well, everybody is giving trip reports, so here we go.
my 15 year old and I left home at 9:00 Wednesday morning for our trip
that started out as 90 miles by pickup to Denver's new airport. I'll
not make the usual snidities other than to observe that there is a
certain chant, practiced at many hockey rinks, that is certainly
appropriate and well deserved of this monstrosity. For those of you
still in the dark, justr take the favorite Colorado College Cheer
about their rival (DU) to the north, and replace the U with IA so
you cheer DIA .......!!!! The flights (to cleveland, and thence to
boston) were uneventful and my sister was, as promised, waiting with
baited breath at the airport. Dinner was out on the wharfs in boston
at the restaurant named after the oxymoronic exit off I-70 in glenwood
Canyon, viz: "No Name" Thence back to my sisters place in time to see
my brother, who came up from NYC to visit. We all camped out in her
office, living room, and spare bedroom.
Thursday, we went back out to the airport to get the rental car to
proceed to Providence where we arrived at about 11:30. While checking
in at the Omni, who is right next to us but David Parter and friends.
We got an absolutely HUGE corner room across the hall from the Badger
trio. After changing clothes, we headed on over towards the arena,
and on the way ran into Erik, Paula, and Pam who pointed us towards
places for lunch. Then to the game. Our seats were about 8 rows up
on the goal line at the end that Michigan defended for most of the
game. I chose to sit higher 8up while seats were available because it
gave a better view of the far end of the ice.
Much has been written about the game and the officiating. I have
little to add other than my firm conviction that if EVERY SINGLE
infraction was called, the penalty boxes would soon run out of room
and the coaches would be asking for volunteers from the stands to
replace penalized players, and we would see an entire game of 3 on 3.
Many of the events on the ice could be called, but do not need to be
called. Greg and Mike chose to "let them play" more than I normally
feel is appropriate, and seemed (to my eyes at least) to be reasonably
consistent in how they called the game. Clearly the level of
clutching and hooking incrementally escalated, and there were
occasions where calls probably should have been made, but in the
context of the prior 4 to 5 "non-calls" the marginal difference was
just too small.
Then it was on to the cellar and the party. Gee it was nice seeing
people from the past, even applying my personal nicknames for many of
them, and it was as much fun meeting the people and having additional
faces to associate with names.
Again, the second game has been discussed, and I have little to add.
Jonathan went back to the hotel, and I visited some parties, the
Barkan Bash, where DU coach Gwozdecki was in attendance along with a
lot of CCHA people including a former CCHA official. Also visited
with adam and tony (and a whole bunch more people there) in their
room. The highlight of the evening, though, was the visit to the
"semi" diner. This is a semi-trailer that pulls into town, parks, and
becomes a late night eatery. The food was inexpensive and good.
Friday, we slept in until 11, and then (naturally, with a 15 year old)
went to a mall. We got back in time to go to the fan fair, me to
watch the hobey presentation, jon to partake in the festivities. He
won a free pizza and two free shirts. I won't go into the details of
actually claiming the prizes, but will save those stories for another
gathering.
Saturday, we packed, checked out of the hotel, and went to the game.
Does anybody have a CLUE about what coach walsh was so upset about
after the first BU goal?
After the game, we went back to boston for dinner and a movie, and
then got home sunday.
Jon wants to come again next year. He says hi to all.
charlie shub University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
[log in to unmask] -or- cdash@colospgs (BITNET)
(719) 593 3492 (fax) 593-3369
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