First, a recap:
 
	Friday, January 3, 1992:
		Wisconsin 	9
		North Dakota	4
 
	Saturday, January 4, 1992:
		Wisconsin	2
		North Dakota	5
 
Friday night, Wisconsin played better than North Dakota, and North
Dakota's defense was terrible, and their goaltending just as bad.
 
Friday night, referee Buzz Christiansen awarded Wisconsin a penalty
shot. At the time, the radio/tv announcers (and probobly the fans at
the game) were confused as to the reason for the call. Last night on
"The Badger Hockey Show with Jeff Sauer," Coach Sauer explained that
the penalty shot was awarded for the goalie throwing his stick to try
and stop Jamie Spencer's shot, not for the defenseman who slid from
behind the play and knocked the goal off, which everyone not on the ice
thought was the call. He also said that Spencer probably should have
taken the shot, but by the time everyone was done arguing, Jason Zent
got to take the shot, which he made.
 
[By the way, this set off lots of speculation about the last time a
Badger MADE a penalty shot (Kurtz missed one last year). I think that
Mike Eaves made one (in the mid-late 70s), on the road, perhaps at one
of the  Michigan schools...  but no one seems to know...]
 
Looking at the replay I wondered if that might have been the case,
since the sliding Souix did look like he might have been trying to
block the shot (but he missed and took the net off. His slide came just
after the stick was thrown or otherwise lost by the goalie...)
 
Gino Gasparini was extremely upset with the call, repeatedly showing
the replay to various local and Wisconsin media people...  Ron Foyt,
WCHA Supervisor of Officials was at the game Friday night.
 
Also friday night, for the first time in a number of years, the first
North Dakota goal resulted in a dead (and bloody) badger being tossed
on the ice. Besides the fact that I am a badger fan, I think that is
disgusting. It was reported that the fan was arrested, and his friends
couldn't make bail, so he spent the night in jail. The game was delayed
a while for cleanup. At the time I thought North Dakota should have
gotten a penalty for delay of game, but I think that was because I was
just mad. Far better that the idiot is arrested... (I know they do the
same thing with gophers when Minnesota plays in Grand Forks, and I
don't think that is any better).
 
Saturday night, the game was not on TV, so all I have to go on is what
I heard on the radio, saw and heard on the TV show last night, and read
in the papers.... Both teams played not-so-good hockey, but North
Dakota had much better defense and goaltending than on Friday night.
Jones (who had come in half-way through Friday's game when the starting
goalie was injured) played very well.  Wisconsin's defense was good,
but not great. On Friday night, Dixon Ward was held to ONE SHOT.
Saturday he had a hat trick and two assists, involved in all 5 North
Dakota goals.
 
North Dakota was up 2-0 at the end of the first period. Wisconsin tied
the game with two goals less than 20 seconds apart in the first minute
of the second period, but that was it for Bucky.
 
Buzzy had a terrible night. Neither coach would say much about it, but
they weren't happy. Buzzy called 4 misconducts (2 each, at different
points in the game) and 3 or 4 bench minors for unsportsmanlike
conduct. One of the North Dakota radio announcers was interviewed
between periods on one of the Wisconsin radio stations... both guys
said Buzzy was doing a terrible job, antagonizing players and coaches.
One said he should give his paycheck to the linesmen, since they made
all the calls. Indeed, on most of his calls Saturday, he blew the
whistle and then asked the linesman what happened. A few times the
linesman made the call directly. At the end of the 2nd period, he made
a bad call and put Wisconsin two men down. Then, with a few seconds to
go in the period, Wisconsin's Joe Harwell tripped a North Dakota player
-- so obviously, that in the words of the Wisconsin radio announcer,
"they almost had to stop the game for him to get his stick back out
from his skate" -- it was stuck in the blade. As a makeup, Buzzy didn't
call it...
 
North Dakota's fourth goal was disputed by the Badgers. There was a
pile up at the side of the net, and suddenly the puck was in the net.
Buzzy didn't see it, had no idea what happened, talked to everyone, and
finally awarded the goal. He also have a rouging minor to the ND player
initially credited with the goal, for throwing a punch after the puck
was in the net (the goal was given to Ward later). Wisconsin claim's
that the net was lifted and the puck went in from the side, and that
there should have been a whistle....
 
Wisconsin was pretty flustered by the officiating and perhaps the
crowd.  Friday night the crowd wasn't in it, but they were there
Saturday. The second semester began Monday, so perhaps more students
were back for Saturday's game.
 
This weekend, Wisconsin travels to Denver. The Pioneers are tied with
CC for last in the WCHA, but can beat anyone in the league if given a
chance... so it won't be a free weekend for the Badgers.
 
	--david
 
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david parter					[log in to unmask]
university of wisconsin -- madison		computer sciences department