The 12 penalties called during No. 20 Minnesota-Duluth’s 4-3 win over No. 11 Colorado College Friday night at World Arena reflected a slowdown compared to the pace set in October by Western Collegiate Hockey Association officials.

Word that the officials were calling things tight spread around the league spread or were learned the hard way. It looks like most players adjusted.

“It’s a concern,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin told the Duluth News Tribune earlier this week. “Absolutely we have to play more disciplined. Some of the officiating has been inconsistent but we’re telling players not to put themselves in a position to take a penalty.”

Tigers coach Scott Owens said the number of penalties called usually starts off high and settles down as teams and some officials adjust.

‘They set the tone whether they realize it or not,” he said.

An influx of new officials this season may explain this start. Some crews are known for calling more penalties and teams adjust when they find out which crew is working their game, Tigers captain Mike Testwuide said.

”The coaches always let you know,” he said.

There were no major offseason rule changes but officials told coaches before the season they would be looking out for blows to the head and interference.

Coming into the weekend, four of the top five most penalized teams in Division I entering this weekend are from the WCHA.

That didn’t change after one night. Duluth remains No.2 in the country among teams with at least eight games played at 21.7 minutes, down from 22.9 entering Friday’s game. Ferris State remains a dubious No. 1 at 23.2 after recording 24.6 in October. Duluth has a chance to overtake Ferris with 11 penaltues, including a game ejection, in the third period Saturday night.

No. 3 Michigan Tech (21.6) was the only WCHA to go up in minutes (21). No. 4 North Dakota (20.1), No. 5 Wisconsin (19.3) and No. 10 Anchorage (19) all went down a little.

No. 11 Minnesota State (18.9) was idle while CC dropped from No. 28 to No. 31 by going from 15.3 minutes to 14.9 after being called for six penalties Friday.

No. 36 St. Cloud State (13.6) was idle. Denver (13.1) is No. 39 out of the 58 Division I teams.

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