I do a lot of public address work around town. Among my duties are some high school hockey games at the nearby Coliseum. The other night, an incident happened that still puzzles me. I don't know what to make of it and am hoping somebody in the blogsphere can explain it to me.
Here's the story:
Breck is a rather exclusive school just west of the Twin Cities. It costs about 20 thousand a year to attend. They are generally very good in boys' hockey. They were playing the St. Paul Saints, which is a team made up of players from four schools. Most of them, however, attend St. Bernard's, an inner city St. Paul catholic high school. The Saints are generally average in hockey. They play hard and a little choppy at times but don't give refs a bad time.
The other night, the Saints were on their game and Breck definitely was not. Saints led 3-2 midway in the third period when the Breck captain got a checking from behind penalty. That's a stiff call -- two minute minor and a mandatory ten minute misconduct. Referee assigns the penalty and tells the Breck coach to send over a second player to serve the minor. Coach doesn't do it -- wants to discuss the penalty. Referee goes back a second time and says "Let's go. Send a player." Coach again refuses. Referee goes back a third time and ask again. Coach shakes his head, still wants to discuss the play. Referee says okay, now you have a bench penalty for delay of game. You can send me two guys.
At this point, coach sighs and send over two guys. Saints score on the power play and the game, in essence, is over. By the way, it was the first time they had beaten Breck in 11 years.
After the game, teams shake hands and Breck coach tells referee, "You disrespected me." Ref looks up and says, "Disrespected you? Did ou think I was really going to go over there and let you roar about a penalty in front of your bench. All you had to do was send a guy over. You could have said anything you wanted next time I was skating by."
To my way of thinking, the Breck coach (who I think is a very nice guy) hurt his team dearly in a game that could really come back to haunt them at year's end. He so much wanted to give the referee hell for a penalty he didn't like that he forgot a basic tenet -- the game comes first.
In a JV game last year between the same schools, Breck trailed after two periods and dropped a line from the varsity in for the final period. The line scored three goals to put them ahead and went back to the lockerroom.
So I am wondering: Is this school a bit too competitive or am I being a fuddyduddy here? Can somebody in the blogosphere help me on this one?
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2 comments:
Yes, I think competition is hard at work here. Having left the public school life to go to high school at Blake--Breck's historic arch-rival--I experienced serious culture shock when I saw just how competitive people were. Not just in sports, mind you, but in everything from theater to calculus. Although I never played hockey at Blake, some of the coach behavior you mentioned, Dave, came out in some of my volleyball matches. I remember one particular tournament when my coach halted the game because he thought the ref (from a public school, btw) made a bad call. It seems the public school culture insists on getting...er..."disagreements" resolved on the spot, rather than at a more appropriate moment that's not within earshot of the equally competitive kids and their overbearing parents. Don't misunderstand me, though; Blake was a great place to go to school. It was challenging and forced me to grow up pretty fast. But there's definitely something to be said for being a little too intense.
Correction: It seems the PRIVATE school culture insists on....
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