Back when the NCAA still had them, I thought the third-place games were a
waste of time.  It's not like a conference third-place game, where the two
teams might still have something to play for, like St. Cloud and CC did this
year.  The third place game never seemed to feature good hockey.  There's
the 1988 game you mentioned, but the one the next year (which was the last
one) wasn't any better.  Oh, sure, there weren't very many penalties.  But
neither team (particularly Maine) put any effort into it.  I was sitting in
the nose bleed seats at one end and the four of us spent a fair amount of
time heckling one particular defensemen who spent the time that the puck was
in his offensive zone skating around rather than being ready if the puck had
actually come in his direction.  There were maybe 200 other fans there with
us.  The third place game was not a good way to kill time early on the day
of the final, and I doubt it would be any better the day before.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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