Coach tossed, furious with officials during season finale
In Saturday's 6-1 loss to Arizona State, a disallowed goal loomed large for the Arizona Icecats, again.
In their last game at ASU, what looked like an Arizona goal was missed by three officials. The disallowed goal likely cost the Icecats the game.
It was dŽjˆ vu all over again for No. 14 UA (12-15-2) in its loss to the Sun Devils this weekend.
Icecats coach Leo Golembiewski, who has been critical of the officiating all season, was thrown out of only his second game in 25 years. Golembiewski said the game will be protested and that the UA will ditch the unpopular two-referee system that only the Icecats use.
"The refereeing today - they know they'll never be back refeering in Arizona - so they knew that and they stuck it up our nose," Golembiewski said. "They hurt our players in a lot of ways, so I'm very disappointed in their lack of class. They used the f-word to every one of our players on the ice.
"They're the only pros out there. They're getting paid big money to come in from California to ref."
The disallowed goal would have given Arizona a 2-1 lead. Freshman forward Jerod Keene matched ASU's first period goal at the beginning of the second with an assist from sophomore forward Brian Pollock.
The officials waved off a goal by sophomore forward Banks Concepcion when Sun Devil sophomore defenseman Jeff Abbott fell down. During the confusion, Golembiewski was ejected and ASU scored on the ensuing power play, the first of the Devils' four unanswered goals, as the game deteriorated into a barrage of penalties.
"I got dismissed from the game because I said to the referee, 'You should go have the assistant coach of Arizona State sign some hockey cards for you like he did before yesterday's game,'" Golembiewski said. "You don't get a bench (penalty) without a warning. You don't get a bench for not swearing. That doesn't happen. The referees were just sub-par. It is too bad you have a sellout (crowd) and our kids take it on the chin because of ineptitude."
Golembiewski said the referee responded by saying the Icecats didn't have anything to sign. The ASU assistant coach, Jamie Baker, played over 400 games in the NHL, playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks and Quebec Nordiques, and was the second-leading scorer while playing for the Ottawa Senators.
The referee told Golembiewski he blew the whistle before the goal.
"We're trying to find what the NCAA rule is in regards to blowing the whistle on a bench penalty," Golembiewski said. "He wasn't even watching the play. I'll take my 32 years of coaching experience, my 25 years of coaching in the college level, against this inept little boy; inept little man."
According to the rule book, a minor, bench minor, major or disqualification shall be assessed immediately after the play is over.
When he became one of the many players tossed, junior Mike Smith had to be restrained from attacking an official. Senior Andrew Fredricks was the only player thrown out in Friday's 1-0 ASU win.
"Oh my God," said Fredricks, when asked what he thought about the officiating, as he and junior captain Shaun Brooks laughed. "I haven't seen ref-ing that bad since I was a young kid growing up and playing hockey, and we had refs that weren't even certified; they were just learning how to ref hockey.
"These guys let the game get out of control. When coach (Golembiewski) got ejected, the ref was goating with him, he was arguing back and forth. That's totally unprofessional. You can't argue with a player or coach and kick him out for responding what you said to him; that's totally unprofessional."
Associate coach Brian Meehan took over for the Icecats, who had 18 shots on goal to the Sun Devils' 50.
Meehan said it was "amateur night" for the officials.
"Our guys came out hard and ready to play. They wanted to win it for Fredricks and (senior defenseman Dan) Whitlock, and for a long time it was close until the refs went on their power trip," Meehan said. "The refs had it in for us. It was ridiculous."
After the Devils made it 4-1 off one of their many power plays, junior goalie Bryan Aronchick picked up the puck from the net, threw it across the net and pulled himself out for junior Rick Karasch, whom Golembiewski had been touting for months.
"The inconsistency broke the team's momentum and they had to regroup after each penalty," Meehan said. "It makes it tough when you have to regroup every four minutes."
Golembiewski said Friday's game was just like the whole year: Not getting any bounces or enjoying any luck.
"I think (Friday's) a microcosm of what it's been all year," he said. "We outplayed them for two periods. We just couldn't put the puck in the net."