Phil Kessel had gone through his first two and a half games as a collegian without a goal, and finally the WCHA had seen enough and decided to take matters into their own hands. After Kessel had blown another scoring chance 15 minutes into the third period, Minnesota State defenseman inadvertly crashed into the net while tied with up Gopher forward Ryan Stoa. For whatever reason, the officials decided to award Kessel a penalty shot, and Kessel converted on the penalty shot for his first career goal.
The officials also showed the hypocrisy of the stricter enforcement of the checking from behind penalty. Twice in the second period, a Minnesota defenseman sent a Minnesota State player into the boards from behind, but both times, the defenseman was called for a cross check. It was an equally, if not more, dangerous play than any other check from behind, but it only received a two minute minor instead of a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. Again, the NCAA had the right idea by trying to enforce the checking from behind rule more strictly, but if it's administered in such a random fashion, it's more of a harm to the game that it is helping.
As for the actual game between Minnesota and Minnesota State, MSU,M played well and controlled the play for the majority of the game, but couldn't finish any of their many chances. On the other side, Kellen Briggs was phenomenal for the Gophers. He helped steal a win for the Gophers tonight. For Minnesota, the win is nice, but this is probably the third game in a row that they were outplayed. For the Mavericks, they suffered from their inability to finish off plays. The powerplay generated a lot of chances, but they weren't able to put anything past Briggs. Once the Mavericks get clicking and start finishing, they could be a very good team.
One team that was able to shake off their early finishing problems were the Miami RedHawks. Miami's offense put up 6 goals in a 6-3 win over Nebraska-Omaha. It was a rough night for Maverick freshmen goalie Greg Barrett, who only made 15 stops on 20 shots tonight.
Perhaps I had really overrated Wisconsin before the season started. The week off last week didn't help Wisconsin get their offense started at all. They struggled their way through a 2-2 tie against St. Cloud State. SCSU should be happy to get a point out of their trip to Wisconsin, and they should be happy that they were able to come from behind in the third period after the game-tying goal bounced of Jeff Likens skate, but they should also be disappointed that they weren't able to win after Wisconsin played so poorly.
Bowling Green bounced back from getting blown out last night to tie Ohio State 2-2. Ohio State dominated the first period, outshooting the Falcons 20-4, but the Falcons led 2-1 after one period. Ohio State was able to tie it up in the third period, to take 3 points away from their first weekend of league play. An interesting note from this game: both starting goalies, Dave Caruso and Jon Horrell were born in Georgia. I'm willing to bet that's a college hockey first.
North Dakota stole a huge road win over New Hampshire tonight by a score of 3-2. Freshmen T.J. Oshie and Jonathan Toews each had a goal. Jordan Parise gave up his first two goals of the season, but picked up his third win of the season.
Northern Michigan cruised to an easy 5-1 victory over Michigan Tech tonight at the Berry Events Center. Now Northern faces the task of completing the sweep in Houghton.
Denver picked up their first win of the season over Air Force 4-2. Denver got two goals from freshmen, and two goals from sophomores tonight.
Colorado College also picked up an easy win against Notre Dame tonight. Marty Sertich got back on track with a goal and assist tonight.
Ferris State and Lake Superior solved nothing tonight in their battle for not last place, with a 4-4 tie. I think instead of playing overtime, the two teams should have played, that's right......Bovine Bingo.
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17 comments:
Actually, the SCSU-UW series is AT St. Cloud.
Wisconsin really did play poorly, but I'm not giving up yet. The one question we had going into the season, goaltending, has been the brightest spot so far in the season. I really can't figure out why we suck so much.
SCSU has no offense so I wouldn't judge the Badger goaltending as being good based on any games against such a weak offense
The penalty shot for Kessel was a valid call. Don't let your homer pro-Mankato attitude blind you. I am not surprised you'd be crying about it though. You always whine when the Gophers do something good.
The Mankato defenseman was not shoved into the pipe and could have avoided knocking the net off the way he did. It was obvious he did it on purpose because he knew Kessel was about to stuff the puck in the net. The right call was clearly made.
In any case, the penalty shot didn't decide the game as the Gophers clearly played better of the two teams in that game. The main difference was Briggs was a much better goalie than the stiff Mankato put out there and the Gophers have more finishers.
It is too bad Backes is stuck on such a thin team. If he had gone to a program with some good talent around him, he'd be a definite Hobey contender.
Kessel shouldn't have been given a penalty shot for two reasons.
First, it's questionable to say he was in the middle of a scoring opportunity. He did have a scoring opportunity before the net came off, but he blew it. When the net came off, Kessel was behind the net and had no control of the puck. He maybe could have came back out and stuffed the puck in, but he still didn't have a scoring opportunity when the net came off. If they were going to blow that call, they could have least blown it in the right way.
Second, Dubel wasn't necessarily shoved into the net, but you can't determine his intent when he is tied up with a guy like that. For we, including the officials, knew, he was trying to avoid the net but couldn't because of Stoa. If you're going to give a team a penalty shot, it should be because of a pretty blatant call, and that was just a normal play you see in every game.
It didn't have too big an outcome on the game. It definitely affected the momentum, but MSU,M would have had a tough time winning with the way Briggs played. The point is, between Kessel's gift penalty shot and Gino Guyer being allowed to take out a pickaxe and mine under Wylie Rogers pads until he got the game-tying goal last week, I don't think there's another team in college hockey that is given as many goals as Minnesota is.
Don't you watch Michigan games? I don't know what the heck the NCAA officials will do when these two teams (Minn. and Mich) have to play each other? Each of these teams are given free reign over who ever they are playing. Michigan "goes hard to the net" anyone their playing ..."goalie interference"
Mich... "great aggressive open ice check" opponent... "high sticking. contact to the head interference etc.etc.etc.
As for the Guyer goal last week, it is just another example of this blog's whining. The ref was right behind the net and had a perfect view of whether the puck was truly frozen under the goalie's pads. The view from TV camera was at an angle that no TV viewer could tell if it was frozen. Something tells me that a ref that is five feet from the action and with a perfect view behind the net is gonna know better than some blogger who saw it froma poor angle on TV.
I just looked at the replay of the situation that led to the penalty shot.
1. Kessel did have a scoring chance when the net was knocked off. The puck was on the goal line for God's sake when the net got knocked off. Is the puck on the goal line and heading at an angle of potentially going in the net not considered a scoring opportunity in your world?
2. Dubel made contact with Stoa but it was slight at most. Certainly not enough to put Dubel wildly out of control. It certainly looked by replay that Dubel raised his arm up to knock the net off of its moorings as opposed to making an honest attempt to miss the net. It is one thing when a guy is sliding out of control into the net or if he makes an honest attempt to avoid the net but Dubel hardly looked like a guy who was trying to avoid knocking the net off.
1. If the puck was truly headed into the net, the puck would have still crossed the line, whether the net was there or not, and it didn't.
2. Stoa made enough contact with Dubel that it was impossible for him to avoid the net. His leg swings out a little bit as he makes contact with the net, but there's still no possible way that Dubel can avoid hitting the net in that case.
Only an absolutely biased observer could say that a puck on the goal line would not qualify as a scoring chance. A puck that is touching the goal line doesn't qualify as a scoring chance? Do you realize how stupid that sounds? Other than a puck being across the line, you can't get any closer to a scoring chance than the puck being on the goal line.
If you have it on tape, I'd suggest you take an honest look at the replay. Stoa wasn't even leaning into Dubel when the net came off. Dubel made contact with Stoa about 10 to 15 feet out from the net and they both came apart under control. When they entered the crease Stoa wasn't even leaning on Dubel but Dubel was grabbing Stoa's left arm and pushing him a bit. Dubel was in control of his balance the whole time.
at least when chris posts these things, he is man enough to identify himself. maybe you gopher fans could grow a set and put a name with your opinions.
What's the difference between "anonymous said" and "Cristen said"? I know as much about you as anonymous. Wait, I do know one thing. You are an idiot and you like to talk about testicles.
Simply identifying yourself by first name alone (and with a first name that thousands of men can lay claim to) is showing "balls"? LOL, OK.
I'll remember to use my first name from now on since that will identify me as much as "chris" does.
BTW, even Jutting said the penalty shot being awarded was the right call. Kind of hard to argue when your own coach doesn't back up your remarks.
So much crap it's gonna take a list
1) On a forum that has relatively few posters, using even just a first name helps seperate the useful content of some posters from the unwashed rabble of anonymous idiots.
2) Why does only who you know matter? I know more about Cristen than I do about "anonymous", so your theory just got shot to shiat.
3) Since when were coaches some kind of infallible fountain of knowledge? Unless it's an extremely bad call, you tend to not hear coaches blame things on the refereeing or contradict the call that was made.
4) If the ref is behind the net, isn't the goalie kinda obstructing his view of whether or not the puck is covered? Behind the net is perfect for seeing if a puck crosses the goalline, not to see whether or not it's covered.
5) I didn't actually see the play that the penalty shot was called on, all I know is that it has to be extremely blatant for refs to even consider calling for a penalty shot.
6) I watch Michigan games and the refs have been calling things pretty evenly thus far this season.
7) If I'm getting run in to the net (or anything, for that matter), I'm going to put my hands up to protect myself if I can as opposed to taking it face-first.
8) You can't be simultaneously pushing a guy away from the net and skate into the net without the other guy guiding you or an extremely obvious change in motion on your part.
1) On a forum that has relatively few posters, using even just a first name helps seperate the useful content of some posters from the unwashed rabble of anonymous idiots.
A good point is a good point.
2) Why does only who you know matter? I know more about Cristen than I do about "anonymous", so your theory just got shot to shiat.
I know as much about Cristen as I do Kevin
3) Since when were coaches some kind of infallible fountain of knowledge? Unless it's an extremely bad call, you tend to not hear coaches blame things on the refereeing or contradict the call that was made.
HELLO..it's a freakin' penalty shot. If there is a hint of doubt, it's gonna be raised. IT WASN'T.
4) If the ref is behind the net, isn't the goalie kinda obstructing his view of whether or not the puck is covered? Behind the net is perfect for seeing if a puck crosses the goalline, not to see whether or not it's covered.
From behind the net, if you can see the puck....it's not covered. Between a goalie's legs and underneath them are two different things.
5) I didn't actually see the play that the penalty shot was called on, all I know is that it has to be extremely blatant for refs to even consider calling for a penalty shot.
Then why are you commenting on it?
6) I watch Michigan games and the refs have been calling things pretty evenly thus far this season.
I'm sure there will be a different tune when the losses start piling up.
7) If I'm getting run in to the net (or anything, for that matter), I'm going to put my hands up to protect myself if I can as opposed to taking it face-first.
Super. Too bad you didn't see the play.
8) You can't be simultaneously pushing a guy away from the net and skate into the net without the other guy guiding you or an extremely obvious change in motion on your part.
See above.
Once again, you may not know who Kevin and Cristen are, but other people do. And if we continue to identify ourselves, people who read this enough will figure out who we are, too.
Saying "hello" in all caps isn't making a point. And neither does saying it's a "freakin penalty shot". Good coaches don't complain about the officiating except in extreme cases.
But if you can't see the puck, you don't know whether or not it's covered or if your view is just obstructed by the goalie. Since it would be considered a really bad call to blow a play dead if the puck's loose on the doorstep, the ref would give the benefit of the doubt to the offensive team and not blow it dead until he can be sure it's covered.
I'm just trying to show that from all the stuff that's been said (including accounts from people saying he did it intentionally), it's not clear that a penalty shot absolutely had to be called. Notice how I never said "there should not have been a penalty shot", I was just raising reasonable doubt. Like saying that a guy putting his arms up doesn't necessarily mean he was trying to push the net off, but maybe he was just trying to protect himself. No, I didn't see the play, but I trust Chris' judgment on these sort of things.
Troy Jutting questions officials' calls as often as he sucks down a heater. If there was any doubt in his mind...he wouldn't have answered the question with "I thought it was the right call." He would have said "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" or "That was B.S.".
I'm not going to comment on the play that led to the penalty shot because I didn't see it. I was watching a USHL game in Sioux Falls at the time.
But I did want to mention that I can remember instances where Minnesota State got the short end of a bad call and Jutting took it like a man afterward. He doesn't always complain, and the fact that he said it was a good call after the game (when there's a possibility that he still hadn't gotten a good look at a replay) doesn't mean much to me.
I do agree with what someone else already posted. If MSU can develop their depth a little more, they'll be dangerous. That seemed pretty evident to me when flipping between Saturday's game and Junior Lessard's NHL debut in Dallas.
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