I'm operating on 3 hours of sleep, so try and bear with me okay? :-) From an
 article in this morning's Star Tribune which was titled: WCHA's effort to
 speed up games has had reverse effect.
 
 "After only two weeks of the WCHA season, no team is undefeated, and only St.
 Cloud State--which didn't play the first weekend--is winless. But it isn't the
 closeness of competition that has the league's coaches and players buzzing. It
 is the NCAA's and WCHA's strict interpretation of the rule book that has made
 for lengthy, frustrating games.
 
 The intention of the crackdown is to speed up the game by penalizing the
 hooking, holding, and interference techniques that have become prevalent and
 slow the pace of play. However, the first two weeks of play have produced so
 many penalities for marginal infractions that nearly all games have been
 slowed to a standstill."
 
 "In Denver, meanwhile, they're calling the WCHA the 'Without Contact Hockey
 Association', because light contact that used to be allowed now is penalized.
 Denver Athletic Director {who is on our list btw} Jack MacDonald said he was
 preparing a letter to the WCHA and/or NCAA to protest, onbehalf of the fans.
 'We've got to remember that we're in the entertainment business first and
 foremost,' MacDonald said."
 
 For example, in Friday nights contest with Denver, which was a pretty clean
 game...there were 15 penalties on Minnesota and 12 penalties on Denver (all
 minors). In Saturday's rematch Minnesota received 19 penalties and Denver 16
 penalties. The Friday night game contained only SIX stretches of full-strength
 play lasting longer than one minute, with only two stretches as long as four
 minutes. On Saturday, there were eight stretches of more than a minute of
 full-strength play, but only one stretch of 4:22!!! This is ridiculous!
 
 This will make for a VERY interesting season if this continues. I applaud the
 fact that the NCAA wants to speed up the game, but something isn't working
 here. Have there been any similar problems in the other leagues? And I hope
 you give 'em heck Jack, and keep us updated on the outcome of your
 correspondence with the league and the NCAA.
 
 Carol
 U of M
 Minneapolis-St Paul
 Home of the 1991 WORLD CHAMPION MINNESOTA TWINS!!!!!
 GO Gophers!!!