Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Halos are us.

Amy's Picure
There has been a lot of discussion on whether the University of Minnesota get the better of the calls from the Refs in the WCHA. It is the personal opinion of this writer that they do. I know others that feel the same way. While some think it's blatant whining I think it is a legitimate discussion. Fans of other teams in the WCHA have brought this up as well. Gophers fans then turn around and call other fans in the league especially Sioux fans "Halos". I guarantee if the Gophers put up with the calls the Fighting Sioux take their fans would complain like ours.

Since I was interested in seeing how the calls have shook out this season, I decided to break down the numbers and take a look. As most of you know I think the officials in the WCHA suck plain and simple. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the UND vs Minnesota series have 4 game officials with a combination of Campion, Adam and Lil Sheppard on the ice for the calling of the games. We are due 2/3 one of these three clowns.

Minnesota vs C.C.11-9 in favor of Minnesota
Minnesota vs DU 9-11 in favor of Denver
Minnesota vs Mankato 10-6 in favor of Minnesota
Minnesota vs UAA 11-6 in favor of Minnesota
Minnesota vs MTU 9-6 in favor of Minnesota

UND vs MTU 10-12 in favor of MTU
UND vs C.C. 10-9 in favor of UND
UND vs Wisconsin 9-11 in favor of Wisconsin
UND vs UMD 6-9 in favor of Duluth
UND vs DU 9-12 in favor of Denver

Out of 5 series the Gophers have been on the short side of the ledger once. On the flip side of that equation, the Sioux in five series the Sioux have had the numbers break in their favor just once. Af far as this year goes I would have to say that UND hasn't had it too bad with the officals I think last season was worse. The only complaint I have is during the Denver series T.J. Oshie was viciously hacked right in front of the official only to have the offical over look it. The officals have to make that call.

Here is another example of how other fans feel about the officating in this league.
MeG the Tech hockey blogger was not happy of the calls that were made this past weekend in Saturdays game against the Gophers:

Saturday 1 December 2007: Why we lost - getting our early goal taken back by minimal goaltender interference kind of knocked the wind out of my team. Combine that with how UMN scored soon after that to take first official blood and a poorly called "checking from behind" penalty called on Malcolm Gwilliam after he hit some guy in the side. Even though Tech was able to kill all five minutes of the penalty, it was quite an exhausting task, plus we were down a man. And lastly.... why we lost: the Gophers wanted the two points more than anything and they were fully ready to earn them.. and that they did.


I could care less if some one calls MeG or I a halo. I say big deal, however, you have to admit from a objective stand point that Michigan Tech got screwed on the goal being waived off. To make an obseration that was a horse bleep call by Don Adam. If there was any interference on the Minnesota goalie it was minimal and hard to see. What made it a horse bleep call was the fact that Don Adam didn't even have the balls to waive it off himself, he had to call over his counter part and confer with him. Come on Don if it was such a blatant goalie interference you should have just made the call. Either it is goal or not a goal, make the call and lets move on, lets not spend 5 minutes reviewing the goal looking for some thing that didn't happen.

3 comments:

  1. I don't agree. The Sioux and Gophers play two totally different styles. The Sioux are more prone to questionable calls because of their physical nature, while the Gophers play finesse style. Yes, the Sioux are shorthanded more than their opponents, but that is due to style. I believe Hakstol acknowledged this and said his team will continue to play the same aggressive style because they would be worse-off if they didn’t. They live by the style, they die by it.

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  2. I don't know, maybe your right but I still think there is enough evidence out there to make the argument that there is some horrible officials in the WCHA.

    Last night I was watching the WILD and Flyers and the officials were totally taking it to Philly, I think reputation of team plays into this as well.

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  3. After thinking about this, I will agree that reputation plays a big role. I think it is a combination of style and reputation.

    Good blog!

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