{"id":137663,"date":"2022-12-14T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=137663"},"modified":"2022-12-13T21:07:21","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T03:07:21","slug":"this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-wisconsin-swept-by-minnesota-as-badgers-go-through-something-like-that-in-loss-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/12\/14\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-wisconsin-swept-by-minnesota-as-badgers-go-through-something-like-that-in-loss-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Wisconsin swept by Minnesota as Badgers ‘go through something like that’ in loss Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Minnesota took both games over Wisconsin last weekend in Big Ten conference action (photo: Bruce Fedyck).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes when you\u2019re down, every setback seems to add another rung to the ladder you\u2019re climbing.<\/p>\n

In situations like these, even the littlest things get amplified.<\/p>\n

Sometimes when you\u2019re down, though, something that looks small to outsiders really is bigger than it appears. It\u2019s only diminished to others because you appear diminished to others.<\/p>\n

The perfect example of this is the major penalty called to Wisconsin\u2019s Charlie Stramel in the Badgers\u2019 6-4 loss to Minnesota Saturday. At the 15:54 mark of the first period \u2013 when the Badgers were leading 2-0 \u2013 Stramel was given a five-minute major call for contact to the head during a dust-up with Minnesota\u2019s Brock Faber. Specifically, Stramel was called for head-butting Faber.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear here: contact to the head is no joke, and it\u2019s a penalty that should be called when it is an intentional act. In this case, Stramel\u2019s helmet did make contact with Faber\u2019s head, but it\u2019s very clear that it happens only because Faber pulls Stramel in by the jersey. Stramel didn\u2019t initiate any head butting, nor could he have avoided that contact once he was pulled in by Faber.<\/p>\n

Faber got two minutes for roughing. Stramel was ejected from the game. Minnesota scored three times in the final three minutes of the first period, once four-on-four and twice on the ensuing power play, including Luke Mittelstadt\u2019s spirit-breaking goal with one-tenth of a second left in the period.<\/p>\n

After the game, Wisconsin\u2019s Tony Granato had more than a few things to say about that call.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not a major,\u201d said Granato, and then he repeated it for emphasis and clarified it even further. \u201cThat\u2019s not a major. It\u2019s not a penalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes referees see things that other people don\u2019t. There\u2019s four of them out there. Not one. Four of them had to make the decision that was an intentional head butt, but I\u2019ve never seen a head butt with a chin when a guy\u2019s pulling a jersey forward, but that\u2019s what they decided to call.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Charlie Stramel received a game misconduct penalty for this and has been ejected. Big loss for the Badgers. pic.twitter.com\/qFiv3oGPi7<\/a><\/p>\n

— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) December 11, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n