mikejm Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Mason's never impressed me as a referee who paid a lot of attention to what's going on on the ice, but this weekend was absolutely horrible. Some of the calls he made were really questionable, and a lot of very obvious infractions were overlooked. And I'm not just being a homer here; they were going both ways. Two questions: Is Mason the worst ref in the league? and what will it take to get better officiating in the WCHA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airmail Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Two questions: Is Mason the worst ref in the league? and what will it take to get better officiating in the WCHA? 1) No. But I can't think of worse officiating than this past weekend... change answer to possibly. 2) Big Bruce has to get off his ass and can Greg Shepherd. Officiating has gone on a bad downswing in the past few years, and nowhere has it been as bad as in the WCHA. I say blame the man in charge... that's how it works in my world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCM Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Here's what a 75-year-old grandma who watched the game on TV in Pierre, SD, thought about the officiating: Boy, that was a frustrating game. I could not believe the abuse by Alaska that was overlooked by the officials. We could see it on the TV. How could they miss it? During one of the intermissions the announcers interviewed some guy who was supposed to oversee all of the officials in WCHA . I wonder what he thought of the lapses of those guys last night. He probably can't do anything about it anyway, nor would he if he could. It was awful, though. I wouldn't even want to go out on the ice again if I were Zach Parise for fear every other team would manhandle me in the same way, thinking they could get away with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airmail Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 One of my life lessons and learnings... 75 year old Grandmas are always right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stack Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 If anyone would like to complain about the officiating and in particular how the refs let the opposing teams maul Parise until he's bleeding and they still don't call a penalty here are the WCHA officials and their email addresses. If you'r going to complain though don't swear and don't be a jerk. If they are like me they will only consider civil responses. Bruce M. McLeod Commissioner bmcleod@du.edu Carol LaBelle Assistant Commissioner of Operations clabelle@du.edu Sara R. Martin Associate Commissioner sara@srmproperties.com Greg Shepherd Supervisor of Officials gshepherd@mailstation.com Doug Spencer Associate Commissioner for Public Relations dspencer@mailbag.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCM Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 One of my life lessons and learnings... 75 year old Grandmas are always right. Especially when they happen to be your mother. Edit: The grandma in question is my mother, not airmail's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfm567b27 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 If anyone would like to complain about the officiating and in particular how the refs let the opposing teams maul Parise until he's bleeding and they still don't call a penalty here are the WCHA officials and their email addresses. If you'r going to complain though don't swear and don't be a jerk. If they are like me they will only consider civil responses. Bruce M. McLeod Commissioner bmcleod@du.edu Carol LaBelle Assistant Commissioner of Operations clabelle@du.edu Sara R. Martin Associate Commissioner sara@srmproperties.com Greg Shepherd Supervisor of Officials gshepherd@mailstation.com Doug Spencer Associate Commissioner for Public Relations dspencer@mailbag.com Stack...Good post. Venting is useless unless directed (nicely) at the source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WPoS Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Mason's never impressed me as a referee who paid a lot of attention to what's going on on the ice, but this weekend was absolutely horrible. Some of the calls he made were really questionable, and a lot of very obvious infractions were overlooked. And I'm not just being a homer here; they were going both ways. Two questions: Is Mason the worst ref in the league? and what will it take to get better officiating in the WCHA? is Mason the worst? Well, that depends on the game, I have seen Adam stink up an arena pretty bad also, IMO Mason and Adam are the worst of the bunch, with Champion the least of the evils. Adam won't even call checking from behind, his linesmen have to do it...I also think it was Adam that skated past J-Mart WHILE he was convulsing on the ice with out stopping play... As for how to make it better? Get rid of Sheppard, I agree it has just been going downhill. Sheppard wasn't a good ref in his own rights so why make him the head official? Kinda sounds like Dilbertism if you ask me. After putting a new head official in, I'd say PAY the guys. I have been told they get like 50 scoots to ref and travel expenses. Well maybe, just like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. After that, get a bigger pool of guys to use, and when someone calls a bad game, bench him and make him lose some $$$. Now, before all the ref types out ther get their grundies in a bunch, we all know a ref can't see EVERYTHING, but c'mon, some of these guys make it DANGEROUS out on the ice for the boys for the stuff they don't call! My $.02 WPoS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TC_transplant Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 I think the WCHA is conspiring to keep North Dakota down. It's obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 is Mason the worst? Well, that depends on the game, I have seen Adam stink up an arena pretty bad also, IMO Mason and Adam are the worst of the bunch, with Champion the least of the evils. Adam won't even call checking from behind, his linesmen have to do it...I also think it was Adam that skated past J-Mart WHILE he was convulsing on the ice with out stopping play... Agreed about Mason and Adam. Both are, and have always been, terrible. I believe Adam handled the CC series this weekend. CC is generally not a "chippy" team, but some of the crap that went on and not whistled was just amazing. The coaches and ADs really need to get on McLeod's ass about officiating quality. It's one thing to ride around in Parise or Vanek's breezers, it's quite another to cheap shot them and then not get called for a blatant violation. I would suggest that younger guys officiate the game, having guys in their late 40s-50s skate around with "kids" is not "it". Adam was screwing up games when I was in school and he hasn't gotten better with age. Pay the refs a decent amount of $$$ per game and bring in quality officials, both on and off the ice. If McLeod et al. can't/won't enforce the existing rules and players' are at risk, revise the fighting rules to allow things to be "settled on the ice". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagies Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Sent my message to Bruce and Greg. And I see a friend who doesn't post here but saw the addresses has sent them a note as well. Thanks, Stack. Good post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 TC transplant, You seem to get away with a lot here; your one-liners fly under the radar. Poor WPOS takes all the flack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Adam won't even call checking from behind, his linesmen have to do it... They will if the name on the Jersey is Green or Comodore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airmail Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Pay the refs a decent amount of $$$ per game and bring in quality officials, both on and off the ice. Maybe Bruce McLeod still has that 18 grand that he pilfered from UMD some years back. He can probably pay out of his own pocket. If McLeod et al. can't/won't enforce the existing rules and players' are at risk, revise the fighting rules to allow things to be "settled on the ice". Absolutely. Look at some of our other teams. We had Panzer, Hoogsteen, Blake... all small players/ goal scorers. I can't remember any of them getting the drag down, hook and slash bull$%!# that we're seeing nowadays, and why? Because any perpetrator would've gotten his damn scull bashed in. I am sick of this style of hockey. It absolutely sucks. If it keeps up, the marquis talent will be playing major-junior, not in the WCHA. They'll go where they can score goals, not where they'll be drug around the ice. I guarantee it... just wait and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WPoS Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 TC transplant, You seem to get away with a lot here; your one-liners fly under the radar. Poor WPOS takes all the flack. yah, that is me..the UND fan's Gopher whipping boy ...then again sometimes I ask for it... WPoS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagard Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 My take on the reffing is that Mason is terrible. In my opinion he cost the Gophers dearly both nights against UMD at Mariucci, I'm not in the least surprise he hurt UND with no-calls. It is exactly his MO. Adam does OK until he has a screw up. Then he goes out of his way to even things out, even if it contradictory to the way he has been calling a game. My example for that is when the Gophs had a clear goal waived off at the end of the second against BU, I KNEW they would get a bunch of PPs in the third. Sure enough a couple PP goals in the third and the Gophs have a tie. The good news that the last couple of years the Gophs have endured a lot of questionable regular season calls, only to get a lot of breaks in the post season. Basically, the teams have to just grind through it. The holding and tackling will be called in the regionals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
U2Bad1 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 My take on the reffing is that Mason is terrible. In my opinion he cost the Gophers dearly both nights against UMD at Mariucci, I'm not in the least surprise he hurt UND with no-calls. It is exactly his MO. Good points.. UND is not the only team this is affecting. Another point... You know the slant against parise is getting bad when he actually gets a penalty called against him for fighting off a hold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmidtdoggydog Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 TC transplant, You seem to get away with a lot here; your one-liners fly under the radar. Poor WPOS takes all the flack. I operate under the if you ignore him he will go away philosophy. Besides, it is hard to lend credence to his rubbish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 It was clear that Mason was going to call nothing in the third unless it was obvious and blatant: UAA trips Bochenski. So what happens next? Bochenski gets cross-checked into the crease on the 5 on 4 in front of Mason and .... no call. Yet, I recall Greene making the same hit earlier in the game and the call being made. I don't care if it's 3 on 3 hockey all night: Call what the rulebook says. We'll fix the rulebook as need be. I don't mean to shock you all, but some teams in the league have more talent than others. Allowing rules violations to make up for talent disparities is a disservice to the players, coaches, and, most importantly, fans. Sorry. I don't drop $16.50 per game to see Zach Parise bleed on a "holding" call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCM Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Besides, it is hard to lend credence to his rubbish. Especially when Gopher fans and Sioux fans appear to be in agreement on this issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 When is the NCAA and WCHA going to get smart and play by the rules the rest of the world uses? And I mean just by those rules. (Half-shields, no "extra games" for fighting.) IIHF World Junior Championship Rulebook Look at some of those pictures of penalties. Most of those tactics are standard operating procedure in the WCHA and NCAA (by all teams, including the one home-rinked at Ralph Engelstad Arena). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greyeagle Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Ok I didn't see it. What happened on the "holding" call that resulted in stitches? BTW - I've said for several years the WCHA is quickly becoming the professional wrastlin' of college hockey. Literally, I've seen refs look at something, see it happen, then turn away like it never happened. It's sad for our sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forecheck Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Ok I didn't see it. What happened on the "holding" call that resulted in stitches? . According to Parise on the Postgame show, he got hauled down and got a skate to the chin/neck area. In watching the tape around when it happened, Parise had possession of the puck and was hooked down, got back up and still had possession of the puck, had a UAA player humping his back, and finally got a bear hug from behind that brought him down on his back. He basically got mugged and hauled off his feet 2-3 times before the call was made. I thought it looked like he had gotten a stick up near his face the first time, but according to him that's not how it happened. It wasn't just a little bit of blood either. I sit behind the penalty boxes, and Parise came up to Mason with blood all over his face and dripping on his jersey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Ok I didn't see it. What happened on the "holding" call that resulted in stitches? From my angle: Parise was hooked high, the stick got up on him (and cut him) and slowed him down, and he was then grabbed and put down on the ice. This all happened along the boards at the dot as he was trying to cycle out of the corner. The "holding" was called. Did I mention that later he was taken down and held and "fisticuffed" in the UAA crease when he nearly beat the 1 on 5? The NHL has cleaned up their act (lowered the amount of hookin', holdin', obstructin', clutchin', grabbin' mess) in the last two years. Why can't the NCAA/WCHA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greyeagle Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Thanks. FWIW - For The Sicatoka to complain it must have been pretty bad....I don't recall if I've never seen him complain about officiating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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