Referee Wasn't Their Shepherd

DULUTH, Minn.—Had referee Brad Shepherd made one particular decision in Harvard’s favor, women’s hockey junior captain Angela Ruggiero could have had the ESPN Play of the Day on March 23. Instead, it was Minnesota-Duluth sophomore Nora Tallus.

Just 30 seconds into the second overtime of the NCAA championship game, the puck was in the Duluth goal. The only problem was the whistle was already in Shepherd’s mouth.

Ruggiero crashed the net following up a shot from Crimson captain Jennifer Botterill that Duluth goaltender Patricia Sautter did not handle cleanly. As Sautter tried to keep the puck between her glove and blocker, Ruggiero rushed in and jarred the puck out of her grasp and into the net just as Shepherd blew the whistle and Botterill raised her stick in celebration.

After the game, Ruggiero said she saw the puck before she made contact.

Shepherd, however, was trailing far behind the Harvard captains coming up the ice. When he blew his whistle, he had barely entered the right faceoff circle. Because Ruggiero had approached the crease from the same side, he was not in position to get a clear view of the goaltender.

Sautter believed she had control of the puck, though she did not have it covered.

“I had it between my blocker and my glove and she slashed,” said the Swiss goaltender. “I guess he blew the whistle before, because otherwise I would have been pretty mad if they would have given the goal, because it was definitely a hard slash.”

When no goal was signaled on the ice, Harvard coach Katey Stone immediately called for a review.

“In a situation like that you can’t take a chance,” Botterill said of her coach’s decision.

As Shepherd entered the replay booth, he heard boos from the partisan fans. But the crowd had no need to worry, because Shepherd’s only duty was to determine whether the puck crossed the line before he blew his whistle. The timing of the whistle could not be changed. The Crimson’s fate was already sealed.

After the review, Shepherd explained the decision to Botterill and Stone and play resumed. Harvard was charged with a timeout.

“He didn’t say much,” Botterill said. “He said he blew the whistle before it had gone in.”

Sautter was naturally relieved by the decision.

“I was kind of nervous that they were reviewing it but at the end I was pretty sure they were not going to give it,” she said.

Ruggiero’s rush was the Crimson’s last of the game. Harvard did not cross the neutral zone for the three minutes prior to Tallus’ game-winner, which was set up by Erika Holst at the 4:19 mark. Ruggiero and Tallus each happened to be her team’s leaders in penalty minutes, but only one could earn redemption.

The disputed goal was hardly Ruggiero’s only complaint about Shepherd that day. She received four minors and a 10-minute misconduct during regulation.

“I was very disappointed in the officiating tonight,” Ruggiero told the Duluth News Tribune. “Officials have to realize we play hard out there, and it’s frustrating when a big girl like me gets a penalty because opposing players almost always bounce off of me and onto the ice and I’m the one who is sent the box.”

In addition to enjoying home-ice advantage, Duluth was also more familiar with Shepherd. He had officiated the Bulldogs’ final four regular-season home games and the WCHA championship game. The Crimson had only seen him in its NCAA semifinal, a game in which neither team instigated much physical play.

Had the disputed goal counted, the scoring would have been Ruggiero from Botterill and freshman Julie Chu—the result of an all-Olympian odd-man rush. The play was the last time the three skated down the ice together as Harvard teammates.

The rush started after Duluth won a faceoff in the Crimson zone and Chu disrupted a shot from the point. The puck bounced to Botterill, who worked a give-and-go with Chu while Ruggiero joined the rush for a three-on-two. Upon entering the zone, Botterill split two defenders and fired a hard, high shot from the slot. Ruggiero drove the rebound home.

But instead of being mobbed by joyous teammates after burying the puck in the net, Ruggiero received nothing but Holst’s retaliatory shove.