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Jon Campion: Gopher's Best Friend


The Whistler

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My original post was greeted with a bit more skepticism than I expected. Because of that I decided to research Campion's record of officiating the Gophers from last season.

To do this I went through every box score for the Minnesota season last year. I counted up the power plays for and against the Gophers. I kept these figures in two categories, one with Campion officiating and one with everyone else. Campion officiated six games that the Gophers played in, Duluth, Denver and the Sioux.

In the games Campion called he gave Minnesota forty-four power plays to their opponents 26. In every game Minnesota had an advantage. Minnesota had 70% more power plays then they had penalty kills. That's very similar to the number I found for the Gopher season through Friday and last nights game was only going to grow this discrepancy.

During the rest of the season Minnesota had 206 Power plays and 189 Penalty Kills. However in their game against Union they had an advantage of 11-2. Counting that game in they had 9% more power plays. If I throw that one game out of the mix Minnesota only had 4.2% more Power Plays than their opponent which is right in line with the Gophers current season.

Another interesting factor is that Minnesota played all three of these teams (Denver, Duluth and the Sioux) twice; and in two of those series' other games the Gophers had a disadvantage in the penalty category. Yes Derek Sheppard gave us the advantage in penalties but IMO he cost us the Friday game because of being out of position in a goal disallowed by TJ and allowed goalie interference by the Gophers. (Am I digressing here?)

So does two years make a trend?

You need to get a life, extremely bad. You've made it perfectly clear that Campion is an employee of the U and also is out to get the Sioux, just like every other referee in the WCHA. We understand. Get over it.

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You need to get a life, extremely bad. You've made it perfectly clear that Campion is an employee of the U and also is out to get the Sioux, just like every other referee in the WCHA. We understand. Get over it.

Say what you will about Sioux fans and their aptness to point out the poorness of officiating but he was pointing out "interesting facts" by doing leg work. I don't know if I fully agree with him, but he isn't just "spouting off." You need to reread his posts because I don't recall him ever saying that he was employed by the U. He's making the argument that it seems that Campion simply gives the Gophers the benefit of the doubt.

Don't expect you to agree. Do expect you to attack the issues not the poster. "Get a life" is a nice way of saying "Gosh, I don't have a response to his argument to disprove him so I'll attack his character." To make that short you are saying "You win."

Attack the issues and prove him wrong if you can. Attack the poster and you admit defeat.

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Not complaining about the officals... just putting some statistics out there. Based on the box scores from the two games this is how the penalties turned out.

Penalties:

UND:

Fri- 12/24 min

Sat- 18/36 min

UofM:

Fri- 7/14 min

Sat- 11/22 min

Power Plays:

UND:

Fri- 5

Sat- 5

UofM:

Fri- 11

Sat- 12

Time Spent on the PP:

UND:

Fri- 8:12

Sat- 7:03

Total: 15:15

UofM:

Fri- 17:33

Sat- 19:17

Total: 36:50

To take a positive spin on this, we got plenty of practice killing penalties and two shorthanded goals. Seems like with all the practice we get, it shouldn't matter if we have people in the box... but I'd prefer that we keep five men on the ice

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To take a positive spin on this, we got plenty of practice killing penalties and two shorthanded goals. Seems like with all the practice we get, it shouldn't matter if we have people in the box... but I'd prefer that we keep five men on the ice

I think Bina, Watkins, Jones, and Finley should be the 2nd PK unit. Yeah, Bina on wing. :lol:

Then have Bina cherry pick ONLY on the PK :ohmy:

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Only two really bad calls in Friday night's game IMO. I was not at Saturday's game. The call on Duncan in the slot was terrible, as he just hit a guy right as he released the puck...how you play defense as coached by every coach I ever had. The other bad call happened in the third, when Gopher stepped on a Sioux player's stick (I think Fabian). He certainly has the right to keep his stick on the ice, and if a player steps on the blade and falls, that is not a trip.

Great series all in all. Hakstol lead Sioux have shown struggles to start and fabulous finishes. I think Dave does this on purpose, it gets the guys to buy into the system. Struggles that lead to success equal wins in March and April ( when they matter). TJ Oshie was snake bit the whole first half of the season. The kid couldn't buy a break...pipes, a lucky glove, etc. JT started slow last year too, but then turned it on. If TJ and JT stay hot the rest of the year, the Sioux will go a long way.

Defensively, Finley ( who I have often bad-mouthed) is playing like a top end draft pick. I loved how he jawed with Okposo ( talk about a heavy weight bout). Brian Lee still needs to work on his physicality. Bina and Z Jones are just fiesty. Chorney is smooth back there.

I think the contributions made by Fabian are often overlooked, but it certainly appears to me that when he gets going, the Sioux get going. Every time he was on the ice he just worked and wore out the Gophjs. This could be another good ending for a slow startig season!

Refs don't win or lose games for you, and the Sioux answered the call.

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Ok, I am aware that UND won BOTH games this weekend. While I do NOT totally agree with Campion being FOR the Gophers accusation that has been thrown out there, I would like to point out some instances of his incompetency.

Okposo goes on pretty much a breakaway, and on the replay, it is CLEAR that he dove. I mean, his stick was out in front, and he knocked the UND guy's stick away, then dove to the ice, and got the call. Ok, I can see where from a certain angle, it probably looked like a clear case of hooking.

How about this one? A UND player goes after the puck on the faceoff, and trips over the puck, his own skates, something... Campion calls tripping on Lucia. There were bad calls both ways, and while I think UND was WAY BEHIND in the amount of calls for/against, this is all just further proof of the boneheadeness of the league's officials.

Just my 4 cents worth.

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Ok, I am aware that UND won BOTH games this weekend. While I do NOT totally agree with Campion being FOR the Gophers accusation that has been thrown out there, I would like to point out some instances of his incompetency.

Okposo goes on pretty much a breakaway, and on the replay, it is CLEAR that he dove. I mean, his stick was out in front, and he knocked the UND guy's stick away, then dove to the ice, and got the call. Ok, I can see where from a certain angle, it probably looked like a clear case of hooking.

How about this one? A UND player goes after the puck on the faceoff, and trips over the puck, his own skates, something... Campion calls tripping on Lucia. There were bad calls both ways, and while I think UND was WAY BEHIND in the amount of calls for/against, this is all just further proof of the boneheadeness of the league's officials.

Just my 4 cents worth.

I fully admit that I see what should and should not be called through my green glasses. That's why I'm trying to focus on Campion's record for ALL games (not just with the Sioux) and going by the numbers rather than talking about what should or should not be a goal. I think that makes my case much more effectively than bitching about a certain call or two.

But if I were to discuss certain calls I don't see the difference between Kaips penalty for hitting the goaltender vs what happened Saturday night. I also really have to question WHY Campion called that trip against VV when he never was close to the guy with his stick. (The puck tripped the Gopher). My question would be what does Campion claim to have seen?

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The refereeing was not perfect, but as WCHA refs go, I think this was a great weekend. UND had far more penalties, and I completely agree with that. If they had just left their stick on the ice, that would have eliminated 1/2 of them. There is something to be said about good penalties, i.e. physical play, and not getting beat defensively. UND was by far more physical and therefore got far more penalties, but also owned the crease, and won the series.

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I fully admit that I see what should and should not be called through my green glasses. That's why I'm trying to focus on Campion's record for ALL games (not just with the Sioux) and going by the numbers rather than talking about what should or should not be a goal. I think that makes my case much more effectively than bitching about a certain call or two.

But if I were to discuss certain calls I don't see the difference between Kaips penalty for hitting the goaltender vs what happened Saturday night. I also really have to question WHY Campion called that trip against VV when he never was close to the guy with his stick. (The puck tripped the Gopher). My question would be what does Campion claim to have seen?

That is a really good question, because I am wondering the same thing.

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I wonder what the stats are like when Shep calls Sioux games. We would have had about four or five more called against us last night.

Well I didn't want to make this about how a referee called games for or against my team because that would more like decline into a bitch session. I found a startling statistic about Campion's officiating the last two years that I think is worth bringing up.

Still to answer your question...

I've been through every box score for the Sioux for last year. Shep called most of our games pretty even (measured by power play chances). Now I'm not going to stick up for him as a referee, but statistically I don't see anything there.

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The Sioux deserved more penalty calls than the gophers last night, but I have to admit to shaking my head about the Porter hooking on Okposo and the penalty on the Sioux for allowing a gopher player to fall over. There was another interference call that was a dive, not a penalty, but sometimes those things are tough to catch at full speed. Still, last night was a little tough to stomach.

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Well I didn't want to make this about how a referee called games for or against my team because that would more like decline into a bitch session. I found a startling statistic about Campion's officiating the last two years that I think is worth bringing up.

Still to answer your question...

I've been through every box score for the Sioux for last year. Shep called most of our games pretty even (measured by power play chances). Now I'm not going to stick up for him as a referee, but statistically I don't see anything there.

Yeah, maybe it's just because we get so used to seeing him that it feels like it's all he does. Thanks for the quick check on that.

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