The Brooklyn Aces were absolutely livid last night when they believe referee Mike Geoffrion made a crucial mistake and lost track of the on-ice manpower for the Aces that eventually delayed the game for nearly 25 minutes, thus stripping the team of their momentum and costing them the EPHL championship.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in hockey and this is professional hockey,” said Aces forward Eric Frank. “This isn’t the first time these guys have made a mistake either. It’s always something new with them.”
“He shouldn’t be allowed to work in this league again,” said Aces head coach Chris Firriolo of Geoffrion. “He was terrible.”
Here’s the breakdown of the penalties Geoffrion called that caused the confusion:
At 19:42 of the second, Geoffrion called both Anthony Becker and Chris Robinson for roughing. On-ice manpower is affected, making it a four on four.
Geoffrion then called Rockhoppers captain Tom Boudreau for hooking at 0:48 of the third, resulting in a Brooklyn Aces four on three powerplay for two minutes.
At 1:20, Geoffrion called both Justin Todd, Kyle McCullough and C.J. Tozzo for roughing. On-ice manpower is not affected. EDIT- C.J. Tozzo was also called for roughing, but it isn’t in the game’s boxscore. At that point, the game should be three on three.
At 2:07, Geoffrion called Drew Sanders for holding, which should have given the Aces a four on three powerplay for 41 seconds.
At that point, the Aces had McCullough and Tozzo in the box, while New Jersey had Boudreau, Todd and Sanders.
Remember now, McCullough as well as Todd, do not affect on ice-manpower. The only players that play a role in on-ice manpower are Tozzo, Boudreau and Sanders.
However, this is right around the time Rich Jondo and several members of the New Jersey Rockhoppers began to argue the on-ice situation and rather than stand his ground, Geoffrion, skated to the scorer’s table and then both benches to explain the situation.
The Aces were also livid, forcing the referee to continue explaining himself to all three parties, resulting in one of the weirdest situations the league has ever seen.
Things were never cleared up however, as the Brooklyn Aces never got their five on three powerplay like they believed they should have, which they should have gotten according to the boxscore. Instead they played four on three for 41 seconds, due to Tozzo’s penalty, which was in fact was not the right call as Tozzo’s penalty should have made it a three on three situation.
However, the two breaks in action to explain it all possibly played an impact in the final outcome.
As well, because of Tozzo’s penalty, which wasn’t in the boxscore [McCullough's also wasn't on the scoreboard] New Jersey lost a powerplay opportunity worth 1:28 that they should had once Boudreau left the box.
1:04 later at 3:11, Doug Hoffman went into the box for holding and by 5:15, just four seconds after his penalty was over, Matt Tyree [3:54] and Chris Ferazzoli scored the goals that ended up changing the entire dynamic of the game.
In addition Firriolo also complained that Geoffrion nixed the time on the penalties and ended up keeping Hoffman in the box longer than he was supposed to be.
“It was awful,” said Firriolo. “He blew the game. It wasn’t fair to the guys. He had no control of the game.”
Attempts at finding Geoffrion after the game outside the locker room and in front of Aviator for comment were unsuccessful.
Site News:
I have made several edits in this piece throughout the day to reflect the new developments, such as Tozzo being left off the boxscore completely, McCullough penalty not being on the scoreboard and to change off-ice officials to “the scorers table”.
Special thanks to IYMSportradio.com’s Tom Willms and EPHL assistant Kristin Frascelli to helping me clear this up.
Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.
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on Mar 28th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
You left the key penalty out of your explanation. Robinson and Becker each get penalties with :28 seconds left in the third = No man advantage for either team. I believe the teams were skating 4 on 4 however due to the penalties being coincidental. Then Boudreau gets a 2:00 min penalty at 19:12 in the third. Aces on a 4 on 3 powerplay. Then Todd and Tozo got two mins for roughing and McCullough also got two mins for roughing, which is why all three were in the box. Tozo and Todd's penalties cancel each other out and the only penalty which should have been put on the board was McCullough's two mins. Now the play should have been 3 on 3 until Becker and Robinson got out of the boxes at 18:28 in the third, making the play 4 on 4. Then Boudreau would have gotten out of the penalty box at 17:12 and then NJ should have been on a 5 on 4 powerplay until McCullough got out of the box at 16:40.
Instead, Geoffrion never put the two mins that he gave McCullough up on the scoreboard making it appear that the aces were still on a 4 on 3 powerplay. The refs dropped the puck without checking to make sure everything was correct and Becker and Robinson came out of the box at 18:28 of the third giving the Aces a 5 on 4 powerplay until Sanders got his penalty at 17:53. Then giving the aces a 5 on 3 powerplay until Geoffrion figured out, still not sure if he figured it out or the players and coaches did for him, and put up 1:40 something for McCullough penalty.
NJ are the ones who got screwed in this mess because if you put McCulloughs penalty on the board when it was supposed to be there the teams would have skated 3 on 3. (Becker and Robinson still in the box and Boudreau and McCullough in the box for their penalties) Then when Becker and Robinson come out of the box at 18:28 it would have been a 4 on 4 and then Boudreau would have come out of the box at 17:12 giving NJ a 5 on 4 powerplay for 32 seconds until McCullough got out of the box 16:40 making the play even again at 5 on 5. Sanders penalty should have never happened as the number of players on the ice was wrong before the puck was dropped and McCulloughs penalty was never put on the scoreboard.
Even better now is that when you look at the box score from last night Tozo's penalty is not even there….Someone knows they screwed up!!!
That was an utter disgrace to the game of hockey last night.
on Mar 28th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I have the first penalty in there…
At 19:42 of the second, Geoffrion called both Anthony Becker and Chris Robinson for roughing. On-ice manpower is not affected.
Oh man, I just noticed Tozzo's penalty isn't even in the box score as well! That Changes everything! Wow!
on Mar 28th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Sorry, I meant the key penalty you left out was the McCullough penalty. Sorry for the confusion.
on Mar 28th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
I have the first penalty in there…Not a problem. I mistook Tozzo's penalty for McCullough and then just noticed Tozzo wasn't even on the boxscore!