The Hit

Ok, I have now seen the hit and the resulting lack of a mid-ice handshake by Cornell players.

For those who have not seen it, please check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PnJ-KfBIkw

To me, this is clearly a check in continuation of a play. The reason why this caused so much controversy is due to the Cornell player going awkwardly into the boards, not the check itself. Of course, the check was more of a push but when I looked at it, I didn't see necessarily anything outside the bounds of when I grew up playing hockey (or now in rec league). Should he have gone in with the body rather than the hands? Probably but its the end result of the play not the play itself that always seems to be the focus.

Of course the ECAC has overreacted: http://www.ecachockey.com/men/2008-09/news/20092101_Burgdoefer_Suspension

There seems to be some debate on whether its a 2 or 3 game suspension. Unless I hear different, it seems doubtful that Burg will be back in action this weekend. With 4 points in 23 games, Berg is not an offensive juggernaut but he is one of our woeful D and leads the team in PIM with 72 (the next highest only has 46). Whether the PIM went up because of all the penalties assessed, well there might be some merit but RPI's D which has been soft is losing their guy with edge.

This season I have read more listserv and message board postings about the quality of the ECAC refs. I have not had a chance to see many RPI games due to my location so I ask you, is really that bad? Was this an overreaction by the refs and then the league?