I was not on Hockey-L over the weekend, so I haven't read any comments about last weekend's Hockey East Championship game, but before we get too far into the NCAA discussions, I'd like to just add a few thoughts on the final game Saturday night. NOTE: Even though I am a BC student and a lifelong PC fan, I think that I can objectively look at this since it's been almost 48 hours since the conclusion of the game (or at least I hope so!). Anyway, I've seen a lot of college hockey games, and some of them (of course) had their fair share of less-than-adequate officiating. Every hockey fan knows that there'll be at least one or two games each season where the officials will just have a "bad night." It happens to even the best of referees... ..but NO game in recent memory had the amount of absolutely biased, total garbage calls I've EVER seen than the PC-BU Hockey East final at Boston Garden on Saturday. My friends (one of whom goes to BU) and I were shocked--along with the rest of the crowd we were sitting with (mostly PC and Maine fans)--at the amazingly inept calls of refs John Gravelese, Frank Cole and linesman Jones on Saturday night. For those that weren't there, here are just a few of the examples: 1. A "too many men on the ice" call with 3 minutes left IN REGULATION on Providence, who was trailing 3-2 at the time. The call came when PC was taking a line change--the kind of call that could be made on virtually ANY team at ANY given point when they take a line change, IF the ref was actually looking for it. But in a championship game, with THREE MINUTES LEFT????? Give me a break! 2. At least two occasions where BU was offside by a few FEET (I was sitting directly on the blue-line) and no offside call was made. Admittedly, Jones was hit in the back on Friday night, and hit in the head on Saturday night--maybe he didn't know WHAT he was looking at. 3. One PC player was decked right in front of BU goalie Derek Herlofsky (and the official) as the puck was carried out of the BU end, yet no call was made. Indicative of how things had gone all night, the officials then made a call on a PC defenseman after a BU player took a dive. (Incidentally, does anyone notice that BU players take more dives than the Olympic Diving Team? Mike Grier, in particular, should get an Oscar). 4. PC's Chad Quenville carried one puck from the Terrier blue-line right to the back of the BU net as he was being held up by 2 BU players, neither of whom could keep up with his speed. I haven't seen such a perfect example of intereference all year, yet it wasn't called. (The fact that it was so obvious, coming right in front of the officials, made it even worse). 5. The very first penalty of the game came when a BU player ran INTO Providence goaltender Bob Bell, obviously looking for a penalty--and got one because Bell had his blocker up at the time, and the BU player did another acting job to get a call from an (easily convinced) group of officials. 6. One PC odd-man breakout was called off when a BU player--down on the ice in the Terrier end--decided to PUT HIS HEAD DOWN when he saw that a PC breakout was about to take place. No one who saw it will deny it, either; he may have been shaken up, but he had his head UP after he got hit, and then quickly put it down and put on another Award-winning performance when he saw that the Friars had the numbers down ice. (Incidentally, he quickly got up when the refs blew the play dead). Even though the officials made 1 "make-up" call for PC, their calls overall clearly stacked the odds against them. So, what does it all amount to? Well, BU still probably deserved to win the game...PC waited too long to play catch-up, and they were especially tentative during the first half of the game, enabling the Terriers to apply too much offensive pressure. However, I believe that the officials hampered PC's attempts at a comeback (most significantly during the 3rd period, of course), and called one of the most one-sided games I've ever seen. PC may not have won the game, but the officials certainly aided BU's cause by--inadvertantly or otherwise--calling such a game. Regardless, everyone else in the country should be happy that BU (barely) squaked out the victory. The way PC was playing in the last few weeks of the season, I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be the team that ended up playing them in the NCAAs! BU's win got them the #1 Eastern seed, and kept a team playing some of the best hockey right now of ANY team in the country, out of the Big Dance. Well, I'm already for next season...watch out in '95-'96, BU!!! Andy Dursin Boston College '97 THE FRIARS WILL RETURN!