Carol (our traditional travel guide) brings up an interesting forecast of the future. What if there is no Hockey-L dinner or other of the luxuries we have come to enjoy, if not appreciate fully. I am a late comer to this Hockey-L party and though it is one of the  things I highly enjoy, I realize there were years of enjoyment and pleasure that I had missed out on. Wayne started this thing (from what I can gather from past emails) and how much would we be willing to pay him to  just say thank-you if not to factually compensate him for his time and effort? It is only because of Hockey-L that a St.Cloud State professor has come to know and love some frieking Gopher fans (Erik and Paula plus Carol). 

But technology and other reasons may be sounding the death knoll for Hockey-L (and if you disagree, as I hope you do, then put up a good fight!), but what do you do when facing that future? You remember the past! So, what I would like to have is a record of everyone's recollections of their best and favorite final fours. Here is mine just to start the conversation:
(1) 1991 in St.Paul. Best hockey game I have EVER seen! 8-7 in 3 OT Northern Michigan over a powerful BU. Tony Amonte gets a breakaway late in the game, Billy Pyle aggressively skates out of the crease to the TOP of the circles and Amonte shoots the puck into his glove! Personally, I was just diagnosed as Type-1 diabetic, and of course the concession stands shut down after three regulation periods and I was worried about what I was going to do if I needed something to eat!
(2) 1993 in Milwaukee. Maine is down to start the third period to defending national champion Lake Superior State, and Sean Walsh switches goalies! But he puts in the best stick handling goalie (of his two superior goalies) knowing he needed the offensive advantage it would bring and sure enough Jim Montgomerie with assists from Paul Kariya roar back in the third to win . Best coaching move ever! But if Dean Blaise pulling his goalie with five minutes left to play (in Boston or Albany?) would have worked, that might be here at #2.
(3) here is where I have to stop - no clear winner beyond this point. 1989 Harvard over Minnesota in OT in St.Paul, 2011 Duluth over Michigan 3-2 in OT, 2009 BU over Miami, Ohio 4-3 in OT in the wonderful town of Washington DC, 2007 Michigan State over BC 3-1 in St. Louis, 2004 Denver over Maine 1-0 in Boston, 1999 Maine over New Hampshire 3-2 in OT in Anahiem, and a handful of others. But my thought is others on this list have seen other shocking and impressive games (I only saw Bowling Green beat Duluth in 1984 5-4 in 4 OT on TV - it was tape delayed and edited!), or others have recollections of the same games from another perspective. THIS kind of sharing is what Hockey-L is great for!

Nathan