Pioneers 3 - Sioux 0 - No Dasher Dancing tonight.

I re-watched the game from the Malone hit on and UND out played DU all weekend long and the Pioneers freshman goaltender stole the show for the Pioneers tonight. While UND played good this weekend the Fighting Sioux have a lot of hard work to do to get better and make a run towards the title this season. Say what you want about George Gwozdeky while he might come across to Sioux fans as an arrogant and pompous prick that has the WCHA officials in his back pocket, George is a hell of a coach and he has out coach UND Fighting Sioux head hockey coach Dave Hakstol once again. While the Goaltending was OK tonight, the defense made mistakes a key times that cost the Fighting Sioux.

Good hockey teams and coaches make adjustments and move on and in this case the Sioux made adjustments, however, so did the opposition. Denver reminds me of Cornell University and when they get the lead they clamp it down and play the trap. Denver did the same thing tonight, they lined up on the blue line and made it difficult to get across into the offensive zone.

Buffoon’s in stripes

Edit: Thanks to Whistler for correcting me on the officials for last night's game. None the less, I really had it with the refs in this league, they really are the worst of the worst, a perpetual gong show or a buffoonery in action. Last night Brian Thul, Tom Sterns had a bad night and should sit for their effort this weekend. This crew is almost as bad as the clown Zelkin that was on the ice for the screw job in the mile high city last November. Here is your text book definition of a buffoon.

A clown; a jester: a court buffoon.
2. A person given to clowning and joking.
3. A ludicrous or bumbling person; a fool.

The refs in this league have to be more accountable and do a better job, the fans and the member schools must demand better before the refs will get better. At the tail end of the game there were many obvious infractions that should have been called penalties that would have given the Sioux the power play. The blatant missed penalty/call on Zucker at the end of the first period was a blatant spear on the Fighting Sioux defenseman Chay Genoway and should have given the Fighting Sioux a 5 minute major power play. Obviously the first two minutes would have been negated by Hextall’s moment of stupidity where he took an ill advised roughing penalty on Pioneer defenseman/hack John Lee.

More on the hit

Here is what resident Sioux hater Denver Post beat writer Mike Chambers had to say about the Malone hit, notice that there is no indication from Chambers that he thought the hit was malicious or dirty, trust me he would have said so if thought the hit was dirty. [click to watch the video]

Denver Post --- DU senior center Jesse Martin has just been wheeled off the ice in a stretcher after being hit by North Dakota senior Brad Malone, an Avalanche draft pick.

Malone crushed Martin parallel to the boards, as Martin was trying to skate the puck up ice, out of the defensive zone. He had his head down. No penalty was immediately called, but while emergency crews prepped Martin for the stretcher, officials gave Malone a 5-major for charging and game misconduct.

UPDATE: Martin was unconscious and did not have use of his extremities while on the ice, but regained feeling in his arms and legs while on the stretcher and en route to Altru Heath Systems in Grand Forks and was admitted for precautionary reasons.

Just for the record I am glad that Martin will be OK and that his is not seriously hurt, no one wants to see the opposition get hurt in a hockey game. The fact remains that just because someone gets hurt on a legal check doesn't mean that officials have to call a penalty. The refs in my opinion made the wrong call.