Actually, this is TV notes. Attended the 100th anniversary of the Colby
"C" Club tonight but taped the game on Fox Sports North and watched it
when I got home.

The very first noticeable thing was the jump in the skates. Maine beat
Minnesota to every puck. They got knocked down, but right back up with
feet moving. Great to see. And it continued though out the game. This is
what we did when we won national championships, or ALMOST won national
championships.

And the two most important words for 2003-2004 - JIMMY'S BACK. He looked
marbelous (to quote Billy Crystal). The newcomers looked great, they
didn't look like newcomers at all. This was a cohesive unit and they
played like it. While there were some great individual performances,
this was definitely a team win with Jimmy making some outstanding stops.

Johnson played great in net for Minnesota. Only one of the four goals
was a gift - the third off a faceoff he just wasn't ready for and it
went over a big hole over his shoulder. No one could have stopped the
other three Maine goals.

The third period was garbage time. They still continued skating, but the
name of the game at this point was don't get stupid and don't get hurt.
A lot of icing. And that's fine. They didn't need any more goals and
they didn't stop skating. Didn't really see any dumb Maine penalties,
although there were some emotional penalties, that usually evened out.
Expected.

As for the announcers, the play-by-play man is a homer, and that's fine.
So's Dan on the radio and Joe on TV. Doug Woog, former Minnesota coach
and color man, was very kind to Maine throughout the telecast, at one
point expressing his admiration for the way the program has become a
national power in a relatively short period of time.

Maine plays Wisconsin, an overtime winner over Nebraska-Omaha, tonight
for the championship. It's my understanding there's no TV available
tonight, not even from outer space. That's OK. I'm taking my wife to
Vinalhaven Island for our 43rd anniversary. And for those of you not
familiar with Maine, Vinalhaven is NOT where old recliners go to die.

I understand it's only the first game of the season, but I'm very
excited. Maine made a very strong statement Friday night. If they
continue to skate this way throughout the season, we'll be playing in
Boston at the end of the year, the only Division I team to finish the
season with a win.

Deron Treadwell wrote:

>Here are some notes I took from WZON's radio broadcast of the
>Maine/Minnesota game this evening:
>
>- Maine played 9 new players tonight (18 skaters dress for each
>game!!).  The nine were:  Jeff Mushaluk, Michel Leville, Mike Lundin,
>Josh Soares, Mike Hamilton, Tom Zabkowicz, Dustin Penner, Luciano
>Aquino, Jon Jankus (who previously played at Maine, but not last year).
>
>- Minnesota coach Don Lucia is now 1-8-2 in his career vs. Maine.  Of
>course, the one win is as big as it gets (2002 National Championship
>game).
>
>- Maine used the following lines/defense pairings:
>C-LW-RW
>Damon-Jackson-Moore
>Murphy-Aquino-Ronin
>Leville-Shields-Penner
>Jankus-Soares-Hamilton
>DEFENSE:
>Ryan-Mullin
>Lundin-Barnes
>Mushaluk-Zabkowicz
>
>- There were very few whistles overall in the first period, including
>offsides and icing.  This is a good indication that both teams were
>quite sharp for the first game of the year.
>
>- During the first intermission Dan Hannigan did an interview with
>freshman Keith Johnson.  Keith Johnson is brother of BU’s Greg Johnson.
> Keith says Greg was “pretty open” about letting Keith make his own
>decisions regarding which school to attend.  Should add another nice
>touch to the BU/Maine rivarly.
>
>-WZON is beginning a new promotion where users can e-mail questions and
>get them answered on the air.  You can also e-mail
>[log in to unmask] and get your questions answered faster!!
>
>-Athletic Director Patrick Nero joined Hannigan during the second
>period.  Regarding the new 14,000+ Qwest Center Nero said it was nice
>but "We want a home ice advantage."  Nero said that he's been working
>with the architects on the Shawn Walsh Center.  They have added or
>adjusted plans to include a new enterance, new Bears Necessities, a
>Hall of Fame and a new sound system.  He also said he'd like to find a
>way to add 1,000 seats, but that was said in passing and I don't think
>that is something that is seriously being explored.
>
>- Tonight's shutout was the 4th in Jimmy Howard's short Maine career.
>
>-Deron
>
>
>
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