Maine will meet UNH in the Championship Game of the 1997 Governer's Cup by
beating the Vermont Catamounts 3 - 1 in teh preliminary round of action.
Maine made Vermont pay by scoring on 3 out of 4 four power play goals in a
fast paced game.
 
The Bears showed their speed and stamina along with solid goaltending from
Alfie who stoned two Catamount forwards in the first and second periods in
break-aways which was wide open from the start.  Although Mike Gilligan's
Catamounts showed an improvement and more offense than a previous showing at
Towse Rink, Maine cashed in on Vermont's mistakes raising the Bears' power
play percentage another notch at the right time in the season when they need
more confidence in their play.
 
Many local UNH fans still fear the Black Bears, and should. But the larger
rink surface (200 x 100) didn't seem to hamper the bears thru all three
periods. There was only one defensive break-down for the Bears which could
otherwise have given Michaud a shut-out where he played a very solid game in
the pipes.
 
The defensive hit of the game was delivered by Bobby Stewert who caught Matt
Sanders skating not keeping his head-up, right in front of the Vermont bench
halfway into in the second period.  I can best describe it like looking at a
bus coming down a one-way street and Stewert was doing the driving, full
throttle. Yes, Stewert ended up with the puck ultimately.
 
 
For the second game, UNH thought they had control of Umass-Lowell until the
last 45 seconds of their second period, where Lowell scored twice bringing
the game within reach ( 3 - 2 ), but couldn't seem to score in the third.
 
Maine meets UNH Saturday nite, at the 7:00 pm Championship game.
 
Two teams -  very fast and very dangerous in their own ways. If Maine plays
their stay at home defense, they will contain UNH's talented forwards and gao
home with the Governer's Cup in what I think will be a game not to miss.
 
r/
Ed Sczerba