front for a possible rebound, and just as the puck got by
Doneghey, he got his stick on it - before it crossed the line. It would
have been Ablitt's goal, but Flynn was the last one to touch it before it
went in. Here, the referee called Flynn, so we went with it, and the
replay showed it was Flynn from Ablitt and Daley.
If anyone did watch the game and has any comments, I'd love to hear them.
I'm confident that what we called was correct and we try to do the best
we can to get it right. I know I personally hate when I know that points
have been awarded to the wrong players - I'm a real stickler for that.
If we watch the game tape after and realize we made a mistake, we'll
change it.
Oh yeah, and we have no prejudice in this matter towards either Merrimack
or the visitor, although of course we would like to see Merrimack win.
But don't bother bribing us because we have no influence in THAT regard.
Hey, when I was at Northeastern I had players badmouthing me because they
thought they deserved an assist and I wouldn't give it to them! You
can't win.
- mike
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