Were you at those games? Did you see those hits? You can't judge the severity or flagrancy of an incident by looking at a score sheet. Refs vary in interpretations, so what is called a 5minute one night might not be called a penalty at all the next. Take, for example
Friday's Lawrence-Finlandia. Mind telling me what exactly happened at 18:47 of the second, since clearly you can interpret an entire incident based on a score sheet? No? Okay. We move on...
Also, notice that the player in the 3rd period who was penalized for facemasking was given a DQ, whereas the Norwich player in your example was given a Game Misconduct. You know what the difference in those punishments is, according to the rulebook? Facemasking without a DQ is pretty much any movement of the glove to the vicinity of the facemaks as perceived by the official. (key word: perceived. Look it up.) The DQ is given when the player grasps the cage and forcefully moves it. I'd say there's a huge difference between putting your hand up near a guys face and actually grabbing his cage.
Anyway, as I said, refs will vary in how they interpret a situation. They call based on how they see it. It is then up to the coach to review the tape and decide, based on his
consistent standards of interpretation, whether to give out supplemental discipline. Those standards vary from coach to coach, but as long as a particular coach is consistent (and hold his athletes to a respectable standard), that is fine. None of us here on this board are justified in criticizing a coach as long as he meets that qualification. That is why NUProf apologized for his statement, and that is why you will see no criticism of Coach Todd in my post.
That said, are Norwich and Plattsburgh a bunch of choir boys? Not in the least. I've seen some real ugly stuff from both teams. But both are consistently among the least penalized teams in the league (PLEASE don't pull up stats from a single year, specially one that isn't completed. "Consistent" refers to a far longer period of time than any single year, and allows for anomalies). Why is that? Both have coaches who hold their athletes to very high standards. I've seen both coaches bench players for off-ice nonsense. I've seen players benched for on-ice stuff that wasn't called by the officials at all. I've even seen Emery give a player an early shower in a game when the ref didn't call a thing. Are they perfect? No. But are they as consistent as humanly possible in their interpretations of situations and their justifications for giving (or not giving) particular ppunishments? Seems that way to me.
Look, the reality here is that people aren't letting this buffoonery take away from the skill of them team. Castleton is a really good team. Very skilled. The general message here is that Castleton is
SO good that they shouldn't have to resort to idiotic acts of violence and aggression that do absolutely nothing towards getting a win. And yet some of their players still don't get that. So now it's on Coach Todd to help them get it. If he decides that discipline should involve some time in a suit instead of pads, so be it. If he decides that discipline should come in some other form that we on this board are unable to know about, that's fine by me as well. We'll know it happened when we stop seeing the stupidity on the ice.
And with that, sir, I bid you good day.