John An writes: >Craig Lisko wrote: >>Of course fans are going to try to do anything they can to agitate a >>goaltender, but as long as its within the bounds of sanity, pretty much >>anything goes. >>Having had the luxury of playing at Munn, their fans are so kind to the >>opposing goaltender. They have songs, but one of the classics is the sieve >>that gets thrown on the ice when MSU scores their first goal. Thank >>goodness I won more games than I lost at MSU. But its all part of the >>"atmosphere" that I would consider acceptable. >I agree that fan support and heckling is an integral part of the game (we >Cornell fans were, and hopefully still are, good at heckling). The sieve that >gets thrown on the ice is AFTER a goal. I does not interfere with the game. >However, wouldn't you say that pointing a laser pointer at the goalie's face >BEFORE a shot goes beyond the boundary, and actually detracts from the >"atmosphere" of the game? Of course, Cornell fans also wave their arms during a faceoff to distract the goalie. I agree that there's a boundary to be drawn here, but I think it's between having a psychological and a physical impact on the game. It's like in a football game, where a crowd making so much noise that the visitors feel demoralized, or perhaps even distracted, is acceptable, but a crowd making so much noise that the visitors simply cannot hear their signals, or throwing snowballs or dog bones at the players, is not. John Whelan, Cornell '91 Official Scorer/PA Announcer U of Utah Ice Hockey Club <[log in to unmask]> <http://www.cc.utah.edu/~jtw16960/joe.html> HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.