>The Black Bears lost to Northeastern tonight 3-1.  From the radio it
>sounded like Maine played an uninspiring game and were out shot badly.  I
>know Maine was short 4 forwards due to injury, but let's hope the Bears
>rebound and play well on Saturday.
 
Well, here's our notes from our Boston visit:
 
Adding two more Kariyas, and two Ferraros for the missing men couldn't have
gotten Maine out of the funk it got in by early in the second period
tonite.  Maine had as much problems finding its game as NASA has had
finding Mars lately...
 
Coach Crowder must have observed Merrimack's game plan against
Maine very closely - it was nearly duplicated tonite.  As for Maine, they
got weaker as the game went on, rather than stronger.  And one very easy
target, Bunyon the Younger, was not solely to blame, nor a possible target,
Yeats in net.
 
And Maine was fortunate to go out only two goals down.  Had NE potted the
several odd-man rushes and breakaways given them, it would have been much
worse.
 
It started out great - 6:20 of uninterrupted play to begin, back and forth
each way.   But the signs were ominous by the end of the first NE
powerplay; Maine had difficulty clearing in front of Yeats.  BTW, Yeats was
not the problem, it was the support in front of him, except perhaps on the
first NE goal, where he did play the shot a little soft.
 
Leger's first of the year, in front of a good contingent no doubt from his
hometown in the Boston suburbs, was a gem.  He broke from a defender
pinching him at the blue line, potting it high over NE's goaltender who
stayed too far in the net and had no angles to cut down.
 
One other comparison to Merrimack is that in North Andover, neither the
team nor its coach gave a look of desperation.  Tonite in Boston, Coach
Walsh had his jacket off to start the third, and on a missed penalty call,
went to stand on the dasher to argue the non-call, earning a bench minor on
top of being short a man.  It was obvious that NE had won the mental aspect
by that point.
 
So, let's regroup and put it behind.  You really didn't think they were
going undefeated, did you ???
 
 
 
 
Dan Doucette
 
Maine - National Champions 1993 and 1999 -
first in the new Millennium ?
 
Bill Gates should be sentenced to using a Macintosh
for the rest of his natural life.