Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

[5mn_Major]

Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

Tempo was set by the refs with 3 straight penalties in the first. The first one was called against the Gophers immediately after a UW interference (12:52) that went uncalled.

UW has a great team. Built for the playoffs. But without the ref calling the game the way they did, we have in all likelihood one or more points changing sides.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

Tempo was set by the refs with 3 straight penalties in the first. The first one was called against the Gophers immediately after a UW interference (12:52) that went uncalled.

UW has a great team. Built for the playoffs. But without the ref calling the game the way they did, we have in all likelihood one or more points changing sides.

The worst was the non-call on the Badger who kicked McMillen at the end of the second period.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

The rodents definitely got hosed on 3 non-calls on UW. That being said, they were only down by 1 at the end of the game with chances to tie.

UM had more great chances than UW did over the entire weekend, goaltending was the difference.

 

[Nowheresville]

Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

After thinking the refs did a decent job on Friday, I can't believe how bad they were on Saturday. The calls that were made were seemingly at random. The first penalty of the game, the one 5mm mentioned, really summed up how the entire game went. Schipper was the victim of one of the most textbook and flagrant examples of interference you'll ever see and it doesn't get called, but seconds later she gets called for a check? It really showcased the worst part of bad officiating, where the players don't know what will get called and what won't, and/or they see obvious fouls go uncalled, so they assume that they can play more aggressive - and then they get punished for it.

 

[robertearle]

Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

... of bad officiating...

While I'm sure I'll be told "but there's much more to it...". I'd like to point out that on Saturday penalties were four for UM, two for UW, that SOG during the resultant power plays were two for UW and one for UM (with a shortie shot for UM), and there were no goals scored by either team.

The refs didn't decide Saturday's game.

 

[ARM]

Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

While I'm sure I'll be told "but there's much more to it...".

I assume that you already know that. You have to realize that UW's first goal on Friday, while not a PP goal, was the result of Minnesota getting in penalty trouble. So we can take an elementary view of numbers and use stats to show any number of things, but your "proof" is really meaningless. Anyone who watched the flow of the games this weekend, or any games, knows that calls that are made or are not made can play a factor.

I agree with your conclusion that the refs didn't decide Saturday's game. However, in a perfect world, we'd like to see the officiating be less of a factor than it was yesterday. I've seen you complain in the past when there has been less of a disparity in the calls made, but Wisconsin lost. We're all biased, so we can more easily live with calls that may be correct or incorrect when we emerge with a win.

 

[robertearle]

Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

You have to realize that UW's first goal on Friday...

I've seen you complain in the past ...

Note that I made no mention of Friday's game.

I complained loudly last year when the Gophers got a what IMO was a weak call in the final two minutes of a 1-0 game that had as direct a result on the outcome as a call could have. Guilty as charged. That didn't happen yesterday. Not even close.

 

[ARM]

Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

Note that I made no mention of Friday's game.

I complained loudly last year when the Gophers got a what IMO was a weak call in the final two minutes of a 1-0 game that had as direct a result on the outcome as a call could have. Guilty as charged. That didn't happen yesterday. Not even close.

But neither were penalties called and not called yesterday a total non-factor, which you were implying. To say so is naive.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

While I'm sure I'll be told "but there's much more to it...". I'd like to point out that on Saturday penalties were four for UM, two for UW, that SOG during the resultant power plays were two for UW and one for UM (with a shortie shot for UM), and there were no goals scored by either team.

The refs didn't decide Saturday's game.

What they did was take what was a Gopher PP after a strong start and turned it into a Badger PP. And then two more. With three PPs, there's no team that can't but have the momentum. In the end, a goal came out of all that momentum (and was really a PP goal) and a one goal game was what it turned out to be as the game neared its end. UW has a great team. But between turning the momentum in the critical first period and giving the PPs necessarily to deliver a UW a goal, the refs quite possibly did determine this game.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

The refs didn't decide Saturday's game.

while I agree with you, when either team goes on the PK, that's two minutes they need to work hard to keep the other team from scoring, and it's two minutes they more than likely are not going to score

I suppose how the league wants to prevent injury, calling a penalty on Schipper was the correct call, but if the ref had made the correct call on Schipper being interfered with, it would have never happened. And that lead to a change of possesion. Consistancy please, especially given the history of these two teams, both play good hard but clean hockey. Just let them play. I don't get the call on McMillen either. either throw them both in the box or neither, there were scrums in front of the goal earlier in the game and they let things go, why now?

WI , defense especially, played what I call a disciplined game, I guess Mark Johnson calls it taking care of the little things. I often hear people at work saying it doesn't matter, it does matter, the little things are the foundation upon which bigger things are built. IMO, the success of the Gophers the last four years was built upon the defense, it appears from this weekend that's why the Badgers are where they are at right now.