Michigan vs. BGSU Officiating, etc.
Is it me, or were the refs kinda bad? Brian and Tim at Yostbuilt always mention how bad CCHA refs are, but this is my first game watched this season. Was this par for the course?
Scooter Vaughan tried to pin a BG player from behind; he closed in with a little bit of speed; did NOT turn to lower his shoulder. He ended up bouncing the player off the boards. BGSU player turns in the Oscar winning performance of a lifetime plays dead for three minutes. Then "miraculously" skates off under his own power. During the paralysis performance, the refs seem to change their mind from giving Vaughan a penalty, to ejecting him from the game.
Also, another call, Caporusso gets called for a trip. BGSU victim also gets called for a dive on that very trip.... Is this even possible? Isn't it one or the other? Either Caporusso caused the guy to go flying or did not. Either the BGSU player dove or fell by the will of Caporusso's stick.
Either way, the game was infuriating enough for me to hit the local sports bar today in hopes of revenge. Props to the BG goaltender, the dude made some nice saves.
*Also, M Athletics need to do a better job notifying when games will be on internet live feed. A little box pops up on MGoblue.com that sort of vaguely implies a live feed will be available, not more than thirty minutes before the actual game. If I wasn't determined to find the game last night, I never would have known the game was available.
Also, the game tonight will apparently be on one of the NHL network channels; any chance it will also be on the internet? Anyone? Beuhler?
January 17th, 2009 at 3:06 PM ^
Vaughn was called for boarding which is an automatic 5 minute major + game misconduct. He was NOT trying to "pin" him against the boards. They were both skating to the corner and he hit him from behind multiple feet from the boards. That is boarding. That was Vaughn's fault for taking a STUPID penalty.
But other than that, yeah they traditionally suck.
January 17th, 2009 at 4:20 PM ^
boarding is not auto 5+game, checking from behind is, which is what scooter was called for.
January 17th, 2009 at 4:37 PM ^
Boarding is essentially checking from behind INTO the boards. The call could be made as either check from behind or boarding, because it fits both categories, but however it is called, the 5 minute + game misconduct was warranted.
January 17th, 2009 at 5:44 PM ^
actually boarding has nothing to do with checking from behind. Checking from behind could be boarding, but boarding doesnt have to be checking from behind. All that boarding is, is checking/hitting someone from a distance from the boards with force that they go flying into it which many times results in injury. And believe me I would know, ended my career. I got into the boards from the side and he got a boarding penalty, but it wasnt checking from behind. The 2 are not mutually exclusive.
January 17th, 2009 at 9:37 PM ^
Typically, check from behind into the boards will be called as a boarding call. There is some overlap. All I was trying to say was that whatever got called, boarding or checking from behind, it was the right call. Either could have been called in that situation in my opinion.
The problem is Vaughn. I've yet to see him do something that has really impressed me this year. IMO he needs to be a frequent healthy scratch.
January 17th, 2009 at 9:11 PM ^
boarding is "an excessively violent hit into the boards," checking from behind is a hit between the shoulders.
January 17th, 2009 at 3:07 PM ^
For tripping/diving calls, they are called on both players when the trip does occur, but the recipient then embellishes it. This would work wonders for basketball.
January 17th, 2009 at 3:12 PM ^
Officiating was annoying last night, but didn't seem to me to be as bad as it was in, say, the Miami series. As soon as Scooter hit the guy, everyone knew that it was going to be at least a game misconduct. That is a mandatory 5 and a game penalty that the CCHA gave a directive for the refs to look carefully for about the same time that JMFJ was getting to Michigan. The only question was whether it was going to be a game misconduct or a dq, which would have suspended Scooter for tonight as well (though he will most likely be scratched in favor of Pateryn regardless).
Anyway, refs bad, but no worse than CCHA refs have been...Michigan just put in a lackluster effort. Summers had probably his worst game of the season on the blue line, and our offense had trouble connecting enough passes together to create any type of pressure in the offensive zone. Frustrating, but hopefully something that they can rebound from in a big way today.
The game is on comcast local, for those in the metrodetroit viewing area, but I have no idea about internet feeds for the game.
January 17th, 2009 at 3:13 PM ^
last weekend langseth and shegos were f'ing terrible. and then i heard that twice this weekend's refs called offsetting tripping/diving calls which, yes, seems pretty impossible. either he was tripped or he dove. maybe it's possible in the rules, but it makes no sense whatsoever
January 17th, 2009 at 3:18 PM ^
They called tripping/diving and an interference/embellishment penalty. On the interference call, a BGSU player grabbed a Michigan player (forget who) and prevented him from skating around him to the puck in the corner, hence the valid interference call. Then after he let go, the Michigan player fell to the ice for NO REASON WHAT SO EVER, hence the embellishment part. Both of those were legitimate penalties.
It's shit like that which really pisses me off. Play hockey. When another player punches you, trips you, interferes with you, or whatever, don't sit on the ice and throw your hands up waiting for a call. Get your ass back up and play. Don't even look at the ref.
It happened so many times that after the whistle, a BGSU player would push or punch a UM player. Then, for whatever reason, the UM players have to hit them back. Does it make the players look "tough"? No, it doesn't. All it gets us is matching minors instead of a power play. If I'm the coach, and I'd be benching people for that till they realize that hot heads don't win hockey games.
January 17th, 2009 at 4:23 PM ^
We should be commenting less on the state of CCHA refereeing and more on the state of our hockey team. The referees were terrible, yes, but they were equally bad on both sides. It's not like we were in the box far more than BG. Nearly equal minutes on each side. The big difference: they made the most of what they got, we skated around like f'ing morons and couldn't break the puck out nor break it in. We maybe had five minutes of sustained pressure in the BG zone all game.
January 17th, 2009 at 6:02 PM ^
the state of the team is fine. every team ever does this: they get a big win, say they won't back down for the smaller game, they proceed to lose in glorious fashion and theyre fine afterward. this is hogans first loss in a long time, we'll bounce back
January 17th, 2009 at 9:14 PM ^
God I hope you're right. We just never did this last year, I guess I got too used to last year's squad.
On a completely unrelated note, great game by Billy tonight and I hope we go with him for a while.