Starting line for NM Ice Wolves: Center: #18 Hanson, Left Wing #19 Rand, Right Wing #7 Rudrud, Defense #4 Langefels, Defense #2 Becker, Goalie #1 Laursen
I’m not even sure where to begin with this review. Honestly, I’m pissed. Let me be perfectly clear here. I’m pissed at the ref and his lack of ability call anything resembling a penalty against the Pilots. Tripping, elbowing, holding, hooking, boarding, roughing. It was a disaster zone out there and it left our boys with basically one choice because playing hockey wasn’t on the list of available items to do last night. It felt personal, like there was some sort of animosity brewing that wasn’t there last time we faced the Pilots on home ice.
From the perspective of a fan who was sitting next to our team tunnel and against the glass last night, it was… well… a cluster fuck of the highest degree. The opening period saw two goals by the pilots, at least one of those while we were on the penalty kill. But they weren’t calling things, you say! Oh, but they were… just that it was incredibly biased toward noticing everything we did and nothing the Pilots did. We’d get called for an accidental trip and they’d not get called for purposefully elbowing a guy, tripping another seconds later, and then popping one of ours in the face right next to the goalie. Freaking disaster and the fans were all pissed at the mistreatment of how penalties were being doled out.
I’m going to be honest. I’ve seen NHL games on TV that equaled the same amount of bullshit. It seems some refs do have bias toward one team or another and it always equals the same unmitigated disaster. One team left with little choice but to start playing as dirty as the other team is when the opposition starts coming down hard, realizing they’re getting off scott-free. I’ll grant you I mostly see it in certain teams in the NHL, but boy does it make me mad when it’s against my boys.
I don’t think I can even begin to write about the game itself. All I can see is red with how we were treated (mistreated). The entire second period was the Pilots and the ref vs the Ice Wolves, which should never happen. The end of the game showed pretty much everything about how much things had tipped off the deep end with us. The final whistle blew and Liam Ovington basically ended up in a squabble with most of the Pilots. Literally I thought we were about to have to see a team vs team fight that started with a whole team against one guy. Thankfully the ref and linesmen decided to break that one up, but too little too late. I’m almost afraid of what’s in store tonight in the animosity department. It’s a big ‘ol mess.
With that, I’ll sign off for today with a pleasant note that I’m a Capitals fan and we’re waiting patiently for Ovi’s 700th goal. Maybe today against the Devils. We shall see. ❤
Alexandria Redding 