Mike Machnik wrote: <A game worked by Frank Cole tends to be one in which the teams are allowed to play. Some referees always call things tightly, but Cole seems to be a supporter of clean physical hockey (emphasis on clean). He'll let go a lot of incidental stuff, on both sides, as long as the game stays under control. But if things get out of hand, you may suddenly see a lot of trips to the box by both teams. I think I have seen enough of Cole et al to say that the way the game is called will be dictated by how the teams play. If things get a bit chippy and a lot of calls are made, I won't be surprised to hear some HOCKEY-Lers jump all over them, but in these cases it is often the teams' style of play that leads to penalties being called.< I really respect Mike's posts, so this is in no way meant to criticize his opinion of Frank Cole. He's certainly seen him referee much more than I have. Cole worked the MSU-Wisconsin game last Friday with Scott Leavitt, and the way they called the game was pretty similar to the way I've seen Cole work in the past: lots of whistles early to establish HIS presence, then put the whistle away. Of the 16 penalties called, 8 to each team, 7 were in the first 9:33 of the game and 13 in the first 29:09. Two of the early penalties were "phantom calls," according to a referee observer at the game. There were coincidentals at 8:43 of the third and a UW penalty at 19:21. The pattern was pure Frank Cole. Make of it as you will. Cole and Leavitt also worked the Minnesota-Colorado College game. There were 19 penalties called, 8 against Minnesota, 11 against CC. Again, there were 7 calls in the first 5:58. That's a very Frank Cole pattern to me. But maybe it's just my imagination. Steve Klein Lansing State Journal See you in Providence...