Diving and other Random Observations (RW77)

We lost last night.  That's too bad.  But we did see something last night that I have only seen perhaps 4 times since I can remember:  A diving call.

Yes, there have been many times where diving was called by WCHA officials, but this one was different because it wasn't an offsetting penalty.  And before you get all up in arms, yes, it was a VERY obvious dive.  The truth is, I'm surprised the WCHA officials recognized what a dive even was.

We see dives happen all the time in the WCHA because diving isn't called.  Some players made careers out of it (Robbie Earl for example).  But any way you take it, this form of poor sportsmanship is starting to infest all of sports.  Just now sport administrators are realizing that there are football players and basketball players who are faking injury or acting like they've been shot when they felt the barest wisp of the opponent's body or jersey.  And it has to stop.

The truth is, though:  why call out players as chumps when they do it?  Look, UND has had its share of divers (Chris Porter and JP Lamoreaux come to mind), but are they chumps?  Their job is to play the game the way it is called and put their team in position to win.  If Robbie Earl can make a simple check look life threatening which gets an opposing player kicked out of the game, is it his fault?

My claim is that players can practice bad sportsmanship all they want without repercussions if the officials decide that sportsmanship isn't something worth calling.  It is up to the officials to defend the integrity of the game and safety of the players through simple enforcement of the rulebook.  If they see a dive and don't call it, then they've determined that diving is now legal.  And the players should not be blamed for it.

We saw this on Friday when MacWilliam crushed that BU player.  It was a brutal hit.  There may have been contact to the head but there was no replay angle that gave conclusive evidence of it.  Yet he hit the ice holding his head and peeking through his fingers to find the ref.  He got what he wanted.  Diving was legal.  So now fast forward to last night and imagine the surprise of BU's #13 when he got called for diving.  It was legal last night so why isn't it legal tonight?

Oh well.  It's not like we expect our officials to be competent.  We applaud halfway competence because that's about the best we can get.  But at least in this case, Sheptard and #unt made the correct call.  Guess every once in a while they guess correctly.

Quick Hits and Other Notes:

-- I like our goaltending situation.  Both Gothberg and Saunders have played well and I hope they continue to rotate.  Yeah, I know Gothberg gave up 4 last night but they were as much the D's fault as his.

-- It was nice to see Kristo bury one.  Between Kristo and Knight's shot attempts I was beginning to think that they both prepared their sticks wrong.  Too much curve.

-- Grimaldi is good.  LOVE the physical play too.

-- We lost last night.  I've now started the ticker to the "FIRE HAKSTOL" thread.

--  The disallowed goal:  Intent to Whistle is one of the biggest BS calls in sports, but the only way to fix it would be worse:  replay.  In order to fix it they'd have to call the game as it is played out, go up to the booth and time how long the goaltender had possession of the puck.  Then come back and wave off the goal.  Seems good right?  Look at the disallowed goal on Saunders then.  He was sticked and pushed and beaten up until the whistle (not dirty.  Players are coached to do that. Play until the whistle).  If this goes to replay, then our goaltenders are going to end up getting mauled and beaten.  It could even promote running the goaltender.  So, yeah, the waved off goal shouldn't have been waved off.  But in the scheme of things, it's just one more blow against the officials.

I'll leave you guys with a conspiracy theory:  Friday night the refs blow that call on the goal.  On the next powerplay for UND they call a BU player for a penalty to make it a 2 man advantage....  The only issue is the very same thing occurred in the first powerplay of the night for UND but they didn't call it.  Hmmmmmmmmmm.......  Make up call?  Same thing with Corbin Knight last night going for UND to go up 2 guys for BU.  All's fair.  Sometimes I wonder if the WCHA officials use situational officiating to ensure that the WCHA is a gracious host.

My Players of the weekend:  Alexx Privatera (BU), Connor Gaarder (UND), Rocco Grimaldi (UND), O'Connor (BU), O'Regan (BU), Danny Kristo (UND)

New Conference and Redwing77's Musings Part Two

Conference Teams Musings

When this was announced with Miami in the mix, I thought "Well, all eyes are now on Notre Dame." And then Coach Blashill left WMU. So, we're back to six looking at eight. I'm no longer certain that WMU is in the mix. Blashill would have made it a shoe in, and yeah, it's saying a lot that a coach can make a break a team's chances at conference alignment. So, where do we go?

I was thinking go get Notre Dame for #7 and perhaps SCSU or BSU for #8. Now, scratch SCSU out. I'm not sure why SCSU attracts so many weirdos in high administrative positions but Potter channeled Saigo and voila, welcome to Weirdoville. What's mystifying is that Gino Gasparini is advising SCSU. I would have thought that a positive towards inclusion. Guess Not. Giving the benefit of the doubt, perhaps SCSU wanted to be the big fish in the small pond instead of being maligned at times of being Minnesota's Jan Brady. SCSU fans will not be heard saying "Marsha Marsha Marsha!" in 2013-2014, that's for sure.

As for BSU, look at the intangibles: They've been very competitive as of late. They have a HIGH quality head coach in Serratore. They have brand new state of the art facilities. They have a positive rapport with the current Super League members (except Miami, of which BSU has a neutral stance). Also, without BSU, they only have one Minnesota school: tUMD.

I'd love to see Notre Dame and BSU round out the eight. I don't see going up to ten, which I'd think the next two teams would be WMU and... who? I'd say SCSU but... well...

League Name

Please please please please please please (how many more pleases can I say?) dump the name "College Hockey Super League." I hate it. It's too pretentious and arrogant. It's too bad the MCHA is taken (it's a DIII league) because the Midwest College Hockey Association would be a great name. Perhaps go back in time and call us the Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL)?

I keep up coming up with already existing hockey leagues. What do you all suggest?

League Leadership

I know Goon seems to think Gino Gasparini would be a shoe in for the new commissioner but I'm not so sure he'd take the job even if he was offered. He walked away from the USHL when the USHL was willing to give him whatever he wanted. He'd be a good candidate for sure, but I just don't see him taking it. I'm not connected enough with Hockey Administration to know who would be a good candidate to run this league.

I just hope they don't hire a politician to run the league like they did with McLeod. I guess if I wanted to be completely unrealistic, the person I'd love to have is Lou Lamoriello. He has been a DI head coach and he was the HEA Commissioner for a while before bolting for the NHL. However, Lou is as likely to leave New Jersey for this job as I am likely to leave Omaha to buy the LA Dodgers. I'll give McCourt $1000 for the team but otherwise I'm broke.

But on the side of Director of League Officiating.... I'd love the CHSL to adopt a pro style of officiating. Using NCAA and USA Hockey guidelines, the CHSL should be officiated as close to the NHL style as is realistically feasible. It is true that this would cause certain problems, namely compatibility with how other leagues call the game, but it still would be nice to be known as a league that competes with MJ, Europe, and the USHL when it comes to developing NHL caliber officiating talent. To do that, I think we should make a big splash... and go after arguably the most respected name in officiating: Bill McCreary. He may be Canadian, but that's hardly a drawback. He's available (he just retired). He knows hockey and how games SHOULD be called. The whole thing with USA Hockey is something that can be developed, especially since USA hockey is on the upswing and there are resources such as College Hockey, Inc. available to help. The bottom line, no one knows what an NHL style called game looks like and what good officiating talent looks like better than a guy who has been around the top tier of hockey for 20+ years.

A New Rule Proposal (RW77)

I've about had it with the officials, but this isn't going to be a rant on the officials. I'm actually going to do something to try to eliminate the need to learn what a penalty looks like so that they can actually have an excuse for not knowing what diving looks like and certainly for embellishment.

Jordy Murray helped solidify my belief on this rule. The rule is as follows: A player who requires the assistance from any training or coaching personnel after the whistle has been blown shall be ruled "injured." This condition can be removed 2 minutes after the time the injury time out has been called should the player be deemed to be in playing condition by on-hand staff. Should the player be found on the ice before the 2 minutes has expired, a penalty for Embellishment minor penalty will be called and the player will serve it according to the normal penalty rules. EXCEPTION: This rule will not apply to injury timeouts called for goaltenders.

So, If Player A gets rocked by Player B and Player B and Player A lays on the ice for enough time for a whistle to be called to handle the injury (as the officials are trained to assume it is) and the trainers come out on the ice to see how injured the player is, that player is ruled ineligible to reenter play for 2 minutes after being helped off the ice.

It is no secret that the officials cannot reverse penalty calls. They can't decide to shorten a penalty time or eliminate a Game Misconduct call. However, they can penalize a player who is trying to slow down the game and draw a penalty for faking injury. If the injury isn't being faked, 2 minutes is a great time for medical staff to ensure no injury or ill effects are being felt by the player.

I cannot claim to be the originator of this rule. This rule is actually a Football rule. Funny... not a lot of diving in football because diving (in the context of faking injury) would mean that they'd have to sit out a play.

Enough is enough. I'm pissed at seeing a guy writhing or rolling around on the ice after a big hit, get medical attention, and then, after the "bad guy" goes off to the box or gets kicked out of the game, out he comes to play a shift on the powerplay.

If you're injured, by God, stay down and get help! If you're not injured, get up or get out of the game.

See it isn't just the WCHA officials.

I found the link to this article over on USCHO.COM. I find it interesting because it shows that the WCHA officials aren't the only ones making mistakes and controversial calls. In this case Paul Stewart is a respected former NHL official and has a lot of credibility.

Ted Donato was livid.

The Harvard coach thought his team had scored a short-handed goal with 39.3 seconds left in the third period against Union last Saturday at Messa Rink. The goal would have cut Union’s lead to 3-2.

But the goal went to video review because Crimson forward Doug Rogers bumped Dutchmen goalie Corey Milan just as the puck was arriving at the net. The officials —referees Andy O’Brien and Eric Ernst and linesmen Richard Patry and Robert St. Lawrence — had a conference at center ice before going to the video. After reviewing the video, the officials determined that Rogers interfered with Milan before the puck went into the net. The goal was taken away, Rogers was penalized for goalie interference and Donato was ejected from the game for vociferously protesting the call.

Paul Stewart, director of officiating for ECAC Hockey, praised his officials on how they handled the play.

Fan's upset with the officating in the WCHA.

Badgers beat writer Todd D. Milewski has an interesting article on the state of officiating in the WCHA so far this season. The fans are the ones that are complaining about the officiating in the WCHA. Personally, you can mark me down as one of the fans that are happy about the way the games are being called. No, seriously, I think the officials have done an decent job officiating so far this season. I think the officiating is better than it has been and the players are starting to make the adjustments to the tightened enforcement. I watch about 100-150 NHL games every season and the WCHA games are close to being reffed in the same manner.

It sounds like fans aren’t real happy with the way games are being called in the WCHA so far this season under the rules emphasis designed to crack down on obstruction of the puck carrier.

At least, that’s the way it has come into commissioner Bruce McLeod’s office. He told Kevin Pates of the Duluth News Tribune that for every e-mail saluting the changes, there are 10 condemning them. Last week, he told Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald that complaints are coming from fans far more than they’re coming from coaches.

It’s understandable. The game wasn’t meant to be a series of 5-on-3s and 4-on-3s, taking away from the natural flow of full-strength play.

But college hockey had to do this, and it had to do it now. Here are two reasons:

** The NHL wants it. Like it or not, the college game is connected to the pro game. That’s the only way a lot of elite players are ever going to come to college in the first place — if it gives them an opportunity to get closer to being a pro-level player.

Check out this statement by Bruce McCleod. Hum...

The things we’ve heard most have been, ‘You’re making hockey a special teams game’ and ‘It’s still a physical game and you’re trying to take that away,’ ” said McLeod this week. “The NCAA is adamant about enforcing the rules and we don’t think it will be a big issue after a period of adjustment.”