Concerning the recent penalty-filled SLU-RPI game which I had the dubious distinction of watching ... It was a classical example of frustrations fueled by an ineffective referee. I believe the referee's name was something like Malinowsky. Although the game started off well, not more than 3 whistles to interrupt the first 10 minutes, matters degenerated quickly. Mr. Malinowsky appeared to have a great deal of difficulty keeping calls and numbers straight. As far as I could tell, his ineptitude was at least unbiased - although RPI fans might have a different impression. Here are some typical examples: 1. With RPI on a power play and a general melee in front of the net, a slashing penalty was called on SLU's Daniel Laperriere (No. 2). Laperriere claimed (correctly) that he had been near the point and not involved at all. So the call was switched to SLU's No. 22 (Mike Allain). Unfortunately, he was already in the box serving the original penalty. Well, someone had to go, so in went Laperriere (arguably SLU's top defensemen) and RPI quickly scored its first goal during the 5 on 3 advantage. In actuality, the guilty slasher was most likely the SLU goalie (Les Kuntar- No 1.) so at least the ref was close numerically if nothing else. 2. On a couple of occasions he exhibited a very weak whistle, so that a couple of players heard him but the rest kept going - once resulting in an SLU goal which was properly disallowed and another instance generating a hitting after the whistle call which was tough when the whistle was inaudible. 3. A series of scuffles which broke out with about 3 minutes left and SLU up 6-3 resulted in several matching triple minor penalties, about half of the 10 minute misconducts, a few other penalties to players on both sides, and somehow RPI was awarded a 5 on 3 power play when all was settled. I think most in the crowd were relieved that no game misconducts were issued, although they were probably deserved at that point. 4. Almost all the penalty calls took several minutes to sort out. At one point a penalty was called on "St. Lawrence No. 6", but SLU has no No. 6 on its roster. It looked for a moment as though SLU's No. 9 (Martin Lacroix) might have to serve the penalty standing on his head, but cooler heads prevailed. In defense of Malinowsky several rumors have floated around campus since the game - (a) it was his first game as a referee (at least in the ECAC). (b) he was in an auto accident on his way to SLU - totalling his car and (c) he suffered a concussion and refereed the game anyway. I have no idea if any are accurate. Robin "Stump" Lock RLOCK@STLAWU