I have quoted parts of an article in the Star Tribune this morning by John
 Gilbert which discusses the number of penalties and game times for the WCHA
 games held this past weekend. Also included are opinions on the new NC$$ rule
 concerning the calling of coincidental minors and not skating short.
 
 AS NHL CLEANS UP ITS ACT, 'U', NORTH DAKOTA MIX IT UP -- But official does not
 see rough play as part of any WCHA trend. By Staff Writer John Gilbert -----
 
 In its first three weeks, the NHL has effectively eliminated most of the
 fighting, holding, interference and high-sticking that had become prevalant.
 After only one weekend of WCHA play, fans watching the Gophers and North
 Dakota had to wonder if college hockey had lost its claim of being cleaner and
 faster than the NHL.
 
 Ron Foyt, the WCHA supervisor of officials, said that other WCHA games didn't
 have the same problem -- that Saturday's 8-4 Gophers victory/penalty-fest was
 just an abberation between two heated rivals. Gophers coach Doug Woog said he
 hopes so, but said the Gophers will play as physically as the officiating
 and/or the opposition dictates.
 
 "All I know is our game on Saturday was so long that some people were leaving
 before it ended," Woog said Wednesday.
 
 There were 54 penalties, which dragged the game out to 3 hours, 13 minutes.
 Foyt said there wasn't much roughness in other league games. even though a lot
 of penalties were called. There were 37 penalties in the first St Cloud State
 - Wisconsin game and 36 in the second Colorado College - Michigan Tech game.
 Minnesota-Duluth and Denver didn't have as many penalties, but the games
 lasted 3:03 and 2:54, another concern.
 
 "The thing that bothered me the most was the hitting from behind," Woog said.
 "There was a lot of it, so we had to adapt. We made a stand early in the
 second game, and we had to be meaner and nastier in our approach. It was like
 a Junior A game. They'd been putting their sticks on us all through the first
 game, and we probably put our sticks on them more (the second game). We had to
 do it to survive, and we'll have to keep doing it unless it gets controlled."
 
 Foyt said that if there had been only a few penalty calls, he might agree that
 the officials didn't try to control the game. But with 54 penalties, the
 two-referee system instituted for college hockey this season got a workout.
 The effectiveness of two referees could be defused by looser enforecement, as
 well as by adopting what the NHL called the "Gretzky rule".
 
 When Wayne Gretzky first rose to dominance at Edmonton, the Oilers would score
 freely whenever fewer players were on the ice, such as in four-on-four or
 three-on-three settings. So the NHL passed a rule that teams would remain at
 full strength when coincidental penalties were called. Rougher teams tend to
 take more penalties when trying to stop teams with more finesse, so while the
 intent might have been to limit Gretzky's effectiveness, it also contributed
 to more rowdy play.
 
 Ironically, the NHL has rescinded the Gretzky rule to emphasize finesse, but
 the colleges *adopted* that rule. The WCHA vote was 8-1 -- with the Gophers
 the only team voting to make offending teams play short.
 
 A player being called for a penalty might try to entice an opponent into
 retaliating. "With the Gretzky rule, there's no deterrent to taking a penalty
 if you can get somebody to go off with you," Woog said.
 
 North Dakota coach Gino Gasparini said the old rule "favored teams with
 offensive strength and back-end (defensive) skill. Coincidental calls might be
 good, put the game back in five-on-five. The two referee system might lead to
 more calls, but the coincidental calls take referees out of the game a little
 more."
 
 Foyt said he could see both sides. "I was for it, because we had a lot of
 four-on-three or four-on-four play," he said. "But the coincidental rule
 throws punishment out of whack. We've just got to get the guys to call the
 first one when it's obvious, because otherwise the only deterrent is that the
 penalized player is missing ice time." <end of quoted material>
 
 I agree with Foyt, the referees will have to try harder to call the instigator
 instead of the retaliator or both parties. I hope that he will work with his
 referees to bring about something that will help the game.
 
 -Carol