Is two minutes enough?

Recently I said that I wanted to hear instances where refs blew a call or had an outright horrible performance while conducting their duties as an on-ice-officials shoot me an email. I have said that I am going to be on the refs this season like a laser. I believe there has to be changes in the way the college game is officiated there are too many controversial calls being made and way too many incidents where a lengthy suspension is warranted and nothing is happening.

Now I must give credit where credit is due. In the series that I watched at the REA this past weekend the quality of officiating was top notch and the UND and Miami game had the best officials in the WCHA officiating the game (Derek Shepherd and Marco Hunt). My friend Redwing77 would probably be upset with me if he heard me say that I thought Shep and Marco were the class of the WCHA, because they do work well together. There is also some leafy spurge to hand out to others.

That being said, this past weekend it sounds like maybe there was another play where maybe the ref could have given a player a penalty that had more teeth in it. On Friday night UAA defenseman Luka Vidmar suffered a torn MCL on his knee was severely injured when he was kneed by C.C. forward Brian McMilin. Now I must preface this with the statement I haven’t seen the play in question and I can’t find much written on the incident and there isn’t a video anywhere of the incident. Doyle Woody only makes a small mention of it in his game summary. (Now I can see why there is a void being filled by a fan run blog.)

Junior defenseman Luka Vidmar sat out the game after suffering a knee injury Friday. He will be evaluated when the Seawolves return home, but is expected to miss significant time. [Adn.com]

This was an email that I got from a UAA fan (I left their name out):

You said you wanted folks to email you with stories about how the refs screw up. Tonight in the UAA/CC game, Brian McMillin (for CC) was whistled for 2 minutes for kneeing.

The rule books states that if a player is injured it MUST be called a DQ. Here is the rule book interpretation:
SECTION 33. Kneeing What criteria should be used in determining whether to assess a minor, major or disqualification penalty for kneeing? RULING: A minor penalty should be assessed in most situations. When the knee is used in a flagrant or violent manner, a major penalty should be assessed. Whenever injury results from fouling an opponent with a knee, a disqualification penalty must be assessed. Kneeing penalties may be assessed as minor, major or disqualification penalties, even though physical contact with an opponent may not have occurred...

Luka Vidmar has a grade three MCL tear; he's done. Only a 2 minute penalty was called, even though Luca remained on his hands and knees for quite a while and was helped off the ice by the UAA trainer. The refs blew it. UAA should have had a 5 minute power play, and Brian McMillin should have been kicked out of the game. The league better step in and correct this for tomorrow night’s game.

I would have to say that I agree with that person, you would think if a person suffers an injury as the result of a kneeing play that person should at a minimum get a five, ten and a game misconduct if not a game disqualification. It would appear that the refs might have blown this call or it would appear from a bystander that more of a penalty is warrented in this instance.

Update: Apparently Michigan Tech was hosed with the quick whistle this past weekend down in Mankato. LGM informs me that Tech had an apparent legitimate goal waved off:

Tech player shot, as the puck hit Lee (Mankato goalie) the whistle was blown and then the puck rolled up and over his shoulder and in to the net... After review it was called no goal because the ref blew the whistle... Though the whistle had been blown as the puck was hitting the goalie.

That is almost as bad as the I tended to blow the whistle but didn't.