Ben Cloutier writes:
>..... I think....During my freshman year at Maine, U.S. International, out of
>sunny and warm San Diego, came to Orono to play the Black Bears.  That was in
>1987 and Maine won 4-1.  I beieve they were div. I.  I can't tell you if they
>exist today.   Any followup?
 
US International, besides being the only DivI team from California, was a
pretty decent team.  As Ben says, they only lost 4-1 at Maine in 87-88, and
in early 85, Maine went out there and played two, tying 3-3 and winning
8-6.  In USIU's last season, they went 19-12-0, including handing Merrimack
two of its four losses as Merrimack was 32-4-0 prior to the 1988 NC$$
tourney.  Perhaps the most well-known player for the Gulls was goalie Tony
Couture, who transferred to North Dakota and played well for the Sioux.
 
USIU's athletic department went bankrupt after the 1987-88 season and they
dropped all programs, including hockey.  That was really the beginning of
UAA and UAF entering the WCHA and CCHA, as USIU, UAA, UAF, and Northern
Arizona were the four members of the famous 5th DivI conference, the Great
West Hockey Conference.  Northern Arizona dropped hockey after the
inaugural GWHC season of 1985-86, and the other three competed in the GWHC
for the next two seasons until USIU left.  That could have left us with the
two member Great Alaska Hockey Conference, but it didn't happen. :-)
 
>GO BLACK BEARS!!!!!!! (please win one NC$$ away from Alfond, maybe three?!)
 
Here's an interesting stat...there have been five tourneys played so far
with the 12-team format, and a #1 seed has never won the title since then
(1988-92).  The #1 seeds this year are LSSU and Maine.  You can get the
list of tourney results from listserv with GET NCAADIV1 RESULTS to find out
the seeds for those years.
 
On top of that, here's a frightening stat for Maine fans...since Maine's
first DivI tourney in 1988, the Black Bears' record in NC$$ games played
away from Alfond is a horrendous 1-9-0.  The one win was a consolation win
over Minnesota in 1988.  Since Maine went 1-1-0 in consolation games in
1988 and 1989, their away record in games that really meant something (where
they had a chance to advance) is 0-8-0.  That would actually make a win
Saturday over Minnesota/Clarkson a momentous one despite their 39-1-2
record.  Maine takes a 22 game away winning streak into Saturday's game.
Their last road loss came a day short of a year away from Sat's game, 3-2
to MSU in Providence on 3/28/92...
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
alternate address days: [log in to unmask]             *HMN*  11/13/93
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)