Re: LSSU Laker Hockey
That last call was really the only poor call on Rick. He got hipchecked and upended a good 5-7 seconds after he passed the puck, he did nothing to warrant a call. I think the ref just looked over once he saw both players on the ice and assumed that the two were getting after each other. I thought he did take some dumb penalties earlier in the game though, all of his penalties came when the Lakers were in the attacking zone.
Did anybody else at the game notice how much jawing the Lakers were doing at Greenham? Both nights I noticed a few times throughout the game, specifically after goals and penalties, that a single Laker would skate over to Greenham and exchange a few words. Acton being the culprit on three occasions that I can remember. It seems like Greenham must've been talking some trash and the Lakers wanted to make sure he knew that he gave up a goal or that the Lakers were coming for him on the PP.
On a positive note, I thought in both games the defense had some great shots from the blue line. Trotman, Cowie, Perrault (Friday night) and Haines specifically took some really quality shots and against a lesser goalie all four could have had goals this series.
I'm not sure, the third call on Rick was a little cheap in my opinion, Rick had his head turned and bumped into the Alaska D-man, who was much smaller than him so simple physics won out and Rick stayed standing while the 'Nook defenseman took a spill, it was certainly incidental contact, and he was called for interference...I guess if you went by the verbatim of the rule of interference then Rick was guilty but in my opinion the "spirit" of the rule is referring to guys intentionally interfering or knocking over a puckless opponent, not that the officials did a bad job at all this weekend but I am certain that there are many officials out there who would have let that play go without a call...
The dual holding call was interesting, if he was going to give both players penalties I would have thought they would have been separate calls, two guys both holding constitutes a hug in my book lol...Although in the end it helped out the Lakers because if they were given different calls it would have been 5 on 5 but since they were both called for the same penalty it became a 4 on 4 situation and that opened up the ice for Acton's great shot moments later...as some others have said when it comes to Lakers home games the game seems like it is never decided until the final minutes or in a shootout, we haven't had a ton of success in the standings over the past few years but the Laker fans have certainly been treated to some dramatic finishes, and last night was yet another, the stands weren't full but you wouldn't have known it from the reaction in Taffy last night when Acton tucked that puck under the crossbar and celebrated in front of the student section, a moment like that exemplifies everything that is great about collegiate athletics.
Haines did have a stellar night, he has had a very solid season and has turned into a very dependable defender...The Lakers are losing a lot of players to graduation (Schofield, Acton, Nehring, Hobbins, Cowie, Stonehouse,etc.) The foundation of next year's team will be built around a solid defensive attack, with K2 manning the crease, solid stay at home defenders in Perrault, Bruneteau, and Sternberg and with Trotman and Haines supplying some offense from the blueline....if Monardo duplicates his form and McParland, Cassiani, Jean,Lain,Campbell,etc. can improve the Lakers should have at least a punchers chance in the majority of the games next year.
