Brian Sprague writes:
>Mike Machnik pointed out the mistake made by Mike Tuell and Jim Villandry
>concerning penalties.  He mentioned that Tuell and Villandry stood firmly
>by their decision to have the penalties offset each other and play 5 on
>5.
 
Slight clarification - with two minors on one player and one on the
other, they played 4x4 for 2:00 and then the 5x4 began.
 
>I know the decision was wrong, but as one who played in many high
>school games refereed by Mike Tuell, I can say that he always made quick,
>firm decisions and stood by them, as any referee should.  He's the best
>referee I have had for any game I played in.
 
Well, my intent was not to disparage Mike Tuell...just to point out
that a mistake was made and that even referees are still making errors
on this situation.  I've only seen Tuell as a linesman before, and
he's always done a good job.
 
>In this case, though, the
>officials should have seen their error and corrected it.
 
What surprised me was that we had two referees who apparently agreed
on an incorrect decision, at the same time that both coaches and the
scorer were trying to correct it.
 
>Another note:
>I always thought the referee(s) at all levels had a pocket-size copy of
>the official rules on hand for every game.  Is this not true?
 
In the NC$$, it is the referee's responsibility to have a copy of the
rule book on the scorer's bench at all times (rule 3-1-e).  I do not
know for certain that one was there, but it did not appear that the
rule book was looked at by Tuell and Villandry.
 
>Does anyone have any comments on how the officiating was for the
>Merrimack/ Air Force game, besides the penalty mistake?
 
I only know of one other person here who was at the game, so I will
offer a few comments.  Air Force coach Chuck Delich and his staff did
not seem pleased with the officiating, especially in some borderline
offsides calls in the first period against Air Force - but the
linesman was right there to make the call and all of the offsides they
complained about were at the line even with the Merrimack bench, and
they appeared to be the right calls.
 
They were displeased with a third period interference call on Stephen
Maturo after what I thought was an obvious dive.  And a penalty for
too many men to Air Force earlier in the third drew their ire, and
Merrimack went on to take a 5-3 lead on the ensuing man advantage.
But I had an excellent view and the call here was absolutely the
correct one; the referee who made the call (forget which one) was in
position to see it too and whistled it immediately.
 
So, the officiating was perhaps sub-par, but I did not think it
affected the outcome, which is why I hardly mentioned it during my
game recap.  The game was exciting and entertaining for the fans.
 
The mistake on the offsetting minors actually worked to Air Force's
advantage, because they wound up with some good 4x4 chances and then a
power play, but they did not score.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93