Apologies to everyone that expected to see me in the
Boston area this weekend.  Mike, Adam, Bob, et al...
I'll get in touch with each of you individually later this week.
 
I had a fantastic schedule planned...visiting the Machniks
and taking in 5 games in 3 days.  Unfortunately, my flight
from Detroit to Boston was cancelled.  Then, after decided
to stay in Michigan rather than start my journey a day late,
the flu hit.  Blah.
 
At least one good thing did happen, though.  On Friday
night, Hockey-Ler Bruce Waugh and his family were in
town from Toronto for Michigan's victory over Western
Michigan.  I enjoyed meeting the Waughs and seeing
the Wolverines score the final 6 goals in an 8-3 decision.
(Bruce...I was a little more vocal than usual at Yost.  I hope
I didn't scare you away from a return trip. :-)
 
On crowd noise, Eric Rickin writes...
>(And, this includes the John H. factor too.  On Friday (against WMU) I
>saw him give the ref a piece of his mind not once but twice)
 
Yep.  Actually, I only gave it to Shegos once.  Eric alluded to
Shegos' many quick whistles.  I simply noted that the next time
he lost sight of the puck, he could count to two and look in the
Bronco net. :-)
 
The rest of the verbal assault was directed at WMU's backup
netminder, David Mitchell.  He may be WMU's starter next season
(the Broncos do have at least two new goaltenders coming in),
so I wanted to get under his skin early...for future dividends. :-)
 
And, GM Finniss...quoting Jeff Jodzis...writes...
>> For a team who looked really good on paper entering the
>>     season, you have to question its senior's ability to
>>     rise to the occasion and overcome having an overrated
>>     goalie in mike buzak.
>
>Overrated?  OVERRATED?  You are kidding, right?
>
>Even with his "subpar" performance this year, Buzak's save percentage still
>hovers around 90%.  The problem?  He's faced way too many shots, some of
that
>by design however.
 
Well, I can agree with both of you.  Buzak has faced WAY too
many shots.  But, I mostly side with Jeff.  At this point in the season,
Buzak has not performed as well as Will Clarke (BGSU), Charles
Thuss (Miami) or Marty Turco (UM).  Given that, I wouldn't even
put Buzak on my All-CCHA Honorable Mention list.  So, in that
sense, he's very overrated.  And, I'm guilty for some of that as
well.  I pegged Buzak for All-CCHA and All-America honors this
season.  Being a Hobey Baker finalist was also in the cards.
Unfortunately, for Buzak and MSU, he hasn't played as well as
he did last year (IMO).
 
 
John H
U Mich