Last year when I attended the Division III Phinal Phour, I wrote up a summary
in a humorous awards format.  I wasn't going to write anything up for the
Div. I Phinal Phour figuring that the more active Hockey-L'ers (I tend to hang
out more on hockey3) would provide quite adequate summations.  But, I've been
thinking up things all day today, some of which haven't been posted, so I
figured, what the heck.  The worst that can happen is for people to delete my
message without reading it.  In no particular order:
 
THE SOCIALITE OF THE YEAR (DECADE, CENTURY, MILLENIUM?) AWARD:  Who else, but
to Carol White.  Others have thanked her, but there is never enough for the
fine effort she put in.  The dinner was great (it wasn't her fault that the
kitchen wasn't unable to keep up with the demand), and the tour of Mariucci
Arena was a super bonus.
 
THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD:  To the Hockey-L Mailing List.  Where else can
you find, but at a Hockey-L Dinner, fans of Wisconsin and Minnesota, proudly
dressed in their team colors, sitting at one table talking amongst each other
as if there is not a trace of hatred in the world.
 
THE TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF TO HELP KEEP COUNT AWARD:  Somebody needs to teach the
shot clock operator how to count.  Not only was it never kept up to date, but
twice I saw it never increment even after a team scored a goal.
 
THE COME THE FURTHEST JUST TO MEET AWARD:  Goes to myself and Larry Haag.
Despite both of us working at Kodak in Rochester, NY, and even having common
acquaintances, we never met each other until after we traveled nearly a 1000
miles to attend the Hockey-L Dinner.
 
THE QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND AWARD:  Goes to our esteemed Mike Machnik.  Between
the 1st and 2nd periods of the Championship Game with Lake Superior St.
leading BU, 1-0, Mike said, "BU has Lake State right where they want them."
 
THE FUNNIEST SCHOOL NAME AWARD:  I know my brother, Kenneth, is going to kill
me for this, but it goes to him.  After the introductions at the dinner where
he mentioned that he got his Masters Degree at UW-Stout, he received many
jokes about the name of that institution.
 
THE DEAD FANS AWARD:  Goes to, surprisingly, the LSSU supporters.  If somebody
walked into the arena in the third period without knowing the score, they
would have thought BU was winning.  BU's supporters continued to cheer, urge
on their team, and have their pep band play.  The LSSU fans just sat on their
hands waiting for the game to end.  And they were going to win the National
Championship!
 
THE SEND THEM BACK TO POLICE ACADEMY AWARD:  Goes to the St. Paul Police for
their totally inept traffic control.  We got to the Civic Center on Thursday
a half hour before game time, yet we still missed the first goal.  I have
been stuck in the worst of the worst in NYC before, but I have never seen
such incompetent traffic control as that provided by the St. Paul police.
 
THE "OH, THAT'S WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE" AWARD:  To all us Hockey-L'ers who were
meeting each other for the first time.  How many other people had their mental
images of what they expected based on how people write totally shot to hell?
For me, the only two folks who vaguely resembled what my imagination conjured
up were Pam Sweeney and Heather Machnik.  I have no idea what should be read
into that.
 
THE "I WONDER..." AWARD:  Goes to the Charlotte PA announcer. During the Final
Game, the PA announcer in St. Paul gave updates on those other Final Four
games.  I wonder, did the PA announcer in Charlotte give updates on the hockey
championship game to all those round ball fans? I'm pretty sure I know the
answer.
 
THE TRUE CONFESSIONS AWARD:  Goes to myself, who as a Potsdam alumnus, was
still willing to introduce myself, shake hands, and hold valid conversations
with the First Lady of Cardinal Hockey, Heather.  (For those of you who don't
know, Potsdam looks at Plattsburgh hockey the way Minnesota looks at
Wisconsin, the way BU looks at Maine, the way, well you get the picture.)  I
just hope the gods of the Bears can forgive me...
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Russell Jaslow         | Official Contact - Potsdam College Hockey|My employer
Eastman Kodak Company  |  Potsdam Bears - 1981 and 1986 NCAA Div. |has nothing
Rochester, New York    |   III National Basketball Champions and  |to do with
[log in to unmask]     winners of 60 consecutive games!     |my drivel.
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