ryan@fremen.DEC (DTN 264-8280 MK01-2/E25) (12/24/85)
I saw my first Hockey East game of the year Saturday in Boston. After an
afternoon of watching the Bruins and North Stars trying to bash each other's
brains in, I was looking forward to an evening of real hockey (you know,
skating, goaltending, those other apparently obsolete skills...). I was
sadly disappointed... What I saw made the NHL game look like a baseball
game.
In the Hockey East games I saw last year, it was easy to attribute the
instances of violence getting out of hand to the referees letting things
slide early, but that wasn't the case here - the refs called a fairly tight
game early on. At the beginning it was rough but reasonable - lots of solid,
clean hits; but it soon got out of hand. The Northeastern players weren't
exactly perfect innocents, but I have to lay most of the blame on Minnesota,
particularly two players; Pat Micheletti and one other. Yes, I know, you
Minnesota fans probably think I'm biased since I've been defending Eastern
hockey on the net; just let me say I was probably the most objective
observer there. Anyway, the other Minnesota player (whose name has escaped
me) received a game disqualification for viciously butt-ending a
Northeastern player. I didn't see it happen at the time (it was away from
the puck), but the play was featured on the TV news and there was no
question that it was totally unprovoked and inexcusable. The Northeastern
player had to be helped back to the dressing room; I don't think he came
back to the game. As for Micheletti; he wasn't responsible for any
unprovoked attacks; however, he seems to have a very short fuse and spent a
lot of time in the penalty box after over-reacting to some provocation or
another (including a 10-minute misconduct, apparently for speculating too
loudly on an official's ancestry). As a matter of fact, I even predicted his
last penalty - I saw him take a hard (but legal) hit into the boards, and
said to myself, "Well, he's going to be going off shortly". About 30 seconds
later he was called for hitting from behind. What a waste - from what I saw
the few occasions he managed to stay on the ice more than a minute he seems
to be a very talented hockey player; it's a shame he can't realize he'll do
Minnesota more good on the ice than in the penalty box.
Also there was some brawling at the end of the game (which Northeastern won
in OT). After the winning goal the Minnesota coaches and players went after
the officials, putting themselves between the Northeastern players and their
locker room. Northeastern, on the way out, felt obliged to rub it in and
naturally Minnesota (clearly embarrassed at having lost two in a row to the
second place team in an "inferior" league) took out their frustrations. I
didn't stay to see how that ended; I was too disgusted by that time.
I've noted over the last couple of years that the college game seems to be
getting quite a bit rougher. Has anyone else noticed this? Is what I saw
Saturday typical of what's happening this year? If so, maybe I'll start
going to high school games...
Anyway, back to hockey. I went there to see with my own eyes if there was
any evidence to one league being "superior" - there wasn't. The teams seemed
very evenly matched, with Minnesota having the edge offensively and
Northeastern being stronger defensively. After regulation the teams were
tied not just in goals (4-4) but in shots (29-29). The bulk of the penalties
were against Minnesota, but that didn't make all that much difference as
Northeastern failed to capitalize on any power plays, even with a couple of
two-man advantages. When the teams were at even strength and not wasting
their time fighting, it was actually pretty exciting hockey (too bad that
was so little time out of the game). However, neither team looked quite as
good as the best teams I saw last year (RPI, BC, Harvard, Minnesota-Duluth,
Michigan State). Northeastern's edge was goalie Bruce Racine; he played an
excellent game, and really won it in overtime when he turned back a flurry
of Minnesota shots that led to the winning breakaway.
I heard Wisconsin beat Harvard (5-4?) Saturday but didn't get yesterday's
(Sunday's) score - anybody got a report on that series? (Jon?) More East vs.
West business: In the Great Lakes Tournament next weekend, RPI will open
against Michigan and Michigan State will start with Michigan Tech; clearly
it was set up to give the matchup of RPI vs. Michigan State which was
expected for last year's championship. It ought to be interesting, although
both teams have lost some talent since then. RPI's record against quality
competition so far is 1-1 (beat Lake Superior, lost to Yale).
Mike Ryan
ARPA: ryan%fremen.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA
UUCP: {decvax,allegra,ihnp4,ucbvax,...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-fremen!ryandnj@linus.UUCP (Dave Juitt) (12/24/85)
In article <156@decwrl.DEC.COM> ryan@fremen.DEC (DTN 264-8280 MK01-2/E25) writes: >I saw my first Hockey East game of the year Saturday in Boston. >What I saw made the NHL game look like a baseball game. > >At the beginning it was rough but reasonable - lots of solid, >clean hits; but it soon got out of hand. The Northeastern players weren't >exactly perfect innocents, but I have to lay most of the blame on Minnesota, > >Also there was some brawling at the end of the game (which Northeastern won >in OT). After the winning goal the Minnesota coaches and players went after >the officials, putting themselves between the Northeastern players and their >locker room. Northeastern, on the way out, felt obliged to rub it in and >naturally Minnesota (clearly embarrassed at having lost two in a row to the >second place team in an "inferior" league) took out their frustrations. > >Anyway, back to hockey. I went there to see with my own eyes if there was >any evidence to one league being "superior" - there wasn't. The teams seemed >very evenly matched, with Minnesota having the edge offensively and >Northeastern being stronger defensively. After regulation the teams were >tied not just in goals (4-4) but in shots (29-29). The bulk of the penalties > >Mike Ryan I was at the game also, I felt it was one of the best games I'd seen all year. I'll admit I'm a bit biased, being a Northeastern grad, but it is really nice to take two in a row from Minnesota. Does anyone have any stats on home vs away records in the East/West series? I think that would shed new light on this inferior league bull***. The brawling at the end was TOTALLY uncalled for. NU is a pretty physical team at times (does anyone remember how their coach, Ferny Flaman, used to play while he was in the pros?). Well there they were, minding their own business, when the Minnesota players fell they had to discuss the outcome of the game. I think the blame really rests on the Minnestoa coach, for not getting his players of the ice. He was way out of line. Now I'm just waiting for North Dakota to come in on 3 January, followed by Northern Michigan. ----- ----- Dave Juitt C'mon, that guy's a rutabaga... UUCP: ..linus!security!dnj When he was little, his parents ARPA: dnj@mitre-bedford used to dress him up as a speedbump.