Date sent: 10-MAY-1992 20:34:54
Saturday night, May 9th, the Plattsburgh State Cardinal Booster Club
sponsored a testimonial dinner for the 1991-1992 SUNYAC, ECAC, NC$$ Div.
III Champion Cardinal Hockey team. The banquet was attended by about 200
people, including team members, coaching staff, trainers, parents, booster
club members and fans, Senator Ronald Stafford (for whom our arena is
mentioned), Assemblyman Chris Ortloff and hockey-l guru, Mike Machnik. The
four seniors were recognized for their careers with the team: Captain Jim
Duran, and alternate captains Steve Ashe, Matt Furtado, and Dan Schaly. As a
side note, at the sports picnic on Wednesday, May 6th, Captain Jim Duran
received the Male Athlete of the Year award.
The SUNY-Plattsburgh Student Association recognized the senior players
by presenting them with their game jerseys. Dr. Marilyn Chase, of the
Faculty Senate, presented Captain Jim Duran with a resolution passed by the
Senate, honoring the Cardinals for their achievements. Other awards
presented were: (team chosen)
Playoff MVP #11 Chris Fess
Goaltending #29 Mike Mondello
Rookie of the Year #36 Steve Moore
Most Improved #28 John Wells
Regular Season MVP #18 Jim Duran
#19 Lenny Pereira
Outstanding Cardinal Hockey Player (the player that most exemplified the
Cardinal role model) #18 Jim Duran
The team captains also presented Head Coach Bob Emery, Coach Kevin Houle
and Head Trainer Rob Laham with gifts of appreciation.
After all the awards were presented, we were treated to a highlight video
of our triple crown season.
Here's Mike to add a few comments to make this already long post even
longer....
======
Well, Heather is all over me with that line, although I must admit that it
looks like my longwindedness is rubbing off on her. So, it should not come
as a surprise that I was here helping her write this and make a long story
even longer. :-)
Thanks to Heather for extending me an invitation to the Plattsburgh
banquet, I enjoyed it very much and it was very classy. The one impression
I kept getting throughout the evening was that this was a team that bounced
back from some tough times a couple of years ago, set some lofty goals for
itself and worked hard to accomplish those goals, something that is very
good to see. You don't finish with a record of 32-2-2 (one loss to DivI
Clarkson on a Monday after a Fri-Sat road trip) if you're a slouch, at any
level.
I watched the highlight video shown at the end (done very well by a local
NBC affiliate - as good as or better than many DivI videos) and was
impressed by the play of the Cards - they'd have given many DivI teams a
run for their money, as is usually the case with the top DivIII teams. I
see that they will lose only four players after this season, which means
they should be a team to contend with yet again next year.
Finally, although she's been shy about it here, Heather was presented with
an award for doing a superb job as the team's manager in this, her senior
year at Plattsburgh (she graduates next Saturday May 16th). Again, I had
a great time and am looking forward to her returning the favor by joining
me at a Red Sox game sometime this summer. :-)
Oh yes, Plattsburgh coaches Bob Emery and Kevin Houle, BC grads, deserve
accolades for the job they have done with the program in such a short time.
And I like Emery - he took a couple of opportunities to take jabs at the
Blue Jays and Canadiens fans on the team and in the audience, he being a
Bruins and Red Sox fan. I liked this guy right away. :-)
Time to do my Willie Nelson impression and get on the road again, but I
thought it would be nice to give a view of the proceedings from someone
outside the program and who doesn't get to follow DivIII very much. Thanks
again to Heather and send her a note to say congratulations.
- mike
======
I really enjoyed the chance to work with the team....they were a great
bunch of guys. They made the job interesting, to say the least, loads of
fun and showed me a lot of respect. We really pulled together like a
family, and that's something I'll never forget. Thanks guys....:-)
Thanks to Mike for coming to Plattsburgh for the banquet....:-) I'm looking
forward to making the trip to Boston....:-)
Well, I guess that's a wrap on the 1991-1992 Plattsburgh State hockey season.
Thanks to all the hockey-l'ers for your support, and for everything I
learned about the sport this year on hockey-l. Have a great off-season!
heather
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