Winter Classic

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by AremRed

Question for hockey refs: there was a faceoff with 2:02 left in the 2nd period where the guy who drops the puck (referee or linesman?) spent about 20 seconds talking to the players as he faked dropping the puck several times. He looked like he was lecturing one of the guys. What happens in these exchanges?

My guess is one of them was starting early when he went to drop the puck. Usually after a couple of times of this, the linesman or referee will dismiss the player that keeps going early and have another come and take the faceoff.

I thought it was an excellent game except for the shootout. I wished the game had ended in a tie after regulation instead of that ugly performance (Datsyuk's goal withstanding).

The players were trying too hard in that to handle the puck like it was an indoor game.

The OT period's non-standard half-time took away a really promising scoring chance from Detroit. I'm not a huge fan of the way soccer games are timed but that is one case where they get it right, IMO.

All in all an excellent game between two of the original clubs.

I also liked that they had a handshake line at the end and that the announcers chose not to talk over it. I loved what he said just before he quit talking "Sometimes to dramatize is to trivialize." Let the moment stand on its own, I loved that.