Ok, not really but....
2010 Robbie Earl Memorial Freestyle Frozen Water Diving Champion Garrett Roe is losing his edge. Roe, famous for the Fish Flop and the Triple Roll Belly Flop with a Cage Gainor failed to dupe any of the officials into awarding SCSU with a single powerplay last night. He didn't garner a choking performance... he didn't even attempt to dive. When is the last time Greg Louganis stepped up to the edge of the diving board and just turned around and walked down the ladder?
Is Roe losing his touch? Does this mean WCHA newcomer Jacob Cepis (Minnesota) will usurp Roe's crown? Can outside candidate Jason Zucker (DU) take the crown? Or will it be a yet unnamed player from else-WCHA?
I know what you may be thinking: "Aww, Roe's too good to let this get him down, he'll dive tonight. After UND only got called for 1 penalty last night, WCHA officiating will come through." Or perhaps you are thinking "Roe doesn't have Lasch and Nodl and other guys like that to use his diving talent for to make his loss of dignity and ethical existence worthwhile." Perhaps. Or perhaps you live in a Husky red dream world and claim that Roe has never dove or embellished in his collegiate career. Well, we'll leave the consumption of paint thinner to residents of the fine state of Wisconsin.
Diving is illegal in most forms of hockey but I still doubt the officials in the WCHA could recognize a dive or an embellishment if it happened to smack them in the junk. Yes, I know Zucker got called for diving early this season but I think it is a fluke.
I can understand why Roe or any WCHA player would wish to embellish. It's a player's way of helping the officials understand what an illegal play looks like. It's not the players' fault that embellishment is a problem in the WCHA. It's the officiating. If you don't call it, then it must be legal. Trust me. If a team goes out there and starts cross checking everyone in sight, they'll get called for a penalty and they'll either adapt and stop doing it or they'll spend the rest of the game in the box. If they don't get called, then the refs must allow it and they'll do it the whole game long.
The issue isn't a vendetta or a conspiracy. The issue is the WCHA administration and their hiring practices. The game has gotten too fast for the officials. They are consistently 1-2 steps behind the play. They simply aren't as fast as they need to be. We can go back and forth about what we could do but it is a waste of time under the current regime.
So... this award will continue to be given by this blog for however long as the officials can't understand how to call the whole rulebook.
UPDATE!
Much like the BCS Standings, beat writers have written in their early season vote on the Robbie Earl Memorial Trophy and, though the full standings aren't available yet, we broke the news here first folks:
If the award were to be handed out on Monday by the WCHA, Minnesota's Jacob Cepis would usurp Garrett Roe!
Neither Cepis nor Roe were available for comment. Stay tuned!
