Well, it's all over now. Another great college hockey season has come to an
end (albeit a little sad for us Maine fans). In the end, there can be only
one champion and BU deservedly took it home this year.
 
After watching the championship game (amidst a bit of swearing and screaming),
there were 3 reasons in my mind why Maine might have lost:
 
1. They were really tired from the Thursday marathon with Michigan.
2. Maybe Maine this year was like what one BU player (Linna or O'Sullivan?)
   said BU were the year before - just happy to be in the championship game.
3. However, reasons 1 and 2 are really not as big as the third. Much as it
   hurts me to say this :), BU was simply the better team out there.
 
The two biggest plays for BU in the game were the first goal by Thronton -
on a bad breakdown on a faceoff (sounds familiar from the ME-MI game!); and
the 4th goal by Sylvia from Bates - on a bad (really bad) pass attempt by
Conlan.
 
ME were playing the 1st like they knew they were in the game (no matter what
my reasons 1 and 2 were), but the first goal seemed to remind them that they
were really a tired bunch. They slowed down so much and did not get their
wheels going until late in the 2nd, when they found themselves down 0-3.
They would get some life with their first goal and at 2-3 early in the 3rd,
I thought I was beginning to see the ME team of old. However, that pass by
Conlan...sigh... I was yelling at him for 3 seconds before he made that pass
attempt to send it across the ice...however he chose to hold the puck while
his target made his move toward the goal between three BU players, turned
to look and made a pass to no1 but BU. And when a goal was scored off that
(a pretty one) I knew in my heart it was all over. Suddenly, we were down
by 2 goals with about 10 mins left in the game against a tough BU team,
and the tired team made its reappearance.
 
In retrospect, I feel now that Conlan cannot shoulder that much of a burden.
I feel that this BU team would have taken it home even w/o that pass.
 
Anyway, all speculation aside, Congrats to Jack Parker and the BU Terriers
for a great season and winning the national championship.
 
Congrats to Shawn Walsh (Coach of the Year) and the Maine Black Bears for an
awesome season. We will be back next year (and if my 2nd reason was right,
we would not have to worry next year - we will not be happy just being there
next time!).
 
Oh yeah, and we did finish with a winning record against the national champs
(2-1-2)...not too bad, huh :) - in case, anyone is wondering about the
silliness of that last remark, that was for BU spoiling our perfect season
in 1993 (and for the, at least one, BU fan who reminded us of it in H-L
at the end of that season :-) ).
 
 
Cheers
Venky
 
 
GO BLUE!!!
Hockey East - Home of Championship Hockey!!!