I was going to post this before I read all the other articles, and now I'm
sort of glad that others have noticed the same things.
 
 
1st, based on what I have seen, I absolve Frank Cole from this discussion.
  It is still my opinion that he is the best ref in Hockey East.  Having
  seen him in many, many games (about 1/3 not involving BU), he has always
  impressed me as the most consistent ref.  He is better than most NHL refs,
  and he is the only ref who, when I see it one way and he sees it the other,
  I trust his opinion and believe he is right.  <Go back and watch a game tape
  after a game in which you think he made bad calls... you'll find that 9 times
  out of 10, he was right>
 
 
2nd, I was one of the people defending Hockey East officials last year as the
  best in college hockey (I still believe ther *were*).
 
Now to the point:  Having watched 5 games involving BU and 2 that did not, I
  am very upset by the new trend/early season problems being seen in Hockey
  East officiating this year.   In an effort to call the lesser penalties,
  potentially injurious penalties are being ignored.
 
  ex. - In this weekend's NU-BU series, on both nights, anytime a player from
    either team dove (and I mean there were some *BAD* dives on both sides)
    after entering the offensive zone, the ref would immediately call it.
    When NU did it it was upsetting, when BU did it it was embarrassing.
    <But they were being called!>
 
  ex 2. - in the same series, on Friday night, Prendergast was boarded pretty
    badly while on his knees facing the boards in the corner.  Even though he
    had to be helped off with a concussion, there was no call, not even 2 min.
    In the same game, Shane Johnson was high-sticking and punching people from
    NU... he never got called for it.
 
Over the earlier 2 weeks, what was being called and what wasn't was almost
  completely unpredictable.  I remember one series (BU vs Lowell or Maine???)
  when Rich Brennan was called for a penalty when he bumped an opposing player
  and the player dove near the boards in front of BU sec 8 (pretty bad acting)
  and then, when BU was shorthanded, Kaj Linna blatantly cross-checked, held,
  interfered with, and a few other things to an opponent yet did not get
  called.
 
It also seemed that if BU breathed on many Lowell players, they got called, yet
  when they were mugging Bullock, there was never a call.  Isn't the NHL
  mentality to protect the big names and ignore the lesser players, not the
  other way around?!?  :-)
 
 
 
I guess what I'm saying is that, in the effort to call the little stuff, the
  Hockey East officials this year are missing many potentially injurious
  penalties.
 
I hope they figure it out soon and get a good balance so that the consistency
  I have come to expect (Leavitt not included, who, by the way, is not looking
  as bad this year compared to how many are handling the start of a new season)
  can return to Hockey East.  If nothing else, boarding, high sticking, and
  butt-ending (something I have not seen, thank god) must always be called,
  no matter what the situation nor how inexperienced the ref.
 
 
 
Just my 2 cents (or $1.50 as the case may be) on the early-season troubles of
  the Hockey East offials.
 
 
Tony  BU'92'93
Former Ogre
 
 
 
PS - Just for the record, I do not think the bad officiating has cost anyone
the game in any of the games I've seen.  Maybe a goal here or there, but the
games *seem*, for the most part, to have been decided by good play or bad
play.