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http://www.pressherald.com/sports/college/hockey/030330sollum.shtml

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                     Sunday, March 30, 2003

                     COLUMN: Steve Solloway



                       Perhaps hardest to take, it didn't need to end here




                      Copyright  2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.





ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Martin Kariya waited. He had the puck on his stick, but nowhere to put it.

   No clear shot on Michigan goalie Al Montoya, no free teammate to take his pass.

   So Kariya, the playmaker, the one who had set up more goals than any of his Maine teammates, waited some more. More seconds ticked off the scoreboard clock and there weren't many more left.

   "The clock was ticking in my head, too," said Kariya. "A minute and a half is really a long time in hockey. Maybe I should have held onto the puck a little more."

   Maybe then someone in a Maine uniform would have had a clear shot on the Michigan net. Maybe.

   He was second-guessing himself. When your team loses its last game of the season and the last game of your college career, you have that right. Especially when that loss is by one goal, one point, one shot.

   "We weren't opportunistic enough," said Kariya. "They won the game."

   Michigan beat Maine, 2-1. This Maine team has been eliminated from the NCAA playoffs.

   "It's a little disheartening," said Kariya.

   Around him in the cramped visitors locker room, teammates dressed quickly, quietly. A few blinked hard to control emotions. They looked drained, empty.

   Three weeks ago, Maine played poorly and lost to Massachusetts in the Hockey East quarterfinals. Saturday they played well, and still lost.

   The last time Maine lost its last three games was the 1986-87 season. Jack Capuano, Mike McHugh and Dave Nonis were the captains.

   Three straight losses. Will these players remember that the third was so very different from the first two?

   "I think so," said Coach Tim Whitehead. "We played with so much heart, so much passion, so much focus. That was the best we've played."

   Still, Kariya tried to deal with the sour taste in his mouth. Saturday they played so well, but 22 days ago they did not.

   "Every other year we jump into the tournament. We're winning games. This year was a complete slide," Kariya said.

   "Losing those other games, we still knew we'd have another game. We had the record to get us in. But losing this game, it's hard to swallow."

   He set up Colin Shields in the third period for Maine's first goal, its only goal. He tried to set up someone else.

   For two periods and into the third, Maine had blunted every Michigan attempt to score. Maine gagged the big, partisan crowd that filled Yost Ice Arena.

   So much effort expended. You asked if Maine had any jump left in its legs. "We were probably a little tired," said Kariya. "But you can't let yourself feel tired."

   Outside the locker room, Lucas Lawson, another senior, echoed his linemate. "Anytime you're looking at your last game, fatigue can't enter your mind."

   One shot might have made a difference. Lawson had more goals this season than anyone else for Maine. Saturday, it didn't matter.

   "I had four or five good shots. I did. But their goalie played great."

   Lawson looked away. What if one of those shots had skipped past Montoya? So many what-ifs.

   "What if we hadn't lost those two games (to Massachusetts)," said Lawson, knowing the answer. Maine would have reached the Hockey East semifinals.

   Win another game in Hockey East and Maine would have stayed in the East where its legions of fans could turn Worcester, Mass.,  or Providence, R.I.,  into Orono South.

   Maine wouldn't have played Michigan at Michigan.

   Lawson looked away again. He knows that he and his teammates put themselves in Yost Ice Arena by losing those two games.

   Maine lost Saturday, even though it played well. Red Berenson, the Michigan coach, even said that Maine deserved to win. It was standard tribute from a gracious host but welcomed nonetheless.

   "We played a pretty solid game," said Lawson. "That eases the pain a bit."

   Maine lost.

   Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at:

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