DWAYNE NORRIS
I don't think BU and Maine would think Dwayne Norris was too bad of a 5x5
player.  Neither did I.  The guy was incredible in both games and that's all
there is to it.  So what if he gets many of his points on the power play?
Check the stats of some NHL players and you'll see most of the top scorers
get a significant percentage of their points on the power play too.  In fact,
this week's THN has this very stat.  Hull: 40 of 106 pts.  Lemieux: 43 of 115
pts.  Kevin Stevens: 40 of 113 pts.  Roenick: 40 of 96 pts.  Gretzky: 50 of
113 pts.  Norris's 21-14--35 on the power play this season means he has gotten
42.6% of his points on the PP.  That's less than Gretzky's 44.2%.
 
This weekend, Norris had three goals and an assist.  Only one goal came on
the power play, so he found a way to be in on three other goals when the sides
were 5x5.  All were key.  I watched him play two solid *two-way* games, so
either he played better than he has all season or some of you are not giving
him the credit he deserves.  No player gets 82 points without being good,
and it looks to me like he is great when he is at his best.  Regardless, he
was at his best when he needed to be.  BTW, he was not on the ice for any
of the four goals MSU gave up in the two games.  He was on for 5 of the 7
goals MSU scored.
 
On the other hand, the only two times I saw Felsner live were last season's
NC$$ quarterfinal games at BU, and he was nowhere to be found with his team
being outscored 12-2.
 
I'd suspect the truth is that both are excellent players and deserving of
Hobey nomination.  Felsner got it.  Norris did not, and so that's why you're
hearing some people suggest that a mistake was made.
 
INTENTIONAL OFFSIDES
Officiating was not the best in Providence, but the intentional offsides calls
were not wrong.  Every time I saw it called, it was correct.  The rule may
make it seem an inconsistent call, however, and here's why.  It is true that
for there to be an intentional offsides, the puck must be shot in while one
or more teammates are deeper than the top of the circle.  BUT, if a defender
gets the puck immediately and can advance it, the rule explicitly states that
the intentional offsides will NOT be called.  So, sometimes you will see the
puck shot in with players in deep and no call made because an opponent begins
to carry it right back out.
 
Having seen about 60+ Eastern games live this year, I can recall many times
that intentional offsides was called, just for the record - so I don't think
that it is called more often in the West than in the East.  It may just occur
more often.
 
MSU COVERING PUCK IN CREASE
Although I don't have access to the videotape, I do remember the play because
we were discussing it right after it happened, so it didn't go unnoticed.
Joby Messier didn't cover the puck inside the crease, it was just outside of
the crease, so there would be no penalty shot.  At best it would have been
a delay of game penalty.  I also did not think he clearly covered it.  In
response to an earlier posting, hand passes in the defensive zone are okay
in all games, not just Hockey East.  It was kind of funny that each of the
times this happened in the four games, the fans screamed and howled - that
goes to show how many fans don't know the rules, I guess.
 
ROY'S MISCONDUCT
The only team I have been involved with that ever made it into NC$$ play was
Northeastern in 1988, and I distinctly recall that among the things the
players were warned about was showing up the officials.  This was not going to
be tolerated in NC$$ play.  Regardless of whether Roy was right about the
puck crossing the line, he deserved the misconduct IMO.  I don't think what
he said got him the ten as much as his pounding of the glass - whether he meant
to show up the judge or not, it is an act that gives that impression, and
you just can't do that.  You can't lose your composure.
 
14 POWER PLAYS IN FIRST TWO PERIODS, NONE IN THIRD
A bigger reason for this was that Maine opened the game up in the third and
the game was much, much less physical.  When Maine finally did draw a penalty
halfway through the period, Tardif negated it with a bad boarding infraction
that resulted in no power play, so they did have a chance.  The idea of putting
the whistle in the pocket in the third has been debated here before and we
all have our own opinions, but last night it didn't benefit one team more than
the other because I can recall actions committed by players from both teams
in the third that I thought could have drawn a call but didn't.
 
Maine didn't lose because Roy got a misconduct, because Messier didn't get a
penalty for delay, because of the intentional offsides or because of the
lack of calls in the third.  They simply got knocked off their game by a
Spartan team that did something very few teams have done to Maine all year
long - they took the physical play to them.  4 of 5 blemishes Maine suffered
(prior to MSU) were all to teams known for being physical - Wis, BU, NU.  The
better overall team may not have won the game, but the better team that night
did, no question about it.
 
NO EAST IN ALBANY
I would have preferred to be able to see a team in NY that I knew well, like
Maine, UNH or BU, or even SLU although I've only seen them a few times, and I
was pulling for Maine a little to win it all because I know the people up
there have worked hard for a long time and deserve a winner eventually.  But
it's pretty ironic that I believed after H-fest that the biggest step towards
a title would be in Providence, not Albany, and I thought there was a chance
of them being knocked off by a Western team that was ready to play in
Providence.  Although, I thought that team would be NMU when I thought NMU
might get the 5W seed.  After seeing the actual bracket, I changed my mind
because I didn't think MSU had as good of a chance as NMU.  Turns out the
result was the same.
 
Dropping your first NC$$ game hurts a team like Maine more than a team like
BU because Maine expected to go farther than BU, and I know the people in
Maine and team are disappointed.  But I hope they'll come to look back on
the season as being one of great accomplishment with the HE championship,
fifth straight 30-win season, great individual performances that molded a
great team, etc.  And come back and go get 'em next year.
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   mikem@{beanpot,bubba}.ma30.bull.com
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)