Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

[critsports]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

I appreciate you past support, if last night’s game, and my opinion are going to change your mind about Yale, so be it.

So many of us have been ardent supporters of our ECAC brethren who have done well, your opinion has nothing to do with my loss of respect for the current Ylae offering…….it was all about the “yapping, complaining, diving, griping, and posturing”. We support talented teams from our league because we are proud of the league, our teams, the league’s rich history and our desire despite admittedly the toughest academic standards in hockey and the limitations that imposes, to return a team to the Frozen Four and possibly win a Championship


I agree that the officiating was terrible and am hoarse from screaming at Whittemore, my comment about SLU getting chippy after Yale took the quick 4-1 lead is valid IMO, the head high checks and runs were so obvious that an SLU player hurt himself after missing an attempt to board a Yalie. I hope that one tough game will not spoil a nice relationship that Yale fans and yourself have had, I will not resort to name calling (I reserve that for particular NoDak fans), but please do not disparage my knowledge of hockey or what I feel took place last night, we can all have our opinions. The worst part about the game last night was that three kids were seriously hurt and for that I blame the refs.

Agreed and questioning knowledge is not normally in my nature. I take more exception to the one- sidedness of your view. Others posting have agreed and presented more balanced views and have concurred with some of the points I made.

I think the reason Yale get's alot of calls is their small stature, I agree they do a good job of "selling" calls, but there were a few dives on SLU's end as well. The officials were so terrible that it really didn't matter after a while, because there was no rhyme or reason for some of the calls. I do remember one non call against Yale that got fixed about 30 seconds later with a call for something minor, there was no figuring them out last night. I think we can agree that we do not respect each other’s teams anymore, but as fans I think we are entitled to our opinions of what we saw, and can continue to have civil relationships.

Agreed…..but selling doesn’t mean you have to constantly yip and complain.

He acts that way to Yale fans, so I have no excuse, although I will say I thought he should have the right to criticize those officials last night.

Certainly both coaches have the right to criticize and I have seen Coach Marsh lose his cool on more than one occasion including in this series.

As for Coach Allain, I am sure he could be tough to take from the outside, but as a Yale fan it is difficult to not like what he has done to the program.
And it is standard practice in a playoff series that coaches (and players) do not shake hands until after the deciding game of the series. I am sure win or lose tonight Coach Allain will walk to center ice and and shake hands with Coach Marsh.

I am sure he will.......my only thought is "standard practice" aside.......if the other coach makes the effort to walk out, I say return the gesture of sportsmanship. I think Allain's lack of doing so speaks volume's about his demeanor and thought process. I can easily understand as a Ylae fan how you would be delighted with what he has done for the program. He has taken it from an also ran to a team of national prominence.

I think we can all agree that the officiating was awful and the Yale players need to stop throwing there arms up in frustration after every play, but exactly what should have been the call on Ziegler? The play was directly in front of me and it wasnt a penalty. The SLU player was skating with his head down being chased from behind and saw the hit coming at the very last second second and tried to move out of the way and it made things look very awkward. I felt awful for the player as he was in alot pain, but it wasnt a penalty.

We must have been sitting next to each other as it happened right in front of us as well. I think the only way we can know for certain is to watch the tape and I will talk to some friends who normally get the opportunity to do that. If I learn anything I'll share it. I agree Baker was vulnerable, had his head down (always a bad thing) and I did talk to one SLU fan/parent who agreed with your opinion. I also talked with several others who were watching from up high (which often gives a wider perspective than down low where we were) and they felt it was a "major" type penalty and not just a minor infraction. They described it as a leg being stuck out by the Ylae player and the resultant knee on knee hit. I haven't heard how Baker is but before he left the rink for the hospital they were pretty sure it was a fractured fibula.

Crit, sorry you won't be cheering for us, but I think we can survive that. Having watched Yale all year, I agree with some of your comments, and it was clear to me that SLU came out trying to send a message and intimidate. To do so, there was loads of extra hits many of which including leading with high elboys, grabbing, and even extra pucnhes to the head during scrums. This was successful and resulted in Yale players complaining to the refs. When this had no effects and SLU continued, then Yale complained a little more, and when nothing changed they got ****ed off. As a result a Yale team that usually doesn't focus on finishing off hard checks, or giving that extra shot when available, decided that they were going to do that and then do it again, and then do it some more.

I hate to see anyone get hurt, an no one should be happy with that, but if you are going to set the kind of tone SLU did, then you better not take for granted that Yale will just roll over and let you do what you want, and to the end, you better keep your head up.

By the way, it's a playoff series, we shake hands at the end. Should be a great game tonight.

Agreed and that is the point, and to try and do so without being dirty which unfortunately because of the poor officiating.....both teams crossed that line repeatedly. The goal for SLU was to try and not necessarily intimidate but take Ylae off it's game, but to their credit that incredible passing and attacking skill still dominated. I posted on our link yesterday that in order for us to "have any chance of winning" we had to stay out of the box. I also said the second key to winning was to stay out of the box.

I too am hoping for a great game but the disparity of records is there for a reason. We are also going to be depleted on defense one and perhaps two players which is going to be difficult to overcome. We have to hope for another big night from Weninger...a few lucky bounces, and some things to go our way which last night almost none of them did. Lost in the nastiness was the fact (scoreboard aside) I really felt the play was much more "even" last night than on Friday where Ylae dominated territorially. We had lot's of shots and chances but the difference was your guys buried theirs. Regardless of outcome this SLU team has obtained a lot of experience and while we lose some key contributors like Bogosian the fact is we are playing with many, many freshman who will benefit from this experience.

 

[LTsatch]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

Critsports says
"Agreed and questioning knowledge is not normally in my nature. I take more exception to the one- sidedness of your view. Others posting have agreed and presented more balanced views and have concurred with some of the points I made."

As a disclaimer to my onesidedness last night, I was posting With my Blackberry and my thumbs only allow me so many words at one time as you could see by my typos. I tend to be a little short and blunt when posting with that thing and frankly I was ****ed at the style of play and the refs.

On a positive note about SLU, they skated well last night until they got caught chasing alot in the second, everyone says HarryZ is the fastest skater in the conference, I think that spot should be reserved for Bogosian. From what the Waterville NY newspaper said, your man Baker has a knee injury and is out for tonight, Child with the shoulder who left the ice will play..

 

[Got 6 Want More]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

For the last two years I have sung the praises of the Ylae hockey team....raved about their skill, passing, offense and although an SLU fan I have cheered for them when not playing us and in particular cheered for them when they have played out of conference and in the NCAA Tournament. I will not cheer for them again.

I have played nice on this thread and I do not care what you say, how you respond, what name calling you resort to, or what arguments you might pose......but by your above post you have proven you know little to nothing about the sport of hockey. You have perhaps one fact correct in that Yale's forecheck and tenacity made a difference. The rest of your post is poppycock and totally inaccurate.
Ylae's tenacity did not frustrate the Saints. What frustrated the Saints was one of the worst officiating jobs I have seen. Whittemore and Ritchey let the game get totally out of control. Whittemore in particular is incompetent and shouldn't be allowed to referee a Squirts game let alone an ECAC Playoff game.

He let call after call slide........he missed a call on us when we hit a Ylae player on an icing who was no where near the puck. The first "Interference" call he makes on us Child has his back to a Ylae player who runs up his back and Child gets called for Interference. With the score 2-1....a Ylae player pitchforked our D-Man in the corner who had the puck, he calls nothing and on the same play Ylae scores to go up 3-1 when instead they should have been down a man.
The most egregious non call was the hit on Justin Baker. Baker should have had his head up but he was engaged/tangled with a Ylae player and in comes in another Ylae player (might have been Ziegler) with a vicsious knee on knee hit sent Baker to the hospital with what is likely a broken fibula. What should have been a major penalty of 5 minutes and nothing is called. (Hard hit my as_, try dirty hit)

As to the game, Ylae buried their chances tonight and when they had the opportunities they capitalized. On the other hand unlike last night (although the scoreboard didn't reflect it) I felt the play was much more even.

As to what REALLY happened at the game. SLU knows that Ylae is more talented and although we can skate with them, in order for us to have a chance we have to take Ylae off their game, play physical, check like crazy and hope for a few breaks. What happened is that Ylae does not like to be hit and they (like any team should or would) responded in kind and Whittemore did nothing to control the play.
What I did not care for was the constant "yapping" and complaining by Ylae's players......the worst of which were Little, Martin and Allain. Kearney was diving so much Whittemore should be equipped with cards to rate them..........say 9.5!!!! I have never seen such poor sportsmanship and such whining and complaining as shown by Ylae tonight. Tonight I lost all respect for the Ylae team.

We all see what we want to see and we all are partisan.....me for SLU and you for Ylae......but your post bears no resemblance to the veracity of what transpired tonight. Was SLU guiltless?? Of course not but just because SLU played physical does not mean they played dirty.

And lastly I am rapidly losing respect for Allain. Besides his screaming at the officials and his coaches yapping all night long, now after both games..........our coach who is literally hobbling around in pain walked out on the ice towards the Ylae bench to shake hands.......for two nights in a row.....Allain acknowledges with a nod or a wave and leaves the bench to the locker room. It is no wonder Allain is quickly approaching Pecknold status in his likeability factor and sportsmanship.

I haven't read through all the back and forth, but I agree with these sentiments entirely! In the past few years, Yale has been a great team to watch, but last night was so bad that I don't even know if I could root for them in the NCAA's anymore.

There were two penalties when Baker got injured, he was hooked down from behind and the other Yale player kneed him and hit him with other body parts in the head. There were other missed calls too. Vangog was clearly hooked on a partial breakaway (note: we got a makeup call right after that). Pete Child was cross-checked into the boards in the third from behind that was not called. Mobley was cross-checked in the face, also not called. The one penalty I saw SLU commit was Bogo following through on a check that looked more like a punch. And in my opinion, the boarding call that Little got at middle of the third where he was finally given a misconduct for chirping at the refs all night was a major. But it wasn't just the incompetent officiating combined with the fake toughness of Yale, it was the constant chirping from a lot of the Yale players. That shows no class and any coach that tolerates that is hard to respect. I lost track of how many punches were thrown and stick infractions happened last night after the whistle followed with chirping to the refs, the Saint players on the ice and the Saint bench. And, since when do the coaches not shake hands after a game? Even a three game series. Total lack of class by Allain. TOTAL!

Ritchie and Whittemore lost control of the game last night and it resulted in player injuries. I hope that tonight is better in that regard, but will not be holding my breath.

I am not saying that had a material impact on the outcome of the game, but the hit on Baker and/or Child if Child doesn't play tonight could have a material impact on the outcome of the series. SLU can't lose a player like Baker and just replace him with someone else. He is our #2 D-Man and one of the best freshmen in the league. I just hope he is alright for 2011-2012!! The actual game was lost of poor defensive play by SLU. Yale scored three goals in 6 minutes all pretty much on wide open looks and a few of our D-men and forwards playing defense looked lost.

It is really too bad. Even Joe Marsh in his pre-series interviews was saying it is hard not to like Yale. I felt the same way. After last night I lost a ton of respect. Cornell has been really good in the past and aside from a player or two like Riley Nash who I thought was a selfish underachiever, they played hard, tough and showed class. Last night was just unacceptably bad sportsmanship all the way around from Yale. If they don't clean that crap up tonight, I won't be cheering for them in the NCAA's which they should make no problem.

 

[Got 6 Want More]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

As for Coach Allain, I am sure he could be tough to take from the outside, but as a Yale fan it is difficult to not like what he has done to the program.
And it is standard practice in a playoff series that coaches (and players) do not shake hands until after the deciding game of the series. I am sure win or lose tonight Coach Allain will walk to center ice and and shake hands with Coach Marsh.

Wrong. Coaches always shake hands, players only do at the end of the series.

 

[hockeyplayer1015]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

Wrong. Coaches always shake hands, players only do at the end of the series.

At Princeton last weekend (granted the benches are next to each other), the coaches did indeed shake hands after each game.

I hope last night's BS from both sides doesn't carry on into tonight. Hopefully we are treated to an exciting game and can walk away saying it was a good series to watch.

 

[LTsatch]

I haven't read through all the back and forth, but I agree with these sentiments entirely! In the past few years, Yale has been a great team to watch, but last night was so bad that I don't even know if I could root for them in the NCAA's anymore.

There were two penalties when Baker got injured, he was hooked down from behind and the other Yale player kneed him and hit him with other body parts in the head. There were other missed calls too. Vangog was clearly hooked on a partial breakaway (note: we got a makeup call right after that). Pete Child was cross-checked into the boards in the third from behind that was not called. Mobley was cross-checked in the face, also not called. The one penalty I saw SLU commit was Bogo following through on a check that looked more like a punch. And in my opinion, the boarding call that Little got at middle of the third where he was finally given a misconduct for chirping at the refs all night was a major. But it wasn't just the incompetent officiating combined with the fake toughness of Yale, it was the constant chirping from a lot of the Yale players. That shows no class and any coach that tolerates that is hard to respect. I lost track of how many punches were thrown and stick infractions happened last night after the whistle followed with chirping to the refs, the Saint players on the ice and the Saint bench. And, since when do the coaches not shake hands after a game? Even a three game series. Total lack of class by Allain. TOTAL!

Ritchie and Whittemore lost control of the game last night and it resulted in player injuries. I hope that tonight is better in that regard, but will not be holding my breath.

I am not saying that had a material impact on the outcome of the game, but the hit on Baker and/or Child if Child doesn't play tonight could have a material impact on the outcome of the series. SLU can't lose a player like Baker and just replace him with someone else. He is our #2 D-Man and one of the best freshmen in the league. I just hope he is alright for 2011-2012!! The actual game was lost of poor defensive play by SLU. Yale scored three goals in 6 minutes all pretty much on wide open looks and a few of our D-men and forwards playing defense looked lost.

It is really too bad. Even Joe Marsh in his pre-series interviews was saying it is hard not to like Yale. I felt the same way. After last night I lost a ton of respect. Cornell has been really good in the past and aside from a player or two like Riley Nash who I thought was a selfish underachiever, they played hard, tough and showed class. Last night was just unacceptably bad sportsmanship all the way around from Yale. If they don't clean that crap up tonight, I won't be cheering for them in the NCAA's which they should make no problem.

Now that was a one sided post! You take the Saint team name a little too literally. Maybe we should change the team name to "Choirboys"

 

[cornellgradyalefan]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

Certainly we can all agree that both teams were victimized by the PATHETIC officiating last night. And each side can site penalties that should have been called.

SLU needs to take Yale out of it's game to win. I think we will all agree on that. The problem is that the style of game that evolved was a direct result of the the crew swallowing their whistles, particularly in the second period when the game got of hand. An SLU fan posted on this site that it was imperative that SLU stay out of the box if they had a chance to win last night. SLU started the game with clean hitting, then re-calibrated their approach to adding a normally penalized component to the hit, like throwing an elbow, when they saw that the crew was not going to call penalties. That is a perfectly rational approach to take. As a result, Yale amped up their physical game to even the score, so to speak.

The real villains here are the officiating crew, particularly Whittemore and Ritchie, who have no business being on the ice for any game, even pee-wee hockey. I certainly hope we see a different crew tonight, although with all 4 ECAC series going to a 3rd game, I doubt that will happen.

Tonight's game could get even more out of hand, if the officials haven't taken a crash course in how to properly officiate a game.

 

[cornellgradyalefan]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

LT....try to hang around for a few minutes after the period ends so that I can venture to your side to say hello. And let me know where you are sitting.

GoBlue78...I will look for you. Where are you sitting?

I am off aisle 4 in Row G

 

[LTsatch]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

LT....try to hang around for a few minutes after the period ends so that I can venture to your side to say hello. And let me know where you are sitting.

GoBlue78...I will look for you. Where are you sitting?

I am off aisle 4 in Row G

Aisle 8 row J on the band end, I have to return my daughter to UCONN this afternoon so I may be late. I have retired my Yale hockey hooded sweatshirt after that first game,I'm starting to get superstitious. Wearing a heather hooded sweatshirt and a Black North Face with jeans tonight. I will hang on the concourse at the top of Aisle 8 stairs after the first if I am there in time.. CritSports, if you are around stop by I would like to shake your hand as well.

 

[Boola]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

The coaches didnt shake hands after game 1, no complaints about that?

 

[goblue78]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

Just got to New Haven and haven't picked up my tix. I'll let you know when I do.

Edit: Aisle 3, Row H

 

[Saints#1]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

The coaches didnt shake hands after game 1, no complaints about that?

Neither coach walked out to the middle of the ice to shake hands and have the other one see him, ignore him and walk away, that is the difference.

 

[Got 6 Want More]

Now that was a one sided post! You take the Saint team name a little too literally. Maybe we should change the team name to "Choirboys"

Watch the tape! It was ugly! The chirping and lack of sportsmanship was pretty one-sided...about as one-sided as the goal scoring actually! Further, it actually does matter who started it because that behavior and the loss of control by the refs actually fueled frustration and it escalated on both sides! Somehow I doubt you would be defending that style of play if it was called! I call it like I see it! Vulgate has a history of that kind of chippy play, but last night was the worst I have seen from the ECAC in a while! Every play was some guy from Yale throwing his hands up or chirping to someone! Totally classless and sad! Half of you talk as though Yale deserves the calls by some kind of right and that because they are quick and talented it is forgivable! If they pull that crap in the NCAA's with more competent refs, they better have practiced their PK!!!

Last year I flames with Brown guys about how Yale was the better team and the loss of Backman was huge! Last night I saw how Yale cockiness could enable them to lose that series! And before we hear how much more talented Yale is than SLU, let's remember SLU accounts for a third of their losses this season! It is not like they can't skate with Yale!

 

[Got 6 Want More]

The coaches didnt shake hands after game 1, no complaints about that?

In 25 years I have not once seen Joe Marsh and staff NOT shake hands with the coaches from the other team! Not once!! Allain is clearly a lot more egotistical than I realized! in fact, Marsh almost always shakes hands with opposing players (at least when we lose...he doesn't always when we when because some coaches think that is unsportsmanlike), even though there is a rule on the ECAC for coaches not to shake hands with players because of the interpretation of how that appears as noted why he doesn't always shake hands with players after a win!

 

[cornellgradyalefan]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

There was a very warm exchange between Marsh and Allain tonight after the game was over. I know because I always watch the coach exchange at the end of each game. Furthermore, the hand shake line between the the Yale and SLU players was sincere and animated, not just the perfunctory stuff that you often see. It seems that the players buried the hatchet after the games were over, let's have the fans do the same.

I thought that SLU gave Yale all that it could handle in this series. You ran into some tough luck this year, but you have a lot to build on with Carey and Wenninger and others so I am sure your program is on the upswing. Tonight you saw the Yale team that we all saw during the first half of the year-relentless in the forecheck, precise with their passes, burying their goal scoring chances, and pretty darn good in goal also. If this Yale team sticks around for the rest of the season, we have a real chance to win the NCAA's.

 

[elihockeyfan]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

Tonight was another game marked by poor officiating, which negatively impacted both teams. That said, Yale came out with some mojo we haven't seen in a while (and which has been sorely missed). SLU played well, and some of their guys are incredibly fast, but the difference was that Yale did not fade tonight like that have previously.

Congrats to SLU on a great series and I would like to echo the post that says the coaches seemed particularly warm as they shook hands after the game. After the two major penalties with about 5 minutes remaining, the two captains spoke at center ice and it seemed they agreed that they were not going to let the series end on a bad note. In the line-up to shake hands, I noticed several SLU players congratulating Yale guys and presumably wishing them luck in AC. So I think after a tough battle the players ended on a note of mutual respect and I hope that this thread will be the same.

As for Yale, we have our hands full with Colgate who are playing very well. I saw goblue78 at the game tonight and he reminded me that a loss to Colgate would not only end Yale's ECAC tournament run, but also put us behind UND and BC in the pairwise (he also explained to me again that had we lost tonight we would have ended up first in the pairwise for the season).

Not sure I can get to AC but I am hoping we get Dartmouth instead of Cornell if we can get past Colgate. I have this nagging feeling that after 6 straight victories, Cornell is due to tag us.

Great season for Yale all around. No doubt we are living in the golden years of Yale's program....

 

[LTsatch]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

I will echo everyone's sentiment that after the game but all of the coaches shook hands and did have a nice conversation. Not sure about protocol and if I am wrong please correct me, the SLU coach and staff then proceeded to get into the line up and shook hands the Yale players as well. Allain and staff walked off the ice and did not acknowledge or shake hands with the SLU players. Should they have? Not sure. As for the game it was a debacle from the start, I am just glad no players were seriously hurt. Yale was the better team for this series and we will have our hands full with a very resurgent Colgate team. Unfortunately Io cannot attend in AC, and i doubt there will be many folks in the building except for red teams fans who travel well. Local interest, doubtful.

It was an honor to witness Yale's most successful season at home tonight and the crowd and team tribute at the end was great. It is hard to believe we will never see eight of those guys at Ingalls again. But they will be back in CT soon!

 

[Eph72]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

I was at the game tonight. I acknowledge that there were some questionable calls, and there was some running around, but in the great scheme of things, or of hockey games, there was nothing which I observed -- in terms of player or officiating behavior -- which was out of the ordinary under the circumstances.

In my opinion, St Lawrence matched Yale in speed and intensity and nearly matched Yale in desire. They fell short in skill -- stickhandling, playmaking and shooting -- and this made the difference. This is not a big knock on the Saints. Not many teams can skate with Yale when we're playing well. Yale played very well in the last two games of the series and should be very competitive against both Colgate and the winner of Dartmouth - Cornell. As far as the NCAAs are concerned we'll see if we can go into that tournament in the kind of top form that got us ranked #1 for six weeks earlier this year. One thing which bodes well for us: the Little/Kearney/Limbert line is back. After a terrible second half slump this line must have accounted for a dozen points over the three games and they were easily the most dominant line on the ice this weekend. We'll need more of the same in Atlantic City, Bridgeport and, hopefully, beyond.

Addendum: Little/Kearney/Limbert had 17 points over the weekend!!!

 

[LTsatch]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

Aisle 8 row J on the band end, I have to return my daughter to UCONN this afternoon so I may be late. I have retired my Yale hockey hooded sweatshirt after that first game,I'm starting to get superstitious. Wearing a heather hooded sweatshirt and a Black North Face with jeans tonight. I will hang on the concourse at the top of Aisle 8 stairs after the first if I am there in time.. CritSports, if you are around stop by I would like to shake your hand as well.

It was pleasure to meet Cornellgradyalefan And Critsports between the first and second period tonight, both nice guys who are passionate about hockey!

 

[critsports]

Re: Yale Hockey 2010-2011 thread

I will echo everyone's sentiment that after the game but all of the coaches shook hands and did have a nice conversation. Not sure about protocol and if I am wrong please correct me, the SLU coach and staff then proceeded to get into the line up and shook hands the Yale players as well. Allain and staff walked off the ice and did not acknowledge or shake hands with the SLU players. Should they have? As for the game it was a debacle from the start, I am just glad no players were seriously hurt.

For some bizarre and strange reason the protocol seems to be that only the losing coach gets in the line and the winning coach usually does not. Marsh as often as not gets into the line or at least makes the attempt to wish everyone well. Allain was not wrong not to get into the line. That is usually the protocol.

Tonight was another game marked by poor officiating, which negatively impacted both teams. That said, Yale came out with some mojo we haven't seen in a while (and which has been sorely missed). SLU played well, and some of their guys are incredibly fast, but the difference was that Yale did not fade tonight like that have previously.

Congrats to SLU on a great series and I would like to echo the post that says the coaches seemed particularly warm as they shook hands after the game. After the two major penalties with about 5 minutes remaining, the two captains spoke at center ice and it seemed they agreed that they were not going to let the series end on a bad note. In the line-up to shake hands, I noticed several SLU players congratulating Yale guys and presumably wishing them luck in AC. So I think after a tough battle the players ended on a note of mutual respect and I hope that this thread will be the same.

Thanks for the kind comments. I think after a very rugged and hard fought series everyone both fans and teams (PERHAPS?) are trying to bury the hatchet. However one can't presuppose what was said in those conversations. It very well could have been they were smiling calling each other idiots, but I really do doubt that was the case. If I was going to read into any conversation (which I can't) I would say the one thing I am probably surest of is when Joe Marsh called the timeout in the third he likely told his players to "cool their jets" and to not let things get out of hand and to play it out with dignity. That worked mostly but not entirely when Drewiske got into the muck up with 4 minutes to go. (And typical of the whole series the original infraction that got Drewiske so ballistic didn't even get called).

I thought that SLU gave Yale all that it could handle in this series. You ran into some tough luck this year, but you have a lot to build on with Carey and Wenninger and others so I am sure your program is on the upswing. Tonight you saw the Yale team that we all saw during the first half of the year-relentless in the forecheck, precise with their passes, burying their goal scoring chances, and pretty darn good in goal also. If this Yale team sticks around for the rest of the season, we have a real chance to win the NCAA's.

Before the series began I picked Ylae to win in two. So getting to three games was more than I expected. Tonight was actually the worst played game from our perspective. In spite of the hitting and rough stuff we had no "spark" and were very flat. Ylae had a lot to do with that and you are bang on about the Ylae team we saw tonight. We were lucky the score was only 4-0 and not worse as it easily could have been. Rondeau played very well tonight and he has played well throughout most of the season. He did not play well in games one and two (IMO) and I think he is the only chink in your armor, albeit not as vulnerable. I sincerely hope he plays well come tournament time as things will really ratchet up a notch or two from league play.

The coaches didnt shake hands after game 1, no complaints about that?

On both nights of the first two games coach Marsh walked across the ice. One night he got half way across the other night just off the bench a bit. He made the effort both nights.


I don't want to end this post on a sour note........however, as LTsatch and elihockey fan mentioned the officiating was again a major factor and issue. Not just tonight but this entire series was an embarrassment for Yale, for SLU and for the ECAC. It was a black mark on two long standing programs and again an example of how the officiating in the ECAC is inferior and leaving us all wanting and hoping for better. Why after the first two nights (particularly with Stewart there last night) they didn't swap out this crew for the one close by in the Union series is beyond me. Note on the Union thread the complaints about the officiating were just as prevalent and apparently Union had 7 penalties to 3 for Colgate).

Our league has to do better.

I do have a lot more I want to comment on in regards to the comportment of the Ylae players and coaches but in the interest and the spirit of everyone's posts I will let it be.
Lastly I wish Ylae well in their trip to the NCAA tournament. It was also nice to meet LTsatch and Cornellgradyale fan at the game.