Tony Buffa asked about the difference between eastern and western
officiating and I would like to put my $.02 worth in.  I follow BGSU in
the CCHA so I've seen every team in the league play at least once and the
only eastern game I've seen was the BU vs. Mass-Lowell playoff game a few
weeks ago.  It seemed to me that the refs let a lot of stuff go that
would have been called as a penalty by CCHA refs.  I also noticed that
the linesmen would blow their whistle early on icing calls when it looked
like somebody could have gotten to it before it crossed the line.  There
is also a lot more clutching and grabbing in the CCHA(I don't know about
teams in the WCHA) while there seems to be more open skating with the
eastern teams.  So if Minnesota is like any of the CCHA teams, look for
clutching and grabbing in order to slow down RPI.  If you have WCHA refs,
you might want to expect them to call more penalties.
 
  By the way, I need to toss this in.  While watching the BU- Mass-Lowell
game, I was able to see Greg Bullock play for the first time.  Now don't
get me wrong, Bullock is a good player with a lot of skill with the puck,
but he doesn't seem to have any discipline.  He has over 100 penalty
minutes and I saw it when he skated around BU's net after the whistle had
blown with the goalie covering the puck and drove his knee right into the
head of the BU goalie.  I know Bullock is a Hobey Baker candidate, but
actions and penalty minutes like that takes away his chances to win it.
Imagine what he could have done if he would have stayed out of the sin bin!!
 
Holzinger for Hobey Baker!!!!!