Letter to Piotrowski

if its tl;dr. if its too painful;dr. I have been having difficulty sleeping. I had a dream that the NCAA announced that they had over-ruled the decision. I went outside at dawn and clouds over Lake Michigan were neon blue. I wrote two letters. It was painful, perhaps more than rationality suggests. I went through the Kubler-Ross stages in roughly 38 hours. Denial: 24 minutes. Anger: a salty, salty drive home to Chicago. Bargaining: maybe we should stop booing refs at yost, just please let the NCAA announce that they have overturned the decision. Depression: what could have been. . .the players deserved better. . .we were on fire! Acceptance: fuck. Below is a letter to Steve Piotrowski, NCAA Ice Hockey Secretary-Rules Editor and CCHA Director of Officiating. He is giving an officiating seminar at the frozen four which is open to the public at a cost of 50$. Topics include the video replay system. There will be a question and answer session. Lunch is included. nihoa.com I am not interested in suggestions for editing the letter, as it has been mailed. If you need to, wright your own. It just made me sick. I wrote a second letter, this one of thanks, to Mr Berenson. That helped. "Steve Piotrowski CCHA Director of Officiating 23995 Freeway Park Dr--Suite 101 Farmington Hills, MI 48335 Dear Mr Piotrowski, No one is outraged that Michigan lost a hockey game. We are disappointed to lose such a particularly important game as the midwest regional final. However, I am outraged at the way in which the officials failed to award Michigan the win. I am aware of others who are outraged as well. I am a longtime fan of college hockey, but I have never officiated nor even played collegiate hockey. To be on the short end of that decision was an exasperating experience for a non expert, moreso since no explanation was offered. I refer of course to the waved off goal in the first overtime. Was the correct or incorrect call made? I hope that you will shed some light on the appropriate decision making process when calling and reviewing these situations. I mean, what exactly happened, because that should have been a goal, right? If an official loses sight of the puck is the policy to immediately blow it dead? or should he maneuver into a better position? wait one second? two? With the two ref plus two linesman system it is unlikely that all will be able to see the puck at all times. Whereas if one loses sight of the puck it is fairly likely another official has not. This would suggest a policy of restraint. You can always disallow a goal on replay review, say if it had been controlled or covered for a defined amount of time. But you can no more unblow a whistle than you can unring a bell or unblow a horn. Does a ricochet off the goalie count as possession in the delayed penalty situation so as to allow one and only one shot? Does a ricochet off the goalie directly into the goal count or must the puck go untouched into the net? If the erroneous whistle is so temporally close to the goal so as play is not affected, can we allow that goal on review? There is no shortage of examples of tough calls, but these would be valid and timely issues to present at the officiating conference being held at the frozen four. What happened? Perhaps explanation will dampen the outrage. The officiating conference is an opportunity to clarify for the interested public as well as standardize practices among conference and league officials. We want people to be fans of both their teams and collegiate ice hockey. I offer the suggestion not to be bitter, but with respect to the necessity and difficulties of officiating. Also with the hope that you will understand the difficulties of being a fan, not to mention the raw deal for the players. Admitting the error is the first necessary step to changing or clarifying the current system. Apologizing might help restore good faith, whereas lack of apology provokes conspiratorial thinking. Does John Gravellese hate Michigan? Does Michigan hate John Gravellese? For me, nothing short of an over-ruling from the NCAA that puts Michigan in the frozen four would do justice to what happened on the ice. Please get this stuff right so I can continue to enjoy watching hockey without having a stroke. Sincerely," [my name] signing off until football season but beware my mighty neghammer;