ELynah Forum

Look Clarkson moron-fan. I challenge you to find a single other moment in hockey history, College or NHL, where a player deliberately picked up an opponents stick and played with it.

Keep searching you moron. Only Clarckson is dirty.

Look -

O'Bryrn did not "deliberately" knock the stick out of the Clarckson goon's hand. In fact, I challenge anyone to try and check someone with the puck, and to deliberately cause the stick to fly into the stand. You can't do it at full speed unless you obviously just grab the stick and throw it - and that's not what happened.

However, when the Golden Goon picked up O'Bryn's stick and played with it, that was most obviously intentional. It's actually incredibly dirty hockey. Not "gamesmanship" and not something "you get away with" at all. I'm quite glad that Cornell taught him  lesson as soon as the puck dropped, the only sad thing was the linesman were around - that Golden Goon deserved to get his face smashed in.

I have never, ever seem someone deliberately pick up and play with someone elses stick. Spearing, I've seen. Cross-Checking, I've seen. Dirty play is one thing, but only a Class A jerk deliberately plays with someone elses stick.

It's no wonder that Schaeffer went balistic.

So Clarckson man - you should just give up this lame defense and admit, your player was moronic, and he deserves to be penalized and punished should he ever try that crap again, anywhere.

About interference, I think Pokuluk was correctly called, though the issue is much more one of discretion.

[Q]In both instances, the player was playing the puck and Pokuluk was playing the body. When two players are skating for a loose puck, the two make contact all the time. It happened a million times tonight. Both guys leaned into one another like every other time but Pokuluk is much bigger and the other guy fell.[/Q]

Umm, with all due respect, that's not what happened on either call. The MSU player and Pokuluk were going towards the puck, and Pokuluk played the body before either got to the puck. By definition, the MSU guy did not have possession of the puck

Here is the actual rule on interference (earlier there was an interpritation quoted)
[Q]Interference
SECTION 29. a. A player shall not interfere with or impede the progress of
an opponent who is not in possession of the puck, or deliberately knock a
stick out of an opponent’s hand, or prevent a player who has dropped the
stick, or any other piece of equipment from regaining possession of it or
knock or shoot any abandoned or broken stick or illegal puck or other
debris toward an opposing puck carrier in a manner that could cause the
player to be distracted.
Waving of arms in front of a goalkeeper by an opponent is interference.
PENALTYâ€"Minor.
Note: The last player to touch the puck, other than the goalkeeper, shall be considered
the player in possession. In interpreting this rule, a referee should make sure
which of the players is the one creating the interferenceâ€"often it is the action and
movement of the attacking player that causes the interference since the defending
players are entitled to stand their ground or shadow the attacking players. Players
of the team in possession shall not be allowed to run interference for the puck carrier.[/Q] Should you want to enlighten yourself further, here is the rule book. http://www.ncaa.org/library/rules/ice_hockey_archive.html

Now, the key part of interference is puck possession. You do not have possession, at minimum, until you have touched the puck.

What Ari is complaining about is the fact that two players often are jostling for position, or run into each other as they come to a puck along the boards. However, to get away with this, which may often be, by the rules, interference, you need to appear that you are playing the puck.

Pokuluk, as much as I love him as a player, just played the body, plain and simple. The MSU player never really got to touch the puck, b/c Pokuluk had flatened that little wus. That makes it look especially bad for Pokuluk when Pokuluk doesn't go for the puck and his physical interference causes the other player to never get to the puck.

Cisco

I think Jacob is correct about the consultation of the rule book. I've never seen that happen in a game, but a key piece of evidence, after the ref read the book for a few minutes, he signaled "2" with his hand as he skated over to the MSU ignorant ref.

He was signaling that the penalty was goign to stay at 2 for hitting from behind, which as Jacob correcly points out, is a much more rare penalty than the almost automatic 5+game.

[Q]Jeff Hopkins '82 Wrote:

 In the real world there is a concept called lawsuits.  ...

It is, after all, about the almighty greenback.[/q]


Umm... no actually it is not about the money.

If Cornell were a truely financially motivated group, they would simply institue price rationing. Obviously, demand far outstrips supply here - so they could merely raise prices. I wager they could fetch around 500.00 for season tickets without risking any empty seats.

Obviously, the trick here is to find a system that accomplishes their goals. Most fans want that goal to be rewarding the most faithful fans. I think Cornell Athletic's goal is more like, "make it be a fair chance for any student to get tickets." It's gotten so bad, why not just institute a lottery? Then students would be even more upset.

Also, to all those people who think that cheering will be messed up - I think you far underestimate all the non-section B fans. They are dedicated and learn cheers as well. This years cheering will not be very different from last year  - though Section B might not stand out as well.

Tragic.

I'm a avid Colorado Avalance fan, and hence think quite highly of Forsberg. He really is one of the best hockey players in the world. The only two things Red Wings fans and Avalance fans agree on are 1) Forsberg is the best player in the world, and 2) Kerry Fraiser is the worst ref. in the NHL.

I hope Forsberg makes a return to the NHL some day, he's spectacular to watch.