Going forward today I believe UND hiccupped a bit last night but it’s nothing to get upset or excited about, the better team is the UND Fighting Sioux and the Minnesota Golden Gophers are going to have to kill themselves to make the NCAA tourney they will also be hard pressed to make the final Five in March. There is no need for Sioux fans to get down or over excited, it is what it is. Cue the catchy sports clichés. The sky is also not falling. Let me be clear, I do not blame the officials for last night debacle and it’s not a reason the Sioux lost the game because the officials were equally horrible for both teams.
Let’s play disciplined hockey please
Last night I felt the Fighting Sioux out played the Gophers for forty minutes and unfortunately hockey games are sixty minutes long. To be successful you have to play from the drop of the opening faceoff till to the final horn. You have to play disciplined hockey, the Sioux also took some untimely, knucklehead and undisciplined, stupid penalties at inopportune times. These penalties are momentum killers, the Rodwell Penalty was weak call by the officials and killed the Sioux’s momentum when they were starting to take the game over at that point.
While I like the game Brett Hextall plays, he has a lot of offensive creativity, Hextall has to play more disciplined hockey and stop taking knuckleheaded and selfish penalties, one of his penalties in the first period lead to a power play goal.
If the Sioux want to go far in the NCAA tourney they can’t take penalties like they did last night, good teams like B.C. will bury them on the power play, the Sioux have to play under control to be sucessful. Also, the eastern refs aren’t going to call the game like the WCHA refs. The eastern refs are competent and call the game per the rule box and make no bones about calling penalties against a team all night long, they have no sense of humor for WCHA hockey. They aren't concerned about number of penalties per side. You will not see the penalties even out at six to six by the end of the game.
Buffoon's in stripes
Now on to the refs, the WCHA continues to be a gong show of stupidity, nepotism and Buffoonery every single week. They have no credibility anymore and it’s amazing that the NCAA even invites our officials to the NCAA tourney. The on ice officials were brutal in all three zones of the ice missing calls both ways and they are culpable for the mess that happened at the end of the second period.
Lines man not good either
The lines men were also brutal last night and missed four instances where the Gophers had seven players on the ice for big stretches, this is unacceptable. The linesmen in last night game also missed many offsides and that can’t happen. Being that Derek Shepherd is the son of the head of official’s Greg Shepherd nothing will ever happen to this officiating crew. They were probably told that they did a great job last night by Greg Shepherd.
Donny Brook in Grand Forks
It also amazes me how the refs can allow a team to just start piling on to the ice while there is a scrum/altercation at the end of a period. Straight out of the movie Slap Shot. That was a serious blunder by the officials. Seriously folks; the Gophers players that came off the bench first should be suspended for tonight’s game, these players caused the event at the end of the second period to further escalate... That’s on the officials.
There has been a lot of discussion about the hit by Malone. In my opinion the hit by Brad Malone on Kevin Wehrs was a legal check it was correctly not called a penalty on the ice. We can debate that if you want. Also, if the Gopher hockey player wants to challenge the person that hit him, challenge him to a fight, or check him later take a number. I know fighting in college hockey is frowned upon but I am sure Malone or one of the other Sioux players would oblige. Nope! The Gophers like to jump a smaller players that wasn’t in on the act itself or wait till they have an odd man situation like two on one situation, which if the refs actually used the rule book to officiate, is considered a third man in and an automatic ejection from the game, another blunder by the ref, but who's counting. Looks like the Gopher players took lesion from former Gopher hack Brian Schack on how to jump the opposition and act like an utter thug. What they should call the Gophers is Minnesota Pansies on ice.
If the refs had done their job they would have told the players from both benches come off the bench and you’re going to sit tomorrow night. Ask former SCSU Husky Chris Hepp what happens when you leave the player’s bench. They didn’t and the scrum became an instant classic on Youtube.
Play by the "Code"
The fact that the Gophers weren’t penalized for leaving the players bench is unacceptable and needs to be reviewed by the ref. Also, Jake Hanson should have received a game disqualification for throwing punches at a guy that was lying on the ice. Seth Helgeson is really a tough guy as well, if you want to fight someone Seth, challenge them to a fight. Don’t stand there with your stick in your hand cross checking a guy that is already on the ice with a guy lying on top of him. Should be a great game tonight.
