The five minute major disqulification penalty delivered to UMD's best
defenseman Rick Mrozik 3 minutes into the game on Saturday was not only a
curious call but also wrong.  As I saw it both live and on tape, Dave
Larsen of the Gophers and Mrozik scuffled in front of the net, with Larsen
giving a push punch to Mrozik landing just under his jaw. Mrozik reponded
with a push punch a bit higher and well placed into Larsen's mask. Because
of the new additional game suspensions for fighting and punching, WCHA refs
have allowed much of this stuff not to be called this year, prefering to
give double and even triple minor penalties.  This one should have been a
single 2 minute call.
 
Ben Hankinson delivered three punches inside the UMD net the previous night
with no call.  Dan Trebil, as nasty a player i.e. clean, as Mrozik
delivered a punch at the 13 minute mark of the second period on Saturday
night with no call.  Jay Moser delivered three punches to the back of the
head of a UMD player with no call.
 
What disturbs me about this call, it that such a soft call would never have
been given to the home team Gophers best defensemen at Mariucci.  Neither
would this call be given at the Dane County Colliseum with the Badgers.
What would the reaction of Gopher fans be if in the first few minutes of an
NCAA game if Mike Crowley was thrown out for the game? Could it be just
maybe that one of the reasons for the Gophers not doing so well in the
NCAAs is that neutral referees don't make calls so easily against opposing
teams.
 
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