> On 4-6-99 [log in to unmask] wrote:
><snip>
>
><P.S.  I hope the water polo finals ARE in Vermont next year!
>
>(-:
>
>How separatist of you. I think the whole west coast should just secede from
>further college hockey participation (while they sink slowly below the
>western horizon) for Greg.
 
How can the west coast separate when they don't even have any teams in D1,
D2 or D3?  Look, I admire your devotion to a sport that you rarely see,
however should  the NCAA be catering to a minority like you at the expense
of all the fans in the eastern and central time zones?  I was thinking of
my water polo comment today and, as I recall, there are teams out here who
do play water polo.  So maybe their tournament should be in Vermont, or
maybe Boston, at Harvard! At least there are some people here who actually
see the sport.
>
>>If the newspaper coverage of the tournament is indicative of >local fan
>interest..
>
>I've heard UCLA and SC want teams. Without a movement to generate more
>college hockey interest, and without big schools starting up programs,
>despite new arenas popping up, ice hockey is still a struggle for
>Californians.
 
You've "heard" that UCLA and SC want teams?  Maybe someone should find out
before they go and plunk down the showcase tournament for the sport a 1,000
miles from nearest D1 school that can participate!
 
 I didn't see the face mask article; there is however a recent
>study done by the Calgary Flame's team physician. It's a first ever study; it
>compares two Canadian teams, one with a full shield and one with a half
>shield. This information comes from an article by Adam Mertz for the Capital
>Times in Madison: Concussions were more severe with a half shield. According
>to the Flames physician, he believes that players wore their full visor
>correctly aiding in their protection while half visors were tilted back. If
>this was in the article, it's very current.
 
My comment about the face mask article was not to discuss the pros and cons
of the issue.  I actually found it somewhat interesting.  However, I think
that the article was symtomatic (sp?) of the larger issue that the sport
was a novelty to most of the newspapers readers.  It appeared to be a way
of introducing the sport to the natives, not very encouraging to see for
most college hockey diehards.
 
Greg Ambrose
GO UNH BLUE!!!
 
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