ECAC Officiating First Half

[GreatLakerMohawk]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

No one in Troy misses Noeth - that guy was f-cking brutal.

St. Lawrence has quickly jumped up my list of officials that I groan when I see out there.

[Dutchfan]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

Mike freaking Noeth, when was the last time anyone saw that tool? It's been a while.

This can't be the same guy, can it? http://www.nhlofficials.com/alumni.asp?alumni_id=29

[ThePeople]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

Kotyra is the worst ref in the league bar none, have to give second worst to Feola.
The reffing hasn't been horrendous for the most part but I feel they are not calling enough penalties. Honestly, they let games get way out of hand to the point where a lot of players can and have been getting injured. They need to call dirty stuff early and stop calling non-existent hooking (which seems to be the favored call at the Houston Field House this year)

On another note, the line refs have been terrible and it's really annoying

by the way, Union always gets calls in their favor and pretty much has been as for as long as i've seen (go to any RPI @ Union game and watch Union players literally wrap their arms around RPI's players legs and hold them back for well over 5 seconds without a call). The only team i've ever seen be given a penalty shot, even when they're not even on a breakaway and don't get fouled.

[ADK11]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

IMO it seems the refs are letting more go this season than in the last couple. Seems like the days of calling everything that is close to an obstruction or interference are over. Sometimes this has benefited Union and other times not, but I'd rather see it called closer and let the skill players do their thing.

My biggest peeve is the faceoffs. Is it just me or does it seem like there is a mandate for the linesmen to throw-out at least one player at each faceoff.. the last RPI game was a complete joke, for the first half of the game every RPI face-off man got kicked out and then it was Union's turn in the second half. The high point was when a Union center got kicked out before he even setup to take the faceoff (I guess he took too long or something) and then before either center was set the linesman threw the puck down so hard it bounced 3 feet in the air!! Complete joke..

..and don't tell me that Union is getting all the calls this season after watching Brutlag HEAD BUTT a Union player TWICE right in front of the refs and only get a minor penalty.. brutal

[Got 6, Want More]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

I am the first to admit that the call that Brutlag of RPI got against us at Appleton where we got the game-winner was a terrible call. However, it was a makeup call in my opinion. I'd rather they just make the right call first, instead of the makeup call as winning on a bad call cheapens the win.

Not to start a flame war, but the team that seems to benefit most is Cornell. They clutch, grab and pick all game and never seem to pay for it. Not all their players do it and they don't do it all the time and there are some players at Cornell every year that every team would love to have....but how they don't get more calls against is beyond me.

[doghok]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

I am the first to admit that the call that Brutlag of RPI got against us at Appleton where we got the game-winner was a terrible call. However, it was a makeup call in my opinion. I'd rather they just make the right call first, instead of the makeup call as winning on a bad call cheapens the win.

Not to start a flame war, but the team that seems to benefit most is Cornell. They clutch, grab and pick all game and never seem to pay for it. Not all their players do it and they don't do it all the time and there are some players at Cornell every year that every team would love to have....but how they don't get more calls against is beyond me.

Speaking of Cornell, I have been watching Scrivens kick his net off for 3.5 years when under pressure in his end, and it happens at a minimum of 2-3times per game, and I have never witnessed a penalty.

Is it the school ?, The Coach, The Goalie. Is it human nature that allows inconsistencies amongst Sports Teams, Players, Etc.

[Wholin1]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

As far as faceoffs are concerned, on what basis does the linesman have the right to eject a player? I was watching the Rangers Red Wings last night and realized that you rarely see that called at least comparatively speaking, whereas as observed above it's probably some huge percentage of late as far as what I've seen in Union games this year. It really slows things down and frankly I don't see the point. BTW, one thing mentioned on TV last night was that the visiting player has to drop his stick first which I never realized. Is that the same in college?

[DrDemento]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

Compared to these guys, I miss Belanger, Amian and Noeth! It really is not worth complaining about, but it is still frustrating.

Got6: I only mentioned those 3 as they stood out over my many years as the most frustrating. Kotyra is definitely on that list also. RPI is now 2-23-1 when he is the ref and he was 1/2 of the abortion that was the second Cornell game of last years second round playoffs for us. He and Murphy combined to completely change that series with a myriad of horrible calls. BTW not saying we deserved to beat cornell-we were not the better team at all-but they called one of the worst most one sided games in memory. All I ask is for a reasonable amount of consistency-and most of all I would like to enjoy the games without having to notice the refs and linesmen. The best games are when you don't even seem to know they are there.

[Kepler]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

As an old timer I can say for certain that bad reffing is nothing new in the ECAC. Names like Mike Noeth, Harry Amian and Pierre Berlanger bring up horror stories in my mind.

The latter two of that list were good refs. They were both *****ly people (and Pierre appeared to hate French Canadians for some reason) but at least they called predictable games and knew the rules. They were also famously hated by the Lynah Crowd, so that's a point in their favor, eh? John Murphy is another ref who fits that list of "reviled but fair."

Noeth... I'm not gonna argue there.

I'm always a little appalled / amused by the comic level of local yokel broadcaster indignation whenever a call goes against the home team. There are very good broadcasters out there, but there are also guys who are legendary in their Constant Verge of Heart Attack Over the Latest Crime. It tends to lap over into their fanbases as well, and so there are entire towns who are convinced they are always getting the shaft because it's been poured in their ears for decades.

I haven't noticed any real change in overall officiating quality in the ECAC, although it seems to me the quality in the other conferences has gotten better over the years. The refs' mistakes irritate me much less than the linesmen, who continue to be, well... capricious. There are games called very well and then there are games like the one at Troy last Friday where the stripes must have missed a dozen offsides and icings, evenly divided between the teams. Penalties are one thing -- there's judgment. But with procedural calls there's just no room for the amount of variance we get.

[Kepler]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

kick his net off for 3.5 years when under pressure in his end, and it happens at a minimum of 2-3times per game, and I have never witnessed a penalty.

This is so common throughout the league it even has a name -- "pulling a Gaudet." (To be fair, I've never really associated Bob's teams with that particular strategy. The first time I noticed it as a pattern was the Colgate teams of the early 90's, but I'm sure it comes and goes like hemlines. FWIW, I don't think Scrivens is a big practitioner, but that could certainly be bias.)

Like you, I have never seen it called as delay, which it ought to be.

[DrDemento]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

Kepler-I don't think I will ever forget Pierre taking a puck to the head in a game in the 80"s at the Houston Fieldhouse and while he lay motionless and then carried out on the stretcher the fans cheering for his removal-he was absolutely hated there. You are correct about Amian-I guess i just remember his bad games As I mentioned before in that post-i think we have always had our difficulties with refs and it will remain so with the current crop. I agree however that there is no excuse for the linesmen not being more proficient.

[aweise]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

Kepler-I don't think I will ever forget Pierre taking a puck to the head in a game in the 80"s at the Houston Fieldhouse and while he lay motionless and then carried out on the stretcher the fans cheering for his removal-he was absolutely hated there. You are correct about Amian-I guess i just remember his bad games As I mentioned before in that post-i think we have always had our difficulties with refs and it will remain so with the current crop. I agree however that there is no excuse for the linesmen not being more proficient.

Wow...despite how horrible a ref can be, there's no excuse for cheering when the guy is being taken out on a stretcher.

My Pierre memory is from a 1991 Cornell-Clarkson game. I can't remember if he called 21 penalties total (18 on Clarkson, 3 on Cornell) or 21 penalties on Clarkson alone, but one of them was an unsportsmanlike bench minor on Clarkson because the band played Three Blind Mice.

The game ended in a tie and it was Clarkson's only blemish (18-0-1) during their final season at Walker Arena.

[ThePeople]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

Speaking of Cornell, I have been watching Scrivens kick his net off for 3.5 years when under pressure in his end, and it happens at a minimum of 2-3times per game, and I have never witnessed a penalty.

Is it the school ?, The Coach, The Goalie. Is it human nature that allows inconsistencies amongst Sports Teams, Players, Etc.

It's the coach, the whiniest baby to ever come near the game of college hockey. All he has to do is say "more calls should go against team XXX" and the next night your team has 18 penalties and is spending 1/3 of the game with only 3(4 counting the goalie) players on the ice

[ThePeople]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

..and don't tell me that Union is getting all the calls this season after watching Brutlag HEAD BUTT a Union player TWICE right in front of the refs and only get a minor penalty.. brutal

it's cause he missed the first one, but lets not forget that the Union guy hit him first AND prior to that there was 2 of the worst calls i've ever seen in my life on RPI. Maybe when you guys stop cheap-shotting Polacek, Pirri, and D'Amgio for the entire game Brutlag won't get so angry. The ref's turned that game completely on bad calls all in Union's favor, otherwise RPI would've most likely had a 4-0 lead going into the second

er sorry for double post ~

[TimV]

Re: ECAC Officiating First Half

It's the coach, the whiniest baby to ever come near the game of college hockey. All he has to do is say "more calls should go against team XXX" and the next night your team has 18 penalties and is spending 1/3 of the game with only 3(4 counting the goalie) players on the ice

Why, exactly, do you think the Cornell Coach wields such power over the officials??? Especially over RPI?

According to collegehockeystats.net over the last seven seasons, RPI in penalty minutes has had the following rankings (ECAC only, backwards from 08-09): 3rd, 1st, 5th, 10th, 7th, 5th, 4th.

Same years for Cornell: 9th, 3rd, 8th, 5th, 12th, 6th, 9th.

Schafer sure is a powerful guy. Except those three years he was in the top half of the league for PIM.

Seems to me the real whiny babies are some of the RPI posters. If the shoe fits...