As some of you may have heard, the Twin Cities got a little snow the last few days (28 inches). The Minnesota/St. Cloud game on Saturday night started 30 minutes late because the St. Cloud team bus broke down about a mile from the arena after a two hour trip (which normally takes 1 hour). Ron Foyt, the WCHA officals supervisor, was in attendance. No reference was made during the on-ice/off-ice officals meeting about specific on ice penalty situations. It was emphasized, though, that they are concerned about getting the game and succeding periods started on time. Teams that fail to leave the lockerrooms at the prescribed times will be assessed bench minors. This will be enforced more strictly than in past years. Both teams complied and didn't play any cat and mouse games. I hope this keeps up all year. Now if only the officials will control their whistles and games will really get shorter. The game lasted 2 hours and 25 minutes which wasn't bad considering the first period took 37 minutes to play 20 minutes. Many penalties were called by referee Jim Burlew (I think Carol White said there were 12 penalties in the first period). Without seeing the official game stats I would say there were only about 5 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey during the period. The penalties do sometimes allow for some exciting hockey. Scott Bell of Minnesota scored 2 short handed goals which really got the announced crowd of 6900 pro-Minnesota fans going. Minnesota played well after the first period in route to a 7-2 victory. Maybe Carol or Erik can provide more game details. From my vantage point and due to my game responsibilities I missed some of the goals and and penalty calls. -- John J. Feigal phone: (612) 638-7834 NCR Network Products Group email: [log in to unmask] 2700 Snelling Avenue North St. Paul, MN 55113