It was brought up in both newspapers here today (Mpls) that the officiating was horrid during the Championship game. Mostly they were pointing fingers at the refs in the ECAC as the two refs in question did the NMU-Mich quarter- final game in Detroit and then McCongahy in Albany. Here is part of the article from the Star Tribune written by John Gilbert. For Lake Superior State, and for college hockey in general, the ugliness at the end of the NCAA hockey final left a black eye on what should have been a major showcase for the sport. After beating Wisconsin 5-3 before 12,491 fans and a national television audience, even the Lakers' celebration in the dressing room seemed subdued. The 1992 championship at Albany's Knickerbocker Arena will be remembered more for Wisconsin's hassles with referee Tim McConaghy than for Lake Superior State's big victory for small schools. At the end of the penalty-filled game, the officials, who had been using the Badgers bench exit as their route to their dressing room, hurried off through the Lakers bench. Wing Blaine Moore was one of several Badgers who went after McConaghy, and when Moore reportedly reached over the boards after McConaghy with his stick, he instead struck linesman Marty DeMers who had intervenened in the walkway. NCAA officials reportedly are considering punitive action against the Badgers for their behavior. McConaghy, a referee from the ECAC where games generally are less physical than games in the west, had called enough penalties to make the Badgers two men short twice and LSSU once in the first period, when the Badgers took a 2-0 lead on two of Jason Zent's three goals. In the second period, McConaghy called five straight penalties on the Badgers, twice more causing them to be two men short, once for 45 seconds and once for 1:15, and the Lakers came back to tie the score at 2-2. Although the Lakers also had penalties -- 10 minors to Wisconsins 13 --the Badgers also got the first two penalties of the third period, and with each penalty the Badgers seemed to lose their tempers and any hope of winning. As for all the penalties, (Laker coach) Jackson added: "You've got to realize that you're dealing with young men who are real emotional ... and *old* men who are real emotional. I think the difference was that we learned something from our loss last year to Clarkson; this time we kept our emotional control." Jackson went out of his way after the game to praise the officiating. -----end quoted material------ Saturday after the game I was at one of the media suites at the Hilton and the only topic of conversation was the officiating and how poor they thought it was. One comment that particularly amused me, was that so-and-so thought that this McConaghy was better than Ron Foyt (who happens to be the WCHA supervisor of officials) and the reply was "That's not saying much." The other comment that was overheard was that "When was the last time you were at a hockey game and the officials were the first ones off the ice with a four-bodyguard escort!" Now I personally didn't see any of the disputed actions of the Badgers because I was sitting behind the opposite net, but I am curious to see the tape of the game now and may watch it sooner than I had planned this week. Carol