At 01:25 PM 3/9/97 -0500, Brian Morris wrote:
 
>Finally, I am now willing to sing the praises for the 1996-97 Engineers.
> They got farther than anyone expected, with the sophomores maturing into
>talented juniors, the freshman coming up with four gems, including two
>goaltenders, and a coach whose junior year saw him put his stamp on Engineer
>hockey.  The question has been answered: RPI can win playing Dan Fridgen's
>style.  If the Engineers don't win another game, and unless Princeton wins
>tonight, that isn't unlikely, they have had a supremely successful season.
 
Sad but true. As a long time Engineer fan, I am thrilled they got
as far as they did. And with no (thats zero) seniors on the team,
I'll be getting psyched for next season right after the Fourth of July.
If we draw Cornell in the semi's (go Princeton), and the team plays
like it did this weekend, we have a pretty good chance to make it
to the finals. But the only path to the NC$$ for RPI is to win the
ECAC tourney. And the path to the title eventually goes through Clarkson.
Even if RPI knocks off Cornell and loses to Clarkson, I still see
Clarkson, Cornell and maybe UVM getting the bids. Clarkson has
been known in recent history to choke in the semi-finals, and RPI
is always sky high for Clarkson, but I just don't see it
happening (sigh) this year.
 
I see Clarkson vs. Michigan in the finals this year and I've
finally mellowed enough in my old age to prefer Clarkson.
Note that I said prefer, not root for Clarkson. You'll never
hear a "Go Knights" cheer uttered from this mouth. My only
lament about Clarkson going all the way is that I lose my
patented  RPI comeback at work. Whenever Clarkson comes to Troy
and beats RPI, I catch a ration of #$%# from my co-workers who
weren't smart enough to get into RPI and wound up at Clarkson :-))
My response is always that we, RPI fans, always welcome the Clarkson
fans and alumni to Houston where they get to see not one, but two
NCAA championship banners hanging which is two more than is hanging in
Potsdam.  That line may very well become obsolete this year.
Time to learn to eat crow, I guess.
 
Go Knights????  Nah, certainly not for another few weeks!!!
 
Mark Lewin
Rensselaer (formerly RPI)
Class of '69
 
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