From the College Hockey Showcase...
 
The Michigan/Minnesota game brought back bad memories of my trip to
Milwaukee a few years ago.  The Michigan/Maine semifinal, in my opinion,
was a very similar game.  Michigan seemed to play hard and (sometimes)
dominate the first two periods.  In both the Maine and Minnesota games,
the Wolverines went into the second intermission with a two goal lead.
 
But the third period's were a much different tale.  In both games Micigan
seemed to come out and skate the third period with a "let's just play
defense and hope they don't score" attitude rather than with a "let's
score another goal" attitude.  Against teams with as much fire power as
Minnesota and that Maine team have/had, you can't play hockey this way.
If you give them that many chances, they _will_ score.
 
Some other thoughts while watching the game on TV:
1.  The "disputed" Michigan second period goal.
    Someone commented that the ref made the call from the blue line.  This
is not true as the WCHA still uses two ref's and Director-of-Referee's
Shephard was directly on the goal line and made the call from within feet
of the net.  IMHO, it was a good call.  Watching the replays, the shot hit
Callinan in the chest and fell to the ice in front of him.  Before
Callinan could have the chance to even think about getting his glove down
to cover it, he & the puck were knocked into the net by a defenseman.
The puck was never covered and this appears to be why Shephard made the
call he did.  Shephard signalled a goal from the start and there was no
hesitation on his part.
 
2.  I liked Ron Mason's comments in his second intermission interview
during Saturday's MSU/Wisconsin game:  he commented that once the four
year contract with this Showcase was over (next year in Milwaukee, the
fourth year at the Joe Louis Arena), they should continue in a "neutral"
site (what better than to have four popular schools and four good hockey
teams advertise College Hockey in other areas, said Ron).  What was funny
about it, is all of Ron's suggestions for places were in the nice warm
south ... ie Atlanta, Florida, etc...  You know, this really seems like a
good idea!
 
 
Roger Spurgeon
U Mich '94
(But still a student at heart...)
 
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 |_  \    /  _|  Roger L. Spurgeon                 <[log in to unmask]>
  | \ \  / / |   MarkeTech Systems
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