Wow! Howard is some amazing!! What a game! I'd sure like to see those BC games coming up! I watched the game on television which had the advantage of replays. In my opinion, with some experience as a hockey coach and player, most of the penalties are the result of the refs trying to figure out how to call the game, and the players trying to figure out how the refs are calling the game. Every game is a little different in that regard. Now most good refs, (my opinion of "good" coming up) are the ones that let the players play with as few penalties as possible and at the same time keep the game under control. The disadvantage of this is that there are a lot of calls that could be made that the refs let go. Human nature is such that when you're really pulling for a team you tend to see the hooks and trips that the other team is getting away with much better than those of your team. So when the ref finally does make a call it seems unfair. And that's mostly it, it "seems" that way. And of course it's complicated by the fact that the refs for college games just aren't as good as the NHL refs. They're not as consistent and they miss calls and sometimes they just don't see the play as well as they might have. The notion that the refs are unfair and are making calls to help one team or another is very unlikely. The whole main goal in reffing is making sure that the game is fair. I know it sure doesn't look that way sometimes but you can be sure that if there was a biased ref out there it would become pretty obvious after awhile. And all the refs are periodically evaluated reffing actual games. I figure that the coaches and the players on the ice are a better judge about a particular call than I am. If the players and the coaches aren't complaining then I figure the call was probably was ok. Nevertheless it still "appears" that the other team is getting away with a lot more than my team. Like I said: human nature. Retaliation is an ongoing part of the game. Sometimes it happens on the same play and sometimes the next and sometimes the next period or even the next game. If you retaliate with a high stick etc. it's still a penalty and is more often seen than the original infraction. Sometimes a really hard hit is completely legal but retaliation still occurs. A penalty is still a penalty. And you're right there is certainly something to be said for discipline. Now what I would do to make hockey a better game would be to call ALL the hooking in accordance with the rule book. According to the book if you retard a players progress AT ALL with the stick it's hooking. So I would suggest that any intentional use of the stick to retard a player should be called. There would be a lot of whistles for awhile but after the learning curve was realized it would be a better game. Same for the NHL. Oh, and by the way, while I'm on the soapbox here, according to the rule book, a trip is a trip, and it doesn't matter if you get your stick on the puck or not. Even the NHL announcers don't even seem to know this rule! The refs do however, and they call it. GO BLUE!!! BEAT BC!! -----Original Message----- From: Zerb [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 4:50 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Penalties..... Listening to the game on the internet, the ice sounded slanted during most of the game, and the reported SOG seemed to reflect this. Not seeing the game, I ask those of you who were there-> were the whistles against MAINE a result of relaliations? If so, then discipline is in order (right Coach?) because the schedule is only going to get tougher from here on in. All things considered, come on now, remember : The Boston teams have a knack,,,,,,, no......always had the talent in sucking a player into responding to a cheap shot... and New Hampshire is really a suburb of Mass., now isn't it? r/ Zerb ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Hill" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2002 1:59 AM > About 10 minutes left in the third and I have one question. Why are we in the damn box so much this year. This problem will only get worse if not corrected early in the season. IMHO >