My opinions of the Bowdoin/UMass-Amherst game Friday:
 
Two entirely separate games were played that night.  The first two periods
looked similar to the Bowdoin/Merrimack games during Merrimack's last year
as Div III & first year recruiting & giving scholarships.  It looked like
an uneven matchup where the underdog was doing a reasonable job of holding
its own.  As Craig said, the UMass-Amherst players are MUCH larger than
Bowdoin's.  It was sadly amusing watching them pummel us against the
boards while we would try to hit them - and they would sometimes just push
us out of the way.
 
The end of the first period and parts of the second were miserable if you're
not fond of fighting.  I was particularly unimpressed with the attitude of
the entire UMass team, from the players to the coach.  Every penalty and
many whistles were argued, even when the infraction was blatant.  There
was much too much after the whistle roughing - I remember seeing a UMass
player take a potshot across the back of a Bowdoin player's head as
everyone was skating back to the bench.  At points, fists flew, and I was
surprised that none of the penalties were for 5 minutes.  The worst was
when a UMass player tried to take advantage of the confusion surrounding
the discussion of penalty alotments after one round of boxing and actually
snuck out of the penalty box and hopped back on the bench - and then out
onto the ice.  Luckily, a ref caught him (although I've heard it was only
because the Bowdoin coach noticed) and sent him back to the box.  I was
surprised that his penalty wasn't increased - I would have tossed him out,
but I'm a tad bit biased...
 
Of course, Bowdoin wasn't innocent either.  I couldn't believe it when I
saw a Bowdoin player come up to the UMass goalie, who was behind the net,
look around at the refs, place his stick in front of the goalie's skates,
and yank.  Trip.  None of the refs saw a thing.
 
Then there was the third period.  Somehow, Bowdoin figured out how to
crunch the UMass players against the boards and it looked like a fair
matchup.  Craig noted that UMass relaxed their offense - this was indeed
the case and was very surprising.  When Bowdoin scored their first goal,
the increase in momentum was amazing.  The first two periods had looked
like UMass had a constant power play, while many times in the third period
it looked like UMass was down a player when everyone had 5 men on the ice.
In fact, I believe that Bowdoin's second goal was shorthanded.  (I have no
idea how it happened - it looked to me like it must have deflected off the
skate.  I don't think anyone on or off the ice thought the puck was about
to go in the net.
 
One particularly disappointing call was when a Bowdoin player had a
beautiful breakaway and a UMass player tripped him as he was about halfway
between the red line and the net.  I always thought that tripping someone
who had an open path to the goal called for a penalty shot, but all the
UMass player got was 2:00 in the box.
 
It was a great game to watch.  Even when Bowdoin was losing, they were
hanging tough - their defense is outstanding.   UMass's checking was
impressive to someone used to Div III checking, and Bowdoin followed suit
in the third period.  I just wish the players could control themselves
after the whistle.
 
Paul Faulstich                         Bowdoin '91
 
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- Paul Faulstich                                Dept. of Physics   -
- Lab Instructor                                Bates College      -
- [log in to unmask]                            Lewiston, ME 04240 -
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