DWAYNE NORRIS I don't think BU and Maine would think Dwayne Norris was too bad of a 5x5 player. Neither did I. The guy was incredible in both games and that's all there is to it. So what if he gets many of his points on the power play? Check the stats of some NHL players and you'll see most of the top scorers get a significant percentage of their points on the power play too. In fact, this week's THN has this very stat. Hull: 40 of 106 pts. Lemieux: 43 of 115 pts. Kevin Stevens: 40 of 113 pts. Roenick: 40 of 96 pts. Gretzky: 50 of 113 pts. Norris's 21-14--35 on the power play this season means he has gotten 42.6% of his points on the PP. That's less than Gretzky's 44.2%. This weekend, Norris had three goals and an assist. Only one goal came on the power play, so he found a way to be in on three other goals when the sides were 5x5. All were key. I watched him play two solid *two-way* games, so either he played better than he has all season or some of you are not giving him the credit he deserves. No player gets 82 points without being good, and it looks to me like he is great when he is at his best. Regardless, he was at his best when he needed to be. BTW, he was not on the ice for any of the four goals MSU gave up in the two games. He was on for 5 of the 7 goals MSU scored. On the other hand, the only two times I saw Felsner live were last season's NC$$ quarterfinal games at BU, and he was nowhere to be found with his team being outscored 12-2. I'd suspect the truth is that both are excellent players and deserving of Hobey nomination. Felsner got it. Norris did not, and so that's why you're hearing some people suggest that a mistake was made. INTENTIONAL OFFSIDES Officiating was not the best in Providence, but the intentional offsides calls were not wrong. Every time I saw it called, it was correct. The rule may make it seem an inconsistent call, however, and here's why. It is true that for there to be an intentional offsides, the puck must be shot in while one or more teammates are deeper than the top of the circle. BUT, if a defender gets the puck immediately and can advance it, the rule explicitly states that the intentional offsides will NOT be called. So, sometimes you will see the puck shot in with players in deep and no call made because an opponent begins to carry it right back out. Having seen about 60+ Eastern games live this year, I can recall many times that intentional offsides was called, just for the record - so I don't think that it is called more often in the West than in the East. It may just occur more often. MSU COVERING PUCK IN CREASE Although I don't have access to the videotape, I do remember the play because we were discussing it right after it happened, so it didn't go unnoticed. Joby Messier didn't cover the puck inside the crease, it was just outside of the crease, so there would be no penalty shot. At best it would have been a delay of game penalty. I also did not think he clearly covered it. In response to an earlier posting, hand passes in the defensive zone are okay in all games, not just Hockey East. It was kind of funny that each of the times this happened in the four games, the fans screamed and howled - that goes to show how many fans don't know the rules, I guess. ROY'S MISCONDUCT The only team I have been involved with that ever made it into NC$$ play was Northeastern in 1988, and I distinctly recall that among the things the players were warned about was showing up the officials. This was not going to be tolerated in NC$$ play. Regardless of whether Roy was right about the puck crossing the line, he deserved the misconduct IMO. I don't think what he said got him the ten as much as his pounding of the glass - whether he meant to show up the judge or not, it is an act that gives that impression, and you just can't do that. You can't lose your composure. 14 POWER PLAYS IN FIRST TWO PERIODS, NONE IN THIRD A bigger reason for this was that Maine opened the game up in the third and the game was much, much less physical. When Maine finally did draw a penalty halfway through the period, Tardif negated it with a bad boarding infraction that resulted in no power play, so they did have a chance. The idea of putting the whistle in the pocket in the third has been debated here before and we all have our own opinions, but last night it didn't benefit one team more than the other because I can recall actions committed by players from both teams in the third that I thought could have drawn a call but didn't. Maine didn't lose because Roy got a misconduct, because Messier didn't get a penalty for delay, because of the intentional offsides or because of the lack of calls in the third. They simply got knocked off their game by a Spartan team that did something very few teams have done to Maine all year long - they took the physical play to them. 4 of 5 blemishes Maine suffered (prior to MSU) were all to teams known for being physical - Wis, BU, NU. The better overall team may not have won the game, but the better team that night did, no question about it. NO EAST IN ALBANY I would have preferred to be able to see a team in NY that I knew well, like Maine, UNH or BU, or even SLU although I've only seen them a few times, and I was pulling for Maine a little to win it all because I know the people up there have worked hard for a long time and deserve a winner eventually. But it's pretty ironic that I believed after H-fest that the biggest step towards a title would be in Providence, not Albany, and I thought there was a chance of them being knocked off by a Western team that was ready to play in Providence. Although, I thought that team would be NMU when I thought NMU might get the 5W seed. After seeing the actual bracket, I changed my mind because I didn't think MSU had as good of a chance as NMU. Turns out the result was the same. Dropping your first NC$$ game hurts a team like Maine more than a team like BU because Maine expected to go farther than BU, and I know the people in Maine and team are disappointed. But I hope they'll come to look back on the season as being one of great accomplishment with the HE championship, fifth straight 30-win season, great individual performances that molded a great team, etc. And come back and go get 'em next year. --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] mikem@{beanpot,bubba}.ma30.bull.com (Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)