... but if it indeed was, kick the responsible player/staff member out of the game, hand out the appropriate penalties, AND FINISH THE GAME!
I've seen plenty of games where after a long, drawn-out "referee/game officials conference", the elapsed time serves as a cooling off period, and play resumes, and the game is allowed to reach it's conclusion by the rules, NOT by the arbitrary ruling of the refs who couldn't be bothered to finish what in their minds was fait accompli.
It comes down to the integrity of the game - there's the easy way, and the right way. I've always believed that a game should be played hard to the final whistle, and that the games were 60 (complete) minutes long. Take a look at the game sheets from this season alone, and although there may or may not be an instance where 4 unanswered goals were scored in 1:44, you'll find numerous examples of 2 and 3 goal runs by a team.
As far as class goes, kudos to the Norwood "healthy scratch" pounding on the glass from the safety of the outside of the boards, and screaming, "book your tee-off times" (the only non-profanities he offered) amongst other witty chirps, WHILE THE PLAYERS WERE SHAKING HANDS ON THE FLOOR at the premature conclusion of the game and series. Where I come from, if you want to chirp, first you ought to be playing, and second, you better be ready to back it up.
Gutless, classless, and if you're a healthy scratch on that team, no doubt talentless.
Posted on Aug 3, 2009, 7:08 PM from IP address 216.121.162.31