Bob Gilrath writes:
 
>One thing the paper mentions is that All american defenseman Chris si
>McAlpine of the gophers was ejected at 15:27 of the first period,
>a victem of the WCHA's more stringent fighting rules enacted this
>season for throwing a punch..................This is the first I've
>heard of these new anti fighting rules in the WCHA  anybody out there
>have any more details????
 
It wasn't much of a fight but Chris did throw a punch right in front of the
referee.  , which wasn't a smart move.  Here's an excerpt from the article
in the Minneapolis Star Tribune by John GIlbert:
 
<<begin quote>>
 
As hockey scuffles go, this one wasn't much, and as they parted, McAlpine
added one last little jab.   WCHA referee supervisor Ron Foyt, working the
game as one of the two referees, penalized only McAlpine, with a 5-minute
major for fighting and a game disqualification.
 
"I couldn't believe it," said McAlpine, who said he would be embarrassed to
have that last jab called a punch.  "I've hit guys 10 times harder than
that, and been hit 10 times harder than that, more times than I can remember
in the past three years."
 
Foyt's official interpretation after the game was that the Tech player's
part in the altercation was "more of a push," while McAlpine "retaliated
with a blow or an attempted blow."
 
In an exhibition game, statistics do not count, and the victory or loss do
not show up on the teams' records.  But McAlpine must sit out Friday's WCHA
opener at Colorado College because of the disqualification.  [Minnesota
coach Doug] Woog was not pleased at the apparent attempt to stress a
crackdown on after-the-whistle problems.
 
"Why don't they just call the game?" Woog asked?  "Everybody knows what
fighting is," he added, meaning the incident in question wasn't a fight.
 
Tech coach Bob Mancini said: "I told Doug if there is anything I can do to
help, I will, because I don't see any reason why somebody should miss a game
over an incident like that in an exhibition game."
 
<<end of quoted material>>
 
My opinion?  Ron Foyt overreacted, calling a major where a minor plus a
misconduct penalty would have been sufficient to make his point.
 
-- Erik