Where to start...
I couldnt believe how quickly the whole thing erupted. From some of the video that I saw and slowed down, it did look like Bodie got in a very high shot on Higgs. Higgs went out to cover his man as he should do, but I think clearly looked into the corner to his left as RPI had won the faceoff. When he turned he got rapped, and grabbed Bodie when his helmet came off. If you watch the 2 of them and roll forward, I think they are over and just walking away.
I also think that the RPI bench was set to jump out and celebrate but when saw the Higgs-Bodie tussle, they went straight at Bodie (Haggerty). At that point a couple Union guys were coming in as well, and there you have it.
From one angle it does seem that its all kinda breaking up and then Bennett comes off the bench at Appert who seems to be telling his guys to get to the bench. I dont know the cause (was it just Bennett or did Appert say something to the player skating by ?) and we'll never know. Both coaches have responsibility for and need to stick up for their players, and thats what they both were doing rightly or wrongly. There are things I question to myself on both sides, but I'm not on the team or in the locker rooms and so can have no idea of the dynamic going on that others who post seem to profess. Sometimes terrible things happen, and I think that's where we are at here - and that both coaches are probably great guys and people that I would want my kids associated with, but thru this frenzy have been tarnished in some way.
Same can be said for some of the players on each team. I couldnt see everything and not everything that happened is on the videos, but clearly there is no place for the shot that Bodie took on Higgs, nor on the behavior of Dolan. I can rest assure you that had acted in the manner that either of them did, that my father (or my uncle who was literally the toughest guy I ever met) would have been on the ice and beat me until i was bloody, and they he would have kicked my *** and put me in the hospital. I had both my boys at the game, the youngest of which plays high school hockey, and I made sure that he understood in no uncertain terms that if I ever saw anything like that out of him, that he better pray his mother killed him first before I got to him (and she would).
While I didnt think that the game was officiated poorly, they certainly let them play. We all harp on the reffing and want them to stay out of games, but in retrospect maybe a little too much was let go and there was just too much fuel and emotion at the end of the game and it flashed over.
As for the game - its an absolute tragedy that all thats in the media and that everyone is talking about is what happened when it was over. This was a fantastic game. Extremely fast, ton of energy. Everything that you want in a game. One team has been kinda down lately and the other on a roll. Wanna step up and be big, you gotta go after the king, but you better not expect that he's just going to hand you his crown. Its the best that I've seen RPI play for an entire 3 periods all game. Union was Union - relentless and never quit. I decided to go up to the 2nd level and sat in a corner and was shocked how full the arena was and how much energy was in the place. Absolutely fantastic.
Given that intensity, I'm sure some will point out individuals and moments to try to demonstrate how its really all the other teams / guys fault that the game ended the way it did. I'll call bull**** on that. Virtually all of that stuff happens in every hockey game, and if you ever played at any competitive level you know. Thyere are whiners on both sides, and a couple of ours in particular, who have no idea and no right posting have of what they do. Its incredibly unfortunate.
I dont know where this will all end up this week, and in some respect doesnt really matter as its done. I hope every game we play together is as good and exciting as the one I watched last night, and I hope we (RPI) play the rest of our games with the competitiveness and sense of urgency that we had last night. I certainly know Union will. There are also a lot of good, honest and passionate fans on both sides. Lets not continue on this board what we all collectively didnt like about last night.
Let the firing away and neg repping begin...
