Steve Weisfeldt writes:
>"Biggest rival" may vary from fan to fan, as well. I'm not sure I speak
>for all Lowell fans, but I consider our biggest rival to also be BU.
>Again, though, biggest rival may mean "most hated"!!
Something that is kind of interesting and disappointing is how the
Lowell-Merrimack rivalry has all but disappeared. I have not gotten
the impression for a while that Lowell has seen Merrimack as a big
rival, at least since the departure of former Lowell coach Bill Riley.
Then again, Riley is the guy who ranted at his team before a big game
with Merrimack, "I hate their !@#$ team, I hate their !@#$ fans, I
hate their !@#$ town...I hate their !@#$ zip code!"
(The zip for the section of Lowell where the school is, is 01854...and
North Andover's is 01845.)
The same is true on the Merrimack side, too. The Warriors would now
probably consider BC and BU to be their biggest rivals, although those
teams do not feel the same way. The most intense, heated games
Merrimack has played over the last couple of years have been with
those two teams, and the four MC-BU games this season were all wars.
So, it's hard for some to understand how the Lowell-Merrimack rivalry
could have been one of the most heated in college hockey, back when
the two teams were in DivII - only a little more than a decade ago.
That was when a sellout for a Lowell-Merrimack game was guaranteed at
either rink, as were brawls on-ice and off. In fact, although I can't
verify it yet, long-time area fans say that the last game Merrimack ever
played in the Boston Garden was against Lowell in the old Teapot
Tournament - the DivII Beanpot featuring (I believe) Lowell, Merrimack,
Salem State, and Holy Cross. The Lowell-Merrimack game ended up in a
brawl that spilled over into the Garden stands, and that was the end
of the Teapot and DivII hockey at the Garden.
Emotions ran high, and both teams were usually among the best in DivII
which meant the meetings tended to be big ones. I've also heard the
opinion that the type of player who plays DivII-III hockey is more of an
emotional, hard-working player. The theory is that as the two teams
moved into DivI and started recruiting different kinds of players, the
rivalry began to fade...as well as the fact that at first, Lowell was
in HE and Merrimack was not, and then when Merrimack entered HE, both
teams struggled until Lowell last year. I do recall the rivalry
remaining somewhat intact in the late 80s when Lowell was doing well
and Merrimack was a top Independent, selling out nearly every night, and
the teams played twice a year home-and-home.
I think it would be good for the area (the schools are about 10 miles
apart) and for both teams to somehow rekindle that rivalry. It was
hoped that the HE quarterfinal playoff meeting this year might be the
beginning of that, but I think that the only people who eagerly awaited
the series were the old-timers, of whom there don't seem to be many at
the games anymore. And every year when the first meeting between the
teams rolls around, the press hypes it and all, but still no one goes
and nothing much happens.
What it might take is for both teams to be successful again in the
same year. Lowell is ahead in that department, and we will have to
see if Merrimack continues to head in that direction. Next year
should find Merrimack icing its best team since entering HE, so it
could be interesting.
As one who was around for the waning years of the rivalry, I will say
it was very special that Merrimack won out over Lowell in the battle
for goaltender Marty Legault. :-)
BTW, as a community service, here's a way I found I can reach Steve
Weisfeldt. Route his mail through another site which is able to talk
to his. For example, his address is [log in to unmask], so to
route it through mit.edu, you'd change the "@" to "%" and tack on the
string "@mit.edu". Steve would do likewise to mail back to you.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
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