A few posts back, for the ASU-Colorado Hoops game I quoted Tad Boyle saying “Welcome to Pac-12 Football”. Well, let me start off this post by saying welcome to the UFC!. The officials in the first game let some things go penalty wise, but they kept the game under control. Thank goodness we had different officials for the second game because it was a Battle Royal courtesy of Bishop Machebeuf.
Before we get to the Royal Rumble, lets talk about the game. Bishop Machebeuf came in as the #8 seed facing the #1 Ralston Valley Mustangs. The Buffaloes were able to hold the Mustangs pretty well in the first period. Or, I should say, the Buffaloes goalie was able to hold Ralston Valley to just one goal in the first frame. While Machebeuf was not skating well, or really getting a scoring chance at all was just not looking good for the team. Ralston Valley had a ton of scoring attempts in the first, but shots gone wide or saves by the Buffaloes goalie held the Mustangs to just a 1-0 lead going into the first break.
You have heard the saying “The wheels have come off” when a team starts to fall apart. That is what happened to Bishop Machebeuf in the second period. Ralston Valley found the back of the net 3 times in the second and the Buffaloes started to lose their temper.
Taking a 4-0 lead into the second break, it was obvious to everyone that Ralston Valley was going to have no problem advancing to the Elite 8 and face Standley Lake the next night at Apex. But we did have a third period to play.
The number one seed Mustangs kept things up in the final period, scoring 2 more goals in the 3rd and sophomore Mustang goalie Zach Larocque shut the Buffaloes out to lead Ralston Valley to a 6-0 victory and a spot in the Elite 8 for a rubber match against the Standley Lake Gators.
The main page of the Bishop Machebeuf website says “One of the Best Catholic Schools in America”. Wow. What are they teaching their kids? I know, the Bishop Machebeuf hockey team is made up of kids from various schools in their area, but it is a Catholic High School Hockey team. I would think that a team associated with a Catholic High School would be respectful and good sports. In fact I was thinking that until one of the Buffaloes put a Ralston Valley player into a headlock, took him to the ice, and tried beating the snot out of him. It took all the referees to pull him off of the Mustang player and it was a player ejection. Even though the Mustang did not throw a punch in the fight, and just attempted to protect himself, he ended up in the penalty box for 2 minutes. When he showed up in the box, the athletic trainer ran over because he was bleeding from the nose and mouth from the punches he received.
Ok, so it was floating around that the kid ejected was a home schooled kid. Sorry, that does not excuse his actions. The coach called a timeout in hopes that it would calm down his team, get them back on track to play hockey instead of back yard wrestling.
It did not work. Right after the time out, another Buffalo player put a Mustang in a headlock and took him down. No punches, but this player, who should also have been ejected, received a 2 and 10. A 2 minute minor penalty, plus a 10 minute major. So, can we play hockey now? Nope….another 2 and 10 penalty for Bishop Machebeuf. Ridiculous. I really hope the Athletic Director and the Hockey coach for Bishop Machebeuf contact the Ralston Valley hockey team with a formal apology. And honestly, if the Buffaloes coach can not control his players better than that, maybe he should be released. It was totally uncalled for. That being said, the officials did a great job keeping things from getting any worse.
To view and purchase photos from this game, please visit Maxpreps.
