Many factors figured into playoff loss

Nick Clark

ANN ARBOR, MICH - Somebody brought a large shaft into Yost Arena Friday night and handed it to anyone dressed in SCSU attire. My guess is they were probably wearing blue.

Everything that could have been stacked against the Huskies and their faithful in Ann Arbor was. Anything that could have gone wrong did. And the most depressing part about all of this was that no matter what anyone said or did, there was nothing that could be done.

Fingers could be pointed in many directions. One could go straight at the NCAA for allowing a team to play a national tournament game on their home ice. Another could go in the direction of the University of Michigan athletic ticketing department for sticking the small contingent of Husky fans into the quietest of corners in the arena and essentially telling them to shut up. But the first finger to be pointed will almost surely go straight up in the air, and it's located somewhere in the middle of the human hand. This one's going to the officiating crew inside Yost, they were definitely numero uno.

That crew was supposed to be neutral (they were from Hockey East), but they ended up acting about as biased as the 6,948 people inside Yost Friday night. Several calls were missed, most of them crucial, and they all seemed to go in the favor of the maize and blue.

A skate in the crease that had nothing to do with the play. An icing call that resulted in a face-off in the Husky end that seconds later turned into Michigan's fourth goal. And how about one of the most bone-headed missed calls of all-time. With the Huskies pressing in the second period, a Michigan player bent down and picked the puck off the ice, literally. In most universes that is a delay of game, but on this night, it was going with the flow.

The atmosphere at Yost was unique. But again, it was an NCAA tournament game. No team should have that advantage. St. Cloud couldn't overcome it, neither could Denver.

The fans were as unruly as the ones that pack the National Hockey Center night in and night out every winter. Their chants were entertaining, and even intelligent.

Poor Molly. The SCSU cheerleader who was featured in a St. Cloud Times article earlier in the week was called upon numerous times by the crowd in Yost. In fact, the entire cheer team was hassled throughout the weekend. One Husky did take notice, however not necessarily in appropriate fashion.

Blizzard, the Husky mascot, was coming off the ice before the game Friday night just as Michigan was huddling around its net when all hell broke loose. Apparently one of the Michigan players tried to trip a Husky cheerleader as she came off the ice. Blizzard took offense, going after the Michigan player and nearly starting a pre-game brawl.

That incident typified the entire weekend for St. Cloud State. Other than Wolverine coach Red Berenson, there was essentially zero respect shown towards anyone from Central Minnesota. And that is why the NCAA has to make some changes.

There should be no advantages when the stakes are this high. No team should have an upper hand in any way other than what they do on the ice. There is talk that SCSU could be a host for a regional in the next few years should the tournament jump from 12 to 16 teams. Yes, the Huskies would have an advantage playing in the confines of the NHC with the Dogg Pound and the rest of St. Cloud behind them. And yes, it would be unfair to the visiting teams. But if there is any team in the nation that deserves a break, it's the Huskies. Two years in a row they have opened the tournament against the Wolverines in Michigan, and in 2000 they played Boston University out east.

I for one would love to see that Michigan team try to skate with the Huskies on a large sheet of ice in front of over 6,000 people. But chances are with the way these bigger, and richer, universities pull the NCAA around in an attempt to "help the sport grow," we will never see that.

When all the bitching and moaning is done, one fact will remain. The Huskies' season is over. In all reality, it probably ended when the seeding for the tournament was done. The mountain they were forced to climb was way too high and even with all their chips pushed to the middle of the table, the gamble didn't pay off.

The NCAA got what they wanted, as did ESPN. You think they would rather have Michigan or St. Cloud playing when they televise the Frozen Four in two weeks. It's all about the money, and the Huskies didn't have enough this time around.

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Nick Clark can be reached at: [email protected]

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