Tonight, Northeastern and Merrimack tied, 2-2, with NU winning the
shootout 1-0.  More details later.  However, there was an interesting
twist to the shootout, as new situations seem to pop up all the time.
 
1:20 into OT, NU's Hart Webb was called for a misconduct.  He was
injured at center ice and when the whistle was blown (as NU was
breaking in on a 2x1 with a chance to win the game), Webb got up and
vociferously complained to referee John Gravellese.  Gravellese would
have none of it, but when Webb used that four letter word (I can read
lips :-)) that is bound to get you in trouble, Gravellese gave him 10
and Webb went to the sin bin for the rest of the OT.
 
In the press box, we wondered if this meant Webb could not take part
in the shootout.  MC SID Jim Seavey thought he should be able to,
since the ending of the game effectively terminated the penalty, and I
agreed.  However, when Jim called down to the scorer's table and asked
them to have Gravellese verify this, the answer came back that no,
Webb was not eligible for the shootout.
 
So Webb watched the shootout from the penalty box.  I don't know if he
would have been one of the players selected, but he might have
been...however, NU coach Ben Smith didn't seem to argue this, and the
Huskies won the SO anyway.
 
I am not aware that a situation like this has happened before.  I
expected that if a player received a DQ, then he would not have been
eligible for the SO.  But a misconduct does not cause a player to be
removed from the game, and I don't see a difference between this and a
situation where a player receives a minor that still has time left on
it when the game ends.
 
Anyway, something to ponder.  Webb should have known better than to
get himself into this mess with his team still fighting to win a tough
game on the road.
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Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93