ECAC
* Two stunning upsets.  Cornell and Harvard meet for the championship
Saturday in what is essentially a game to decide who goes to the NCAA
tournament and who goes home.  Winner gets the automatic bid.
 
* Consolation between Clarkson and Vermont is important to Clarkson's
tourney hopes too, and Knights will also watch the HE scoreboard and hope
Providence does not win HE.  If PC wins, Clarkson's NCAA hopes could be in
jeopardy since one of Cornell and Harvard is guaranteed to go.
 
HE
* One stunning upset leaves NCAA tourney picture wide open with Providence
able to gain a bid only by beating Maine in the final Saturday.  Maine win
means only BU and Lowell go from HE.
 
* PC jumped on BU 50 seconds in and never trailed.  Friars were outshot
13-4 in first but led 2-1.  PC went on to shut BU down for almost a period
and a half, allowing BU only 9 shots through that time and building a 5-2
lead.  BU scored twice within a minute to suddenly make it 5-4 but could
not tie it.  Pandolfo's incredible performance goes for naught - he had a
trick and nearly a fourth goal several times.  For PC, typical Lake
State/Pooley hockey in crunch time at the end of the season.  How does he
do it?
 
* PC's third goal appeared to have been kicked in by Dillabough.  Goal came
just as BU penalty expired but was not a PPG.
 
* Diminutive Friar freshman center Mike Omicioli (5'5" 160) earns first
star with two goals and an assist, including GWG.  Omicioli missed a number
of games due to injury but came up with his biggest game of the year when
it counted the most.
 
* Terriers are proving to have trouble when falling behind.  Trailing after
one, BU is 0-4-1; trailing after two, 1-5-1.  Allowing first goal, BU is
5-4-2.
 
* Maine-Lowell game was a real nailbiter as expected.  Game was played
close to the vest much of the way.  Lowell led 2-1 with 12 mins left, but
Parmentier tied it on a tip-in at 8:21 and Maine dominated play from there
on out.  Maine took only its first lead of the game with 6:08 left when
Thompson was allowed to rush up around the net and put a shot on that
Shermerhorn followed up.  Cardinal added big insurance goal with 2:04 left
and with Fillion out for a sixth attacker, Shermerhorn scored the ENG from
Cardinal with a minute remaining.
 
* Maine defense was key to their third period explosion.  Lowell got few
quality chances and turned the puck over a lot.  Black Bears out-attempted
Lowell 23-10 in the third.
 
* Providence-Maine championship tilt has interesting undercurrents.  PC
needs win to make NCAAs.  Maine will end season no matter what happens.
And PC upset Maine in last year's HE semifinal before losing the final to
BU by one goal.
 
* Scoreboard at start of Maine-Lowell read "UMass" for Lowell but was soon
changed to "UML".
 
* Attendance for both games was 8,238, about half of capacity.  FleetCenter
balcony was closed off and fans kept to the loge and club seating areas.
Unknown whether attendance will cause opening of balcony Saturday night for
championship.
 
* Shot clock was on the fritz for the second game (when I did the chart).
Late in the first period I had to correct the official shots (listed as 8-8
on the board) to 10-9 for Maine.  But the shot clock apparently blocks out
any changes to the first period totals once the final buzzer sounds, so the
board could not be corrected.  2nd and 3rd period totals were correct since
we had learned that any corrections had to be made before the period ended.
 
* FleetCenter press facilities are outstanding: spacious, comfortable, and
room for more than three times as many people as were there.  Even radio
stations have their own rooms now.  Only downsides: distance from ice level
makes it difficult to make out some numbers, and long elevator ride from
third floor press room to ninth floor press box.  We learned when we nearly
missed the faceoff for the second game. :-)
 
* Teams were unable to practice at the building on Thursday because of very
bad ice conditions (detailed in the Boston Globe).  Bruins refused to allow
any practices Thursday so they could prepare the ice for their game that
night.  Ice was splotchy and "slow", possibly favoring PC in their game
against BU.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
>> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System  <<
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