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Maggie Flaherty shoots past St. Cloud State goaltender Sanni Ahola for the only goal in the shootout to decide UMD’s point after a 1-1 tie. Photo by John Gilbert.

Football season is over, and for once its climactic Super Bow conclusion was a game well worth watching by any and all  football fans.
For once, the two finalists from six months of combat were evenly matched on offense, defense, special teams and superb quarterbacks. They both could run, pass, think, adjust, defend and counter quickly.
And while Kansas City, with Patrick Mahomes, slipped by the Philadelphia Eagles, who were led by Jalen Hurts, by the slim margin of a last-minute field goal that gave the Chiefs a 38-35 verdict.
The only criticism I have is that the game also showed the incredibly outdated officiating methods of the NFL. The last call that had to rankle Eagles fans was on a Mahoney overthrow on the Chiefs game-winning drive.
It was third down, and defensive back James Bradbury was called for holding on the play when it appeared he may have touched his left hand to the receiver’s back, but nothing more. The call was an automatic first down, and the Chiefs were soon to win it on a short field goal.
It looked like the worst call of a group of terrible calls that marred the game. But afterward, Bradbury flat-out said in the Eagles dressing room that with his right hand he had briefly grabbed the receiver’s shirt. So, he confessed, “it was a holding.”
Amazing disclosure. That makes us revert back to the worst of the calls in the game,
To me, it was clearly the Eagles pass completion, which was clearly caught, followed by two quick steps, then a tremendous hit that jarred the ball loose. The Chiefs scooped up the fumble and ran it back for a touchdown – the second such TD for Kansas City in the game.
However, the officials reviewed the play and declared that the ball was not clearly caught so it would have to be overturned and called an incomplete pass – helping the Eagles continue their drive and take the lead.
That was one of about five terrible decisions in the review booth, which, thankfully, hurt both teams about equally. But saying the refs didn’t decide the game doesn’t mean their ability to botch calls both ways is acceptable.
I don’t blame the refs, but we’ve spent the last few years coming to grips with reviews, and the rule says that unless there is overwhelming evidence, the call on the field should stand. But in the cases I’m mentioning, the replay slowed down the video to a frame-by-frame slow-motion that could make the firmest catch look just a tiny bit shaky.

Definitely not overwhelming evidence, but overturned anyway.
The NFL needs to change the rule so that a catch that is an obvious catch to all of us sitting at home should stand as a catch. Never mind that the ball wiggled a centimeter as the receiver went down, or hit the ground.
Follow your own rules and let obvious catches or misses stand as called on the field.
I really didn’t care who won the Super Bowl, it was that close and that well played. But I had a sinking feeling that overturning the Chiefs great hit and defensive touchdown would give the Eagles the victory.
So if all the other bad calls – like the Eagles tight end leaping to make a great catch and getting his second foot down just in bounds, only to be overruled on a declared incompletion because the ball moved in his hands as he landed – evened out, and the Chiefs deservedly won the Super Bowl.
UMD fit to be tied
The UMD women’s hockey team had all the pieces in place last Saturday, as 10 players were about to play their final regular-season game – eight of them concluding their fifth, or even sixth years of eligibility.
All of the scoring and goaltending achievements racked up by this group may need to carry an asterisk for the extra year of play allowed by the Covid-19 shutdown that interrupted their tenure, but the loss of all those players before next season has to be a jolt for coach Maura Crowell, who's had a multi-player security blanket for a lot of years.

If that wasn’t motivation enough, the target of trying to reach the Frozen Four for the third straight year with the tournament being held at AMSOIL Arena is further incentive.
And yet, for the second weekend in a row the Bulldogs saw what seemed to be a sure victory dissolve into a tie. Last week it was at Minnesota State Mankato, and last Saturday it was at home against St. Cloud State.
At Mankato, the Bulldogs prevailed for the extra league point with a shootout goal after a 0-0 tie against the Mavericks.
One week later, on Friday night, again UMD gained the extra point when Maggie Flaherty was the only scorer in the shootout after the Huskies and Bulldogs tied 1-1.
On Saturday, defenseman Ashton Bell executed the power play where she goes to the crease and, in this case, jammed the puck in to break a scoreless tie, and Taylor Anderson, returning from an injury for the final home game, scored into an empty net for a 2-0 final score. Emma Soderberg won her ninth shutout of the season in that one, against the swift but very cautious Huskies.

This weekend, UMD finishes WCHA play at Bemidji State before turning attention to the WCHA playoffs, where they re likely to face Mankato or possibly St. Cloud again. Nothing will be easy.
Girls section finals
A week before they met in the Section 7, Class AA tournament, the Duluth Northern Stars got the jump on Elk River/Zimmerman, and when the Elks caught up, Duluth won in overtime. Revenge could have been a motive, but there was a great story that also punctuated the sectional rematch at Essentia-Heritage Center.

Andi Huselid, a senior who had scored 6 goals during the season, broke a skate blade right at game time. With no way to repair it, teammate Maja Hart, a junior, made the painful decision and offered Huselid her same-size skate to use.
Huselid wore the borrowed skate and did it well – scoring four goals to lead Elk River/Zimmerman to a stunning 6-1 reversal that eliminated the Northern Stars.
In this era of unusual names, I had to ask Andi how she came up with the nickname “Andi.” Turns out, it’s not a nickname.
“It’s my real name,” she said. “It was supposed to be Andrea, but my dad wanted me to have a nickname, and when I was born, he wrote the wrong name on the birth certificate.”
In a scoreless first period, Emma Thomas won a left-corner faceoff ahead, and Huselid pounced on it and fired it in, short side.
After Duluth tied it 1-1 on Mae McCall’s goal, Dani Henrichsen broke the tie five minutes into the second period, then Huselid made it 3-1 and added two more in the third period for the 6-1 final. That gave renewed hope to Elk River/Zimmerman to try for more revenge in the semifinals – against defending state AA champion Andover.

Girls basketball teams are still finishing regular season, but we got another look at the impressive Grand Rapids outfit last week, when Taryn Hamling led the AAA Thunderhawks t0 a 68-45 victory over the AAAA Duluth East Greyhounds.
Last time I saw Grand Rapids, Jessica Lofstrom was sizzling, scoring 14 straight points to ignited the Thunderhawks. This time it was Hamling, drilling five 3-point buckets and scoring 30, while Lofstrom added 15. That 1-2 punch, with a quick and solid supporting cast, is why the Thunderhawks, after losing their first two games, have since won 20 consecutive games.