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| The referee became part of the game last night - photo by SceneByKimberly.com |
- Like turnovers in football, free throw shooting in basketball, or errors in baseball, in hockey you can usually tell the outcome of a game just by looking at special teams. Last night was no exception as our much improved power play was 0-4 and our dynamite penalty kill gave up three goals in eight attempts. In addition we missed a penalty shot.You are not going to win many games with those special teams results.
- I have said many times on this blog all home teams think they get the short end of the stick when it comes to officials calls. I am always hesitant to blame the referee as calls even out over time. There are two ways to look at what happened last night with the referee. One point of view is the referee let his emotions get the best of him, took things personally, became the story of the game, and cost Allen the game. The other point of view is the Americans lost their composure and discipline, took away power plays because of retaliation, turned two minute penalties into four minutes with their actions, and forced the referee to take control.
-The truth most likely lies somewhere in between these two points of view. There is an article about the referee, Peter Tarnaris, which I posted on March 5, 2013 with the title, "The Inside Story Of A CHL Referee." I encourage you to give it a read if you haven't done so already. He is a young guy that already has lots of experience as he became a referee in the USHL & NAHL when he was only 15. He is a rostered American Hockey League (AHL) official which puts him on track to move up to the AHL. A referee never wants to become the story of the game and unfortunately last night that is exactly what happened. I think he would have earned more respect from the players on both teams if he would have been a little more tolerant of the chirping that goes on in an intense second round playoff game.
- The penalty minutes in the game were 57 for the Americans and 17 for Missouri. Of the Americans 57 penalty minutes I count 36 minutes having to do with too much chirping, not listening to the referee, and other antics. This is where I thought Tarnaris could have shown some restraint and tolerance. He didn't cost Allen the game, he just became more important to the outcome than a referee should. By the way, the referee for the game tonight (Monday) is Brent Coulombe.
- The Americans out shot Missouri 37-24. I think there has been a trend the last ten games or so where Allen has lost most games when out shooting their opponents by large margins.
- Trevor Hendrikx left the game with a leg injury. It didn't look good as he needed help getting off the ice. This will be a big loss if can't continue to play in the series.
- Anthony Maiani skated in warmups but did not play in the game. Don't know if he suffered a set back with his injury or the team is just being cautious with getting him back in the line up.
- As no surprise to anyone Adam Pineault was placed on the IR slot for this series so is ineligible to play against Missouri. Adam talked to Tommy Daniels on his radio broadcast last night and Adam said he will be ready to go for the finals. He also shared with Tommy that the fundraiser he and Monique had for Martine Durelle has now exceeded $16,000.
- I had the chance to talk to one of the CHL officials before the game last night about the "injured reserve slot" that is part of the playoff roster. This provision, agreed to by the owners, was to allow teams to keep a player who was injured on the roster in hopes of them being able to play in the subsequent round. This is an extra slot that avoids having to cut a player as would be the case if this extra slot was not available. Some teams have chosen to not use this IR slot as it is not intended for hiding healthy players.
- I was also told the amateur rule limits the number of amateur players that can be signed each year to two which means if you have two amateur players and one or both get injured the rule does not allow them to be replaced. Obviously there was some kind of snafu that allowed Alexandre Lavoie to be signed and play but it is the reason he is no longer with the team. While Alex only played one game he made a good impression so lets hope he comes back next year.
- I also had a chance to meet the Mavericks Vice President of Communication, Patrick Armstrong last night and we had a great conversation. He has worked in the CHL for ten years so has lots of history with the league. The best story he told me has to do with the Mavericks top line of Sebastien Thinel, Kellan Tochkin, and Kenton Miller. You have the 32 year old veteran in Thinel playing with two 22 year old rookies. They each had a goal last night and are ranked 1st, 2nd & 4th in scoring in the playoffs. Thinel has two young sons named Maddx & Jett and in a little locker room humor the team has started calling the rookies (Tochkin & Miller) Maddx and Jett.
- St. Charles Chill coach Jamie Rivers posted on twitter that after extensive talks with his family he will not be coming over to the United Kingdom this season. Not sure what this means relative to the Chill but I do find it interesting that neither Rivers or Chill President and General Manager Nicole Kupaks ever mention the Chill in their tweets.
- As coach Martinson often says the best thing about back to back games is you have a chance to redeem yourself if you lose the first game. Let's hope we repeat what happened in the first round and have a great game tonight.
- Is it just me that misses the post game press conferences? I find it strange that coach Martinson and/or the front office has chosen to discontinue these for the playoffs. COME ON, MAN
I've heard some people say that they wish the ice was miked, so they could hear what really goes on out there. Although this would probably bear out your "the truth lies somewhere in the middle" observation, regarding the interactions between players, officials, and coaches, I think we're probably better off not knowing too much.
ReplyDeleteSome of our favorite players might seem a lot less endearing to fans if we could hear what really goes on, out in the trenches!
As a STH and CHL TV subscriber, can honestly say Peter Tarnaris officiating last night was the worst I've seen in the past 4 years of CHL hockey. Tarnaris simply let his ego and emotions get the best of him and become the single biggest influence on the games outcome. Perfect example: Tarnaris rings Lukin up for 22 minutes nearly equaling his regular season total of 25 minutes. Lukin is one of the most disciplined guys in the CHL averaging less than 30 seconds of penalties per game the last 3 years.
ReplyDelete