I've officiated over 700 high school games. I would never blame a ref.

My point was simply that a replacement crew was brought in due to Thursday’s poor performance.
That second goal was a real headscratcher. The ref was in the perfect position to see both the high stick and the trip. If the trip had been called, I’m confident it would’ve been upgraded to a slew foot. The Mass player clearly pushed Middlestad’s left skate out with his stick. Replay would've caught that and buzzed down to the box. You can see it clearly from the second camera angle.
The Gophers lost because of their lack of effort in the third period, not the refs. This was a repeat of Tampa.