Carol writes:
>an impression were: David Quinn who was everywhere, a real hustler! Stan
 
This is really great to hear.  I mentioned before that Quinn was forced
to give up hockey at BU four years ago because of a rare blood disease;
I think it was that his blood would not clot, and so it was clearly very
dangerous for him to play.  I remember him spending the 1988 Beanpot
Championship Game against Northeastern on the bench in street clothes,
trying to inspire his team.  In fact, he was named captain his senior
year even though he could not play - that shows you how well he was
respected for his dedication and leadership.  Recently a cure was found
for his disease and he has been preparing for the Trials, but I was
skeptical since he had been out of organized hockey for so long.  If he
makes it, you can bet he'll have about a half-hour of Up Close and
Personal dedicated to him. :-)
 
>Drulia who was also doing a great job of covering opponents, Peter Ciavaglia
>also showed how talented he is, and last but not least Lane MacDonald was
>great with the puck and very fast, but he wasn't doing any checking...perhaps
>this was by design however.
 
By design?  You mean you expected him to hit people? :-)
 
MacDonald has never been a physical player, although he showed me something
in the 1989 NCAAs, that he could dish it out if he wanted to.  He was a
marked man against Lake Superior and he responded by drawing the Lakers'
attention and allowing his teammates to do the brunt of the scoring.  I've
never been much of a Harvard supporter, but seeing the determination they
had in that series made me throw my hat in the Crimson ring that year.
MacDonald has the ability to completely dominate a game while he's on the
ice, whether it's by scoring 3 goals as Carol said or by drawing opponents
to him and being the playmaker.
 
My comment about him not hitting isn't meant to be derogatory.  If I have
a guy of his caliber, I don't care whether he hits or not.  What I am
concerned about is his ability to take a hit.  Was he hit by anyone and
how did he respond, or did it look as though the brass had instructed the
other players not to play physical with him?  If so, I think it's a bad
idea to put off finding out how much he can take, especially when we are
talking about leaving a good player off the team for someone who may
not be able to play in the end.
 
The Olympics are probably the best place for him to play with the
wide ice surface - but he couldn't keep it up in Europe, either.  I am sure
the doctors will keep a close eye on him, but the long pre-Games schedule
may take its toll on him.
 
>   "'Robbie met with us and has kept us informed about his knee,'" Peterson
>said. 'The Los Angeles Kings' doctors wanted to examine him again, and they
>said it might be a month before he can be 100 percent. We're willing to be
>cautious because we've got time. We know what he can do, but at the same time,
>we've got five other goaltenders here, and all of them are playing well. I
>would guess we'll take three of them to Europe.'"
 
In other words, three other than Stauber.  So there will still be four
goalies on the team after this week.  Well, I guess there is no choice
in the remote case that Stauber has to miss the Games, but it would be
nice to try to nail things down a little.  Some of these guys who are
not going to make it will need to get back to their other teams.
 
Does it cost an extra two bucks to watch the Minnesota players scrimmage
at the Trials?
 
 
- mike