Sad end to CO HS Hockey Championships
Steve P
brawl last night.
http://www.gazette.com/daily/spts2.html
and an op-ed piece
http://www.gazette.com/daily/spts2a.html
While I'm not condoning what happened, for Gazette Sports Editor Ralph
Routon to say it could mean the end of HS hockey in Colorado is nothing but
a knee jerk reaction. Especially because there's no mention of anything
that MAY have happened before the incident that touched off the brawl.
Steve P
Steve P <penston...@sprintmail.com> wrote in message
news:7b3pn6$mch$1...@holly.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
>The Colorado High School Hockey Championships ended with a bench clearing
>brawl last night.
>http://www.gazette.com/daily/spts2.html
>and an op-ed piece
>http://www.gazette.com/daily/spts2a.html
>
>While I'm not condoning what happened, for Gazette Sports Editor Ralph
>Routon to say it could mean the end of HS hockey in Colorado is nothing but
>a knee jerk reaction
Just to clarify, my esteemed colleague did say that the brawl shouldn't mean
an end to HS Hockey in Colorado. However, I think he glorified the incident
by referring to it as the Wednesday Night Massacre.
Scott Taylor
: The Colorado High School Hockey Championships ended with a bench clearing
: brawl last night.
: http://www.gazette.com/daily/spts2.html
: and an op-ed piece
: http://www.gazette.com/daily/spts2a.html
: While I'm not condoning what happened, for Gazette Sports Editor Ralph
: Routon to say it could mean the end of HS hockey in Colorado is nothing but
: a knee jerk reaction. Especially because there's no mention of anything
: that MAY have happened before the incident that touched off the brawl.
Ralph writes to generate letters and readership.
Remember, he picked the Jets in the AFC Championship game. :^)
-- Scott
Steve P
Scott Taylor <sc...@col.hp.com> wrote in message
news:7b3vtt$3ko$4...@nonews.col.hp.com...
The Denver papers certainly downplayed the brawl. Ralph is being Ralph.
Steve
Joe Toth
The Colorado High School Hockey Championships ended with a bench clearing
brawl last night.
http://www.gazette.com/daily/spts2.html
and an op-ed piece
http://www.gazette.com/daily/spts2a.html
One day after publication and the links are bad.
The first now points to a story about Air Force Acadamy girls boxing.
Who knows what the story will be tomorrow.
The second link is invalid.
Oh, well.......
-- _ _ ___ _____________________ | / _ | Joseph G. Toth Jr. \_| \_/ | jt...@megsinet.net
Steve P
Joe Toth <to...@tellabs.com> wrote in message news:36D6B2D8...@tellabs.com...
Scott Taylor
: Scott Taylor <sc...@col.hp.com> wrote in message:
: >
: > Ralph writes to generate letters and readership.
: >
: > Remember, he picked the Jets in the AFC Championship game. :^)
: The Denver papers certainly downplayed the brawl. Ralph is being Ralph.
Oh, com'on Steve. Do you honestly believe that either the Post
or the Rocky actually had somebody there covering the game? :^)
-- Scott
Scott Taylor
: Steve P wrote:
: > The Colorado High School Hockey Championships ended with a bench clearing
: > brawl last night.
: One case where actually including the articles would have been appropriate.
OK then ...
A fight at the finish
State championship disintegrates into brawl
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Tim Bergsten/The Gazette
Story edited and headline by Jim O'Connell
It's pitiful in a way that a cliche - a corny old line probably uttered years
ago in some goon-league brawl - would describe the state championship game.
But Cheyenne Mountain and Air Academy wore it well Wednesday at Cadet Ice
Arena. So here goes.
A sellout crowd of 2,500 went to the fights and a hockey game broke out.
It's ugly, but it's true.
A puck that either intentionally or unintentionally, depending on whom you
ask, was shot into Cheyenne Mountain's bench by Air Academy's Cody Stringer
with 1:49 to play. The puck slapped the boards near where the coaches stand
and players from both teams erupted from their benches like a bevy of quail.
Sticks and gloves flew as they paired off in fist city. With the crowd
blowing its top, officials, coaches, everyone not in a uniform stormed the
ice in an attempt to break it up.
Cheyenne Mountain's Ryan Dyer was the first off the bench. He charged
Stringer and the two collided at mid-ice. Waves of blue and maroon followed,
resulting in a teen-age prison riot.
Needless to say, there were no sportsmanship trophies awarded after the
game.
Stringer said he didn't mean for any of it to happen. A minute before he
shot the puck into Cheyenne Mountain's bench, he'd congratulated Indian
goalie Greg Lindquist for a game well played.
"I didn't mean to aim at their bench at all," Stringer said. "No way was it
intentional. I was frustrated and I thought I shot the puck toward the
boards. I didn't even see where it went. I wouldn't go and congratulate one
of their team members and then go and do something like that. I know it was
wrong and I'm sorry."
When the fight ended, 21 players were ejected from the game for fighting.
Nobody was seriously injured, unless you count Air Academy coach Wayne
Marshall, whose pride was crushed.
"I'm embarrassed, totally embarrassed," Marshall said. "In my 28 years
coaching, I've never had a team behave like this. Never. All I can do is
apologize to Cheyenne Mountain. I'll take the blame."
After the game, officials from the Colorado High School Activities
Association said they'll consider taking further action against both
schools.
Cheyenne Mountain coach Trevor Pochipinski, a former Colorado College
player, was also saddened.
"It's tough that their kid shot the puck at our bench," Pochipinski said.
"It could have hurt somebody. There are coaches and trainers standing back
there. It could have injured somebody pretty seriously."
Oh, yeah. Cheyenne Mountain won, 5-2. It is the Indians' (15-3-1) third
state championship in the past four years. The loss marks the third time in
four years Air Academy (12-5-2) has placed second.
Before the fight, it was a good hockey game, with few skirmishes.
The Indians won with defense and goaltending. Lindquist stopped 31 shots and
defensemen Chad Moses and Eric Cooper clamped down on Air Academy center
Phil Delich.
"We shut him down in the first period and he didn't know what to do," Cooper
said.
Tim Bergsten may be reached at 636-0250 or berg...@gazette.com
-----------------------
Copyright © 1998-1999, The Gazette
RALPH ROUTON: Prep hockey might be finished
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From one end of Cadet Ice Arena's floor to the other, more than 20 young men
sprawled in writhing piles - some small, others massive.
Most of them wrestled and rolled. A few went from battle to battle, looking
for action. Some of them whaled away with all their might, not caring about
the consequences, and coaches had trouble breaking up the barbaric melee.
All of them, from both Cheyenne Mountain and Air Academy, succeeded in
turning what had been an excellent Colorado high school hockey championship
game into a nasty, despicable display of outrageous conduct.
Call it the Wednesday Night Massacre, which totally obliterated any
temptation to describe Cheyenne Mountain's 5-2 victory in glowing terms.
This was sad. This was terrible. This was a disgrace to all involved, and at
least some of the involved parties could see that.
Still, don't be surprised if the fight that erupted with 1:49 left in the
final period brings an end to hockey as a sanctioned high school sport in
Colorado.
Yes, no kidding.
How bad was the brawl?
"Let's put it this way,'' said Bob Ottewill, commissioner of the Colorado
High School Activities Association, after asking for official written
reports from both schools' athletic directors. "This would have been
described as a riot, if it had been basketball, soccer or something else.
"It's a black eye for high school sports. There's no other way to put it.''
Funny, but not everyone understood that, especially some of those who are
hockey people first and part of high school sports second. They actually had
little problem with what took place after a stoppage of play, when Air
Academy sophomore defenseman Cody Stringer suddenly shot the puck into
Cheyenne Mountain's bench.
"It was a rocket,'' Cheyenne coach Trevor Pochipinski said. "It could have
really hurt somebody.''
That act alone was contemptible, as horrible a sin as there is in hockey.
But for both teams to respond as they did was just as indefensible.
Stringer, his eyes red with emotion, was profoundly sorry afterward. He said
he didn't mean to shoot at the bench, though he knew that wouldn't undo
anything. At least the kid, only a sophomore, had the maturity to face the
hard questions.
Wayne Marshall, the longtime Air Academy coach, clearly was heartbroken as
he admitted his embarrassment. He's been around high school sports long
enough to realize how painful the after-shocks might be. After giving his
team a long, stern talk, many of the Kadets came to him and offered their
apologies.
Meanwhile, across the arena, Cheyenne athletic director Gene Moses refused
to feel elated about the Indians winning another state title.
"That's not what high school sports are all about,'' said Moses, a coach and
administrator for 35 years. "I feel awful.''
There were different thoughts about whether it was right to play the final
109 seconds, after a delay of nearly 20 minutes and the ejection of 21
players. Most people, including both coaches and Ottewill, felt it was
better to finish the game, though the commissioner brought the winning
trophy to the bench area and was ready to go ahead with presentations until
that decision was made.
"I think there was some kind of lesson there for the kids who stayed in
control and weren't involved,'' Ottewill said. "It also eased some tensions
for everybody, including the fans.''
Then again, the better lesson for the teams would have been to stop the
game, right there, and send everybody home without even presenting trophies.
Then Ottewill and the CHSAA executive committee could have met to discuss
the possibilities, which could have included mailing the trophies to the
schools, perhaps declaring no champion for 1999 or even bringing back the
two semifinal losers, Liberty and Palmer, for another championship game.
Too rough, you say? Maybe from a narrow hockey perspective, but not from the
view of high school sports as a whole.
The hockey people can come away thinking whatever they want, that the fight
was justified, that Cheyenne Mountain's players responded as they should
have.
But that's not how Bob Ottewill viewed it.
"We'll probably have to take a serious look at the sport, after something
like this,'' the commissioner said. "I mean, it's the championship game, and
nothing really had been going on. For both sides to lose control like that
... I saw some real pounding going on out there.
"I probably shouldn't say anything more right now.''
Rest assured, though, we haven't heard the last about the Wednesday Night
Massacre.
It shouldn't mean the end of Colorado high school hockey. But something must
be done to make sure everyone realizes how deplorable this night truly was.
There must be action, and it must be severe.
So that nothing like this ever happens again.
Sports editor Ralph Routon may be reached at 636-0251 or rou...@gazette.com.
Story edited and headline by Larry McFarland
-----------------------
Copyright © 1998-1999, The Gazette