Erik Biever wrote:
 
> That was one strange game.  I didn't think either team played with
> consistency in regulation.  Each of them blew a three goal lead, if I
> remember correctly.  It was an entirely different game in OT.
>
> A more well-played NC$$ championship game, IMHO, occurred in that same
> arena two years earlier as Harvard beat Minnesota in overtime.
 
Both teams did blow three goal leads, but my memory of the game is a little
different.  Watching it live, I thought the 18 skaters for NMU thoroughly
outplayed BU (I've since seen parts of the game on tape and am no longer so
sure, but that's certainly what I thought at the time).  Bill Pye, on the
other hand, probably had the worst game of his career.  He had played every
minute for the Wildcats that season, so they didn't have any option when he
came out completely flat in the final, but boy did he struggle.  BU had
several outstanding chances to win the game.  Most bring up Amonte's
breakaway as the clock in regulation ran out, but a much bigger chance came
in the second overtime, about twenty rows in front of my seat.  BU took a
shot that hit the post to Pye's right; Pye never moved.  It then slid down
the length of the goal line and hit the other pipe and then bounced out to
the edge of the crease.  Brad Werenka then had to hold off the Terrier trying
to get to the rebound for the, oh, hour and a half it took Pye to realize
what was going on.  These were two of the for pipes BU hit in overtime, I
think.  All I could say was that Bill Pye had carried his team so many times
that they owed him one, but I'm sure they all thought the timing could have
been better.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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