A few comments on Hockeyfest '92:
 
1.  Hearty congratulations to the 1992 ECAC Champions, the St.
Lawrence Skating Saints. IMHO, SLU's SF comeback, followed almost
immediately afterwards (I'm sure it seemed so to the players) by
their victory over Cornell was one of the most impressive tournament
performances I've ever seen.
 
2.  My sincere condolances to the Clarkson Golden Knights, their
band, and their fans. Their season is following the '91 Cornell
blueprint to a "T": best team in the conference blows the r.s. title
at home on the last day, then loses a heartbreaker in overtime in the
SF. Hopefully the folks in Potsdam won't be as hard on the team as
some Ithacans were last year but, after talking with the people up
there a few weeks ago, I wouldn't count on it.
 
3.  Good luck to both St. Lawrence and Clarkson in this year's NCAA
tournament. You may get exactly zero respect (see below) from other
conferences, but any victory (however conveniently ignored by the
popular mind) will be celebrated by at least 10 other teams I know.
 
4.  The All-Time Poor Fansmanship Award, won hands down by a fat dude
wearing a UNH hat (it was definitely NOT our own Chris Craig).
Overheard continuously throughout the SLU-Cornell ECAC final:
"Yeah, well just wait until we get to the real game later. Then
you'll see much faster skating and better hockey." Added to
this: "Geez, neither of these teams could even compete in Hockey
East," and the clincher, "that McCutcheon, now he was a Real
Player, when these guys were part of Our League." OK, I'll admit it,
after two hours of this I just MAY have turned and told him to shut up
until his wonderful conference actually won an NCAA title - was that
so wrong? In case anyone wondered, it didn't work - against idiocy
the gods themselves contend in vain.
 
5.  Eastern Seeds Prediction: 1. Maine, 2. New Hampshire, 3. Boston
University, 4. St. Lawrence, 5. (some western import), 6. Clarkson. I
pity da fool that has to go up against Clarkson next. They had better
be prepared if they don't want to be the
team-annually-upset-by-a-laughably-underseeded-ECAC-team. Having seen
all of the five aforementioned teams, here's how they Should be seeded:
1. Maine (second-best East team in past decade, after RPI '85), 2. St.
Lawrence, 3. New Hampshire, 4. Clarkson, 5. Providence, 6. {a western
import or the Indy}.
 
6.  It was a true pleasure to see Maine play hockey "the way it oughta
be" this weekend. Hard to see anybody beating them except themselves -
they ARE the difference between HE and ECAC this season, but that's
quite a difference.
 
Greg
Boston
Wait 'till Next Year!
OK; losing 9 seniors maybe not.