I’ve got to say, though, that the reffing left a lot to be desired — probably both teams copped their share of dodgy calls, but most seemed to go against Southern (or more probably I noticed them more).

My favourite call was when a Southern player was penalised for something or other when only one metre away, a Canterbury player was repeatedly using a Southern kid’s head as a punching bag, and the Southern kid was about half the size of the Canterbury player. I thought for sure it was the guy doing the punching who was going to get the call. I also learned about a lot of new infractions: going for the puck is now “slashing” when the only contact is with the other player’s stick (causes annoying scratches, which lower the resale value), and being pushed down on top of another player is cross-checking on the person who has been pushed. I guess when a player falls down next to another player and makes a big noise, you gotta call something, right?

Southern vs Canterbury in Christchurch:

1st period: 0 – 4 to Canterbury
2nd period: 4 – 4
3rd period: 8 – 5 to Southern

Results courtesy of Krissi Wood.
I’ll update this once the final score comes in. (updated)

Good way for Southern to finish the season.

Does this put the standings as:
(1) Canterbury
(2) Southern
(3) Auckland

??

Confirmed: 1st Canterbury, 2nd Southern, 3rd  Auckland

Good close competition ” title=”Smiley” />