From this morning's Newsday, Peter and Chris Ferraro have both registered for
classes this spring at Maine, following their campaign with the Olympic team.
Maine coach (remember him?) Shawn Walsh said he expects the twins will play
for the Black Bears after the Olympics.  According to Walsh, the twins advised
him of this personally, indicating they had registered for classes.  Peter
Ferraro Sr. however demurred, "There's no final decision.  Are they coming back
to Maine?  We'll see.  Nobody knows yet.  There's no way to predict.  The
Rangers could have a lot of injuries.  They might want to make a trade.I
don't really know what they're going to do."
 
Rangers GM Neil Smith, while surprised, seemed happy with the development.  "If
that is true it's a good decision because it gives them more development time.
There's such a short period of time left this winter anyway once the Olympics
are over and certainly the way our club is designed right now it would be very
difficult for them to play in New York....The real time to get them into the
program will be the summer--signing them, going through the negotiation
process, training camp seeing where they fit.  Then they have proper
preparation time."
 
According to a USA Hockey source, "Their feeling all along was that they would
return to school because they haven't developed physically to the point where
they can compete in the NHL."
 
The return of Maine's Olympians could certainly make for an interesting Hockey
East tournament, and further muddle what I see as an uncertain NC$$ tournament
picture.  Right now I would predict Hockey East would receive 4 bids, with BU
and UNH locks, Northeastern a strong 3rd, and a fourth coming from U Mass
Lowell or Maine.  Of course the heart of the schedule remains, and things could
change, but the tournament will undoubtedly be an extremely competitive event
this March.
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            "NYS   // Hockey"
        Go 'Gate  //   Brian Morris
          Go RPI //      Albany, NY
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