UW-Eau Claire took 3 out of 4 points from the Pointers this weekend. They tied at Eau Claire Firday night at 6-6 OT. Saturday night, Eau Claire whupped us on our home ice 5-3 (Last goal eampty net). What can I say but "We wuz robbed!" Seriously, I do have a few strong comments to make about this game. First, Eau Claire and Point played largely even throughout the night, even though the Pointers outshot them by a wide margin (after two periods, we led in shots on goal 42 to 16). Both sides got good scoring opportunities and the second by Eau Claire was a thing of beauty. On a 2 on 2 break, the EC players worked a passing combination that faked the Point goalie out of his shorts. This seems to the EC strong point - excellent, smooth passing. EC is the surprise of the season in the NCHA; if I remember right, preseason they were picked to end up last. They are now 8-2-1 overall and may be the team to beat this year. My hat's off to an excellent coaching job. Their goalie was also supurb. I saw him make a glove save at point-blank range on a hard shot that I still don't believe. Point played well too. Stong offense, great penalty killing, twice killing off 5 on 3 advantages, and Chin was excellent in goal despite the loss. One goal came while an EC man literally lay on top of him in the crease (I guess he must have been pushed there), one on a deflected screen shot, one I mentioned above, and one an empty net. So where did that 5th goal come from? I'm glad you asked. EC's 4th goal was called by the line-judge and nobody else. Chin had made a glove save out of the air, no red light, no celebra- tion by EC, until they saw the ref pointing. Then a 5 minute break while they talked it over (never checking with the goal judge, incidentally) and allowed it. I'm out at the blue-line, not the best seat in the house to call it, but it sure didn't look like a goal. From my angle, Chin was in front of the goal line and did not reach back for the puck. I hope somebody's still reading this. My strong comments involve the officiating. This may have been the poorest called game I have ever seen. And it went both ways. If EC had lost, they probably would have left feeling they had been robbed. I have seen this crew before and was not impressed. Last night went beyond the twilight zone. They called penalties nobody else saw (this crew does not let the players "play hockey"), failed to call BLATANT penalties right in front of them, called things inconsistently, etc. I'll tell you how bad it was - you all know how you cheer when the opposing team has a penalty? At least 3 times a penalty was called on EC and the crowd just sat on their hands; everybody looks around at everybody else saying "Did you see anything?" Once, after a save, after the whistle, dead time, an EC player spearing the Point goalie in the crotch while Chin was flat on his back. This brought a strong response, but the official was Johnny on the spot and kept everyone separate. Please note: Chin never even managed to get to his feet (he as in some pain). So what happened? Coincidental roughing penalties on the EC and on Chin! Hell, he couldn't even touch the other guy, who was an instigator and should have gotten a game misconduct. As I said, it went both ways. The hockey was even and EC deserved the win, and if Point had won I would have said Point deserved the win. The officials deserve something else again. If anybody in Div I has read this far, don't think you have all the bad officials. Tom Rowe Internet: [log in to unmask] ****************************************************************************** Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation Henry Kissinger ******************************************************************************