Re: NoDak @ Maine Oct 22 / 23
10 points to any of you who actually read this novel…
Been away from my computer for 3 days and I don’t feel motivated to read, what I can only guess, is two days worth of bickering…probably about penalties. I was at the games, and this is my take…
Maine just played a series in Michigan State where they got called for 50% more penalties than they did the weekend before, and I don’t recall anyone getting on a high horse and saying “those **** CCHA refs…they’re incompetent and wouldn’t survive in Hockey East”
First of all, it’s crazy to generalize a conference’s standards of play based on two teams playing two games with 1 set of officials. It must be nice to play in a conference where no one ever questions the referees judgment.
The fact of the matter is….
This matchup creates an emotionally competitive game (especially the first one) for both of these teams, which means frustration tolerance will be low if tides turn. Frustration can lead to chippy penalties you might not otherwise take. That’s why momentum’s beauty is two-fold.
The arena was charged, the students were on top of them, and then Maine sends the place into a frenzy, finding extremely early momentum with an even-strength goal less than a minute into the game. If I’m North Dakota, my blood temperature and anxiousness would be rising, too…
I mean, you can just read the score sheet to see that happening, too.
Less than a minute after that, a hitting from behind call…one of those chippy penalties I just spoke of.
Less than 90 seconds after that, MATCHING penalties for hitting after the whistle (wow, 3 minutes into the game and both sides are taking jabs? Emotions couldn’t be hot, could they?)
Then Flynn scores. Two and a half minutes later on his next full shift, MacWilliam lays a helmet hit on Flynn when he was already entangled with another Sioux player and on his way down. I don’t care if you played hockey in Saskatchewan against Polar Bears, that wasn’t a cool hit.
But still, I thought the 2nd night was more telling in relation to the first night, and I’ll explain what I mean.
The 2nd night…they calmed down and it showed on their penalty card. They didn’t give up a man advantage until 15+ minutes into the game.
But most interestingly lined up with the last point, half of their total calls came AFTER they gave up the tie which was almost the 2/3 mark of the game.
Of the others….one was a bench minor, one was matching, and I mean, did you see Frattin take down Mangene when he was trying to turn on the jets on a break?? Pretty fluffy or blatant stuff…not too much gray.
Essentially, that 2nd game….excluding matching or bench penalties…they went from playing a game that was on pace for (rounded to the nearest whole) 6 penalties in the game, to as soon as they were losing, playing a game that would have been paced for 11.
Coincidence would be a stretch. They played ALL of game 1 from behind, and again, discounting matching penalties they were called for a total of…
**Drumroll**….
10 penalties!
So about the same pace they played game two at as soon as they fell behind.
Look…being obnoxious about making my point ASIDE…
NoDak is a team with 16 NHL draftees, do I understand that correctly? That’s going to be a team with a lot of pride, and a lot of personal expectations.
It sounds to me that this is a great week for Coach H to talk about keeping emotions in check.
Do I think a tough team who hits hard are automatically GOONS? God no! I LOVE that kind of contact. I loved the intensity of many of the Sioux checks when they were executed within the rule book….and most WERE and they weren’t called. But if you’re going to go elbow first, or head to head, or cross up a stick to a vulnerable opponent’s back…it’s going to get called. And I think many players’ hits have tendencies to cross that line when they’re too emotionally charged.
Teams do so many things (like the pre-game huddle around the net) to FIRE UP….but the truth a sports psychologist would tell you is that 85% of athletes need to be calmed down and focused before a big game or a tough environment, especially a hostile road environment. One of my favorite Shawn Walsh quotes when he was mic’d up for “Out of the Woods” was when he talked about ROAD MENTALITY…and being “quietly efficient”
At the end of the day….when you give up 5 goals on the first 8 shots….when do you stop blaming the refs?
