Sean Pickett wrote:
> I thought scoring goals and winning the game was the purpose of playing
> hockey games.  With that in mind Ken *was* noticeable on the ice.  As for
> Ken being in the right place at the right time, I thought that was part of
> the "total packge" of being a good hockey player.
 
and then:
 
> I disagree with you that Ken did not stand out.  I noticed him as much as
> O'Sullivan.  As for picking him over O'Sullivan, Kraft, or Bonin, I
> disagree.  Rausch had 3 goals in the two games, while O'Sullivan had 2 goals
> and on assist, Kraft had 3 goals and 1 assist and Bonin had 2 goals and 3
> assists.
 
I've enjoyed Sean's reporting of BU, but I'll have to disagree here.  BTW
I only saw the latter part of the title game so I can't pretend to comment on
whether Rausch was worthy or not, but Sean's use of statistics doesn't even
seem to back up his case.  According to pure stats alone Kraft and Bonin were
more deserving and O'Sullivan may have been equally deserving based on stats
alone.  (Some assists are "soft" and others are not.  If O'Sullivan's assist
was a strong one then statistically he was Rausch's equal.)
 
Note that I consider a "strong" assist to be the equal of a goal or sometimes
more so.  On the winning goal, who performed the better play, the guy who set
Rausch up for the easy tap in or Rausch for tapping it in?  To me, that's a
no-brainer.   The impressive one on that goal was the passer.  Rausch's
performance on the game winner was nothing exceptional.
 
As I've recently mentioned in a private correspondance with some members of
the list, I am sometimes baffled at the constant praise for Jim Montgomery's
natural hat trick in the title game in 93 that is so effusive that it ignores
the natural "playmaker" that Paul Kariya achieved at the same time.  Having
recently reviewed the third period of that game, I am convinced that Kariya's
work on the three goals was more impressive than Montgomery's actual goals,
two of which were tap-ins.  I'm not trying to take credit away from Montgomery
who was obviously a heck of a player but trying to make the point that
overpraising of the goalscorer can often obscure just how easy their task may
have been made by a great playmaker.
 
IMO Rausch's three goals don't get him an automatic berth on the team.
 
DaveH