Pardon me if I sound depressed, but I feel this way after every NCAA; no more
hockey until October!! Sure, there are those other guys that play for money,
but where is that idealism of NCAA hockey where money isn't a factor at all :-)
 
Congrats to UMich. No-one handed them a championship, they worked hard for
it this weekend.
 
Also congrats to Vermont, and Cornell for enhancing ECAC respectability.
And even congrats to Clarkson (you don't know how hard it is for an RPI grad
to say that, maybe I better send this anonymously). When I saw the NCAA
seedings, I thought that the ECAC might get embarassed again, but all
three teams proved they could skate with anyone.
 
After spending 2 steamy nights at the Knick watching live hockey and then
watching the action from Cincinnati on TV, I know why I'll renew my
season tickets at the RPI Field House again next year (been there every
year since 1965). There are some things TV can't do and hockey is one
of them.
 
My hopes for next year (we'll leave RPI prognostications out of this :-)
 
1. Go back to one ref & two linesmen in the ECAC. Yes, one referee will
    miss more calls than two, but the refs have such different styles, that
    having two refs with different styles just confuses the players and
    the fans. Some missed calls are better than the inconsistency I've seen
    for the past few years.
 
2. Change the rules regarding pushing the net off the pegs. While I certainly
    do NOT advocate the old, unmovable nets, it seems that the standard
    defense calls for pushing an opponent into the net whenever the
    opposing team is pressuring. While there is a rule for delay of game
    for this type of thing, it is never enforced (at least in the ECAC).
 
3. Establish standards for referees across the country rather than league
    by league. There are some CCHA refs that go by the philosophy that
    anything legal in the WWF should be legal in hockey. There are some
    in the ECAC that treat hockey as a non-contact sport. While this
inconsistency may be acceptable in league play, it detracts from
    inter-league play and can really detract from NCAA tournaments.
 
4. Since there seems to be tv coverage of the NCAA each year, institute
    an instant replay for the referees when a goal is scored. I must admit
    that, after seeing the replays on ESPN, those refs were seldom wrong.
    I read several people comment on the CC-UVM game winning goal.
    People have watched and re-watched the goal and some swear a clean goal
and     some swear a hand-pass.
    I watched it dozens of times and I just can't tell.
 
And in conclusion:
 
 Thanks to Laura Bernardini for telling me why Vermont is called UVM.
   I've been watching college hockey for 30 years and always wondered why
   they weren't just UV.
 
 Thanks to the Albany Sports Foundation for lobbying the NCAA to bring
   quality hockey to the Knick. (If you can only get the ECAC's out of
   Lake Placid and into the Knick).
 
 Thanks to all you crazy people at the RPI Field House that make me go
   back year after year. You're like family. I love you, man !(Boy, I
   better lay off this Bud Light ;-).
 
 Thanks to all you hockey phreaks who post all this info to the list.
  Even though the capital district of NY is home to both RPI and Union,
  newspaper coverage of other college hockey is slim. If I had
  to rely on local papers, I wouldn't know the WCHA and CCHA existed.
 
Now that I've buttered you all up, I've got a question (two actually):
 
Did I hear correctly during the UMich-CC game that CC got a boarding penalty
in the center ice face off circle? What is the definition of boarding anyway?
 
Also, what is the rule regarding coincidental minors? Sometimes the teams
go 4 on 4, other times they stay 5 on 5. There must be some rule behind
it but it sure escapes me.
 
Mark Lewin
Class of '69
 
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