1. Deja vu: A second overtime game in a row. A second John Ramage game-winner in a row. "It was almost the same play," MSU senior Eriah Hayes said. The goal came with just 6.2 seconds showing on the clock; it was 32 seconds on Friday. The result was Wisconsin's first-ever sweep in Mankato in the teams' final regular-season meeting here ever (next year, the Badgers go to the Big Ten). Badgers coach Mike Eaves got his team's hardhat award, and MSU coach Mike Hastings has to go to work to get his once red-hot team back on track. In the fickle WCHA standings, the Mavericks dropped to eighth place (had they swept they would have been tied for first!), and they fell to 15th in the Pairwise.
2. What are we talking about? For the second night in a row, we're talking about officiating. It's too bad that so many WCHA conversations end up being about the refs and not about the players on the ice. On Friday, it was the weird, goalie-in-the-box rule, and Saturday it was a no-goal call on the ice that stood after video review. Many TV viewers thought it was a clear goal (I got a chance to look after the game and it looked like it went in, especially when the second Wisconsin player came in to swipe it out), and certainly a lot of people watching in the Verizon Wireless Center in real time thought it was a goal. But Jean-Paul LaFontaine's power-play chance did not give MSU a 2-1 lead with just 2:47 to play. Instead, it remained 1-1 and went to overtime. "I saw a replay, and it was in," Hastings said. "I don't know how, but for some reason (the officials) didn't get the opportunity to see that."
3. Rough and tough: The series was a rough-and-tumble, physical battle between two teams that didn't seem to like each other very much. Wisconsin was called for 11 penalties, MSU seven. There were a few extra curriculars, too, including an interesting, feisty battle between Ramage and Chase Grant throughout the night. Minnesota State goaltender Stephon Williams has to be glad to to be not playing the Badgers again this season as he took plenty of hits throughout the weekend. One contact-to-the-goalie penalty was called, and that was on Grant, who appeared to hit Ramage into Joel Rumpel behind the net.
Around the WCHA: Minnesota Duluth 5, Michigan Tech 4 ... North Dakota 5, Colorado College 3 ... Minnesota 7, Alaska Anchorage 1 ... Denver 3, Nebraska Omaha 3 (OT)
WCHA standings
1. Denver 20 points
1. Nebraska Omaha 20
3. Minnesota 19
3. North Dakota 19
5. St. Cloud State 18
6. Minnesota Duluth 17
6. Wisconsin 17
8. Minnesota State 16
9. Colorado College 1310. Bemidji State 11
11. Michigan Tech 9
12. Alaska Anchorage 5
1 comment:
This has been bugging me all week. When is the hammer going to fall on Marco Hunt and Derek Shepard? Where is the accountability? I personally haven't seen a video of the "no goal" which would have put the Mavericks up 1 with just over 2 minutes to play, but after talking to multiple people who got a chance to see it, it sure sounds like we got jobbed.
I guess I can't understand how an official can look at a video review and apparently still make the wrong call. I want to see disciplinary action taken.
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