This game was millimeters from becoming a blood bath. With a final decision of 9-8 in OT in Furman’s favor, refs were losing control of the game, snow began to dump on Denver around halftime and dirty play went on all around.
The ball went back and forth all day in a match much closer than the Denver-Air Force event opener. Furman and Canisius split 21 face-offs 11-10 respectively. Canisius tallied 42 shots, ten more than Furman. The Paladins had two violations but scooped up five more ground balls than the Griffs.
What made the game exciting was there were no expectations in game play. Anything could and was happening. Furman botched two clears, and Canisius did on four. One of the Griffs’ misses got intercepted by a Paladin and scored on.
Griffs and ‘Dins were tenacious today. They played rough and dirty. Numerous wards, trips, and backside pushes and penalties went unflagged and calls were pretty blatantly in favor of Furman.
At one point, I mentally tallied 4 injuries. A Paladin defender stepped in front of a shot and ate it hard to the gut. He was mostly winded, escorted off and returned later in the game.
Three different Griffs were injured in battle. Two on creases in tight shot situations, getting bumped and hit around.
While all this was building up, the Griffs crowd behind me was getting much rowdier. The refs calls were all in favor of the ‘Dins while blatant calls were missed. Within five feet of me on the sideline, Furman pushed the Canisius ball carrier out of bounds from behind with a cross check. Easy big penalty. The ref called the ball out and gave possession to Furman.
A third was in the middle of the field. Around five or six players mixed from both teams collided with the ball carrier all at once. Many got spun, slammed and twisted. The ball carrier hit the turf hard and stayed there. He stayed down a few minutes and had to be helped off by two teammates.
In the midst of his medical analysis, the Griffs Head Coach Randy Mearns came stampeding out on the field at the refs. He argued so flagrantly, aggressively and persistently I can’t believe they didn’t toss him with the way their calls were going.
Officials had completely lost control. In trying to allow the teams to ‘play it out,’ they really allowed the game to overflow. Injuries, missed flags, incorrect calls, and irate fans/benches all created a tense, warrior-like environment.
As the snow truly began coming down in the fourth quarter, all players came out for battle and fought viciously to defend their teammates. Finally, the refs got their acts together and made calls, keeping the players in tact.
If there’s to be an official ‘Classic’ again in the future, they may want to up security. Fans getting physically upset and throwing snowballs on the field (DU-AF game) are uncalled for. Some of the worst verbal spectatorship I’ve witnessed in years.
Great play all around on the day. Kenny Meinsen led the Paladins with three goals in the game. One-goals came from six others, a well-rounded team effort. Billy Jacobbi and Cody Gould each had two goals for the Griffs, and single goals came from four others.
