Pictures really do not do the uniforms justice because they focus in on one or two players. Imagine yourself on the bench (or in the stands) and trying to figure out what is going on when you cannot identify the individual players. Despite seeing all the The OSU goals in person between the uniforms and the crappy sound system I didn’t know who scored until seeing the box scores.
Now imagine being a coach and trying to match lines when you have a hard time even identifying who the players are. Try determining the forechecking scheme when you can’t tell the W from the C from the D. I can identify nearly all my home team players by looking at them without their numbers but I am not familiar with opposing teams enough to identify any of them. I doubt coaches know them well enough to do it either.
The uniforms are a tactical advantage which in particular takes away the home ice advantage. The The OSU coaches came up with a good game plan and the players executed beautifully, particularly the goalie. In last years NCAA semi-final the coach blamed the loss on a refs penalty call. It did seem like she may have had a point, but the ref had a better view of it than I did. Probably a better view than she did too, and likely less biased too. In this case there is no doubt, the uniforms are illegal, giving the home team a two minute advantage while taking away 58 minutes of advantage is hardly a fair trade. Maybe that’s what the rules say, I don’t know. ( If so, why wasn't there a penalty at the start of Fridays game?) As stated previously, if that is the rule, and the only penalty, if I were the coach I’d continue using the uniforms on away games, the trade in advantage is well worth it. So I am wondering, if I blame the loss on the uniforms, are the The OSU coaches and fans going to say “sour grapes”?
Selective memory maybe?