>sit back and reflect on what happened last night on the ice.  And I've come to
>one simple conclusion.
>
>It's still bush league.
>
>>As for ``bush league,'' the Spartans are members of the same league. In
>>the grand scheme of things, all of college hockey is pretty bush league.
>
>I think you might find a number of people here who would disagree with that.
 
You mean bush league as a pejorative. I don't. ``Bush'' is slang for small
or rural.
 
The NHL and IHL, with rare exception, field teams in major metropolitan areas.
The CCHA is the equivalent of a junior league, and it is played in a number
of small towns:
 
-- Oxford, Ohio (pop. 19,000)
-- Bowling Green, Ohio (28,000)
-- Fairbanks, Alaska (31,000)
-- Sault Sainte Marie, Mich. (15,000)
-- Big Rapids, Mich. (13,000)
 
I'm not familiar with the culture of other CCHA rinks, but I know at Bowling
Green, fans have probably 20 chants, cheers and other practices that you
would never find in any IHL or NHL rink.
 
Bush league? Yeah. The term fits. We all like it, too, or we wouldn't be here.
 
I see the Miami practice as a non-destructive, quirky tradition of a fun
hockey league. It sounds like Michigan State had more reasons to consider
themselves dissed after the final whistle than someone stealing their ice.
 
>on the board.  But there's a thing called winning with class.  As heated as
>the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry is, you don't too often find (at least
>in the games I've seen played between the two, both at Munn and at JLA) where
>the teams are taunting each other AFTER THE FINAL WHISTLE.
 
If Miami's been doing this all along, it seems only Michigan State considers
it taunting. Everyone else just probably figured they were weird.
 
The funny thing is, only teams that win a lot seem to win ``with class,''
as you say. When Miami gets a couple of national championships under their
belt, maybe they'll afford themselves the luxury of getting some ``class.''
 
In the meantime, Miami is in third place after a huge sweep at Munn. Michigan
State should just suck it up, deal with it -- and bring a razor on their
next trip to Oxford.
 
>
>And exactly what were you referring to by "bush league tradition up at Munn"?
 
I hopefully covered this above.
 
>
>You don't consider scraping the ice of the opponent to be "poor sportsmanship"?
>You don't think teams have the right to defend their home rink?  How many
 
From what? I could see if the Redskins were stealing seats..
 
 
--
The Chronicle. Elyria, Ohio, USA        "Techno is like Detroit -- a complete
John Kohlstrand, staff writer            mistake." -- Derrick May
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my opinions are my own.                  Ay Ziggy Zoomba.   Go Bowling Green.