Thanks to the fans that attended, the pep band, the administration
for sponsorship, the players for a spirited scrimmage, and WZON for
excellent coverage, Midnight Madness 1997 was most rewarding and an
excellent start for the 1997-98 season.  Grades seem out of favor these
days, but I'll offer some anyway: C, A, B, A+, and A.
 
The fans get a C. Only 1,200 showed up and were relatively quiet.
Another 500-1,000 students would be needed to get an A. Maybe it's time
to revive the noise contests?  Do students still do things in groups
(dorm, frat, etc)?  I'm out of touch.  :-(
 
The pep band gets an A. They were loud and enthusiastic and played a lot
of tunes.  Great job!
 
I'd like to give the administration an A, because many they did many
things well.  Brief speeches from the President and AD is a great idea
and shows great support. Neither speech seemed to have a point, however.
Kudos to the other-sport coaches that attended;  very impressive!
Public skating, radar gun, dimming of lights, player intro (did brother
Jason really take Shawn Mansoff's shootout attempt?  :-)), shootout and
scrimmage were all good ideas.  A big display and better experienced
setup is needed for the next radar gun show, however.  Can the players
participate with gun on ice next time as part of intro?  Veterans
against newcomers was appropriate and interesting this year, though!
Other suggested changes: the scrimmage was too long.  Twenty minutes of
running time would have been plenty.  Finally, it's time for the
overworked SIDs office to start providing information to fans.  A
one-page flyer with player name, year, home with an ad for ticket office
and promo for Blue-White and JCPenney tournament would have been
welcomed by this fan.  Maybe this could be "assigned" to FoMH with FoMH
promo material instead of ticket office promo?
 
A straight "A" for the players seems most appropriate!  Kudos to SteveK
and the other captains for the fan-awareness, including end of scrimmage
salute at center ice.  We fans appreciate it!  Nobody in their right
mind asks me to evaluate hockey talent but I'll offer that (anyone can
voice an opinion and) there will be some very good hockey players not
suiting up for the first game and even cut from the (reportedly) 31-man
roster.  My first-look favorites include Trattnig, A.Lundback and Tate
with several others looking very good!  Returning veterans that caught
my eye include Kariya, Vitorino, Parmentier and Gustafsson.  Also, once
the NCAA allows him to play, Brendan Walsh will be quite noticeable and
may be important if he can figure out how to play without attracting the
dismay of the referees (I would have whistled him off about 8 seconds
into the scrimmage for holding, but the lick he put on SteveK was a
great way to start the play!).
 
An A goes to WZON for its promotion and coverage of Maine hockey and
Midnight Madness 1997.  Dale, Dan, Clem and Blair provided excellent
interviews and commentary!  Ending their broadcast with a rebroadcast of
the 1997 Maine Alumni game was a stroke of genius.  I loved hearing
(again) the introductions of all those hockey alumni favorites.
 
Honorable-media mention would go to Larry Mahoney, but his excellent
article appeared in the not so excellent Bangor Daily News.
 
Yours in Maine hockey,
wayne
 
Wayne T. Smith                         Systems Group -- CAPS
[log in to unmask]                    University of Maine System
Co-owner of the College Hockey lists - Hockey-L/Info-Hockey-L/Hockey3