*  Despite losing 6-3, Lowell became only the second team all year to outshoot
   BU (41-37, I believe).
 
*  After the game, BU coach Jack Parker said about Lowell, "They're one of
   the top five teams in the country."  This brought a BIG smile to my face.
   If Jack is still on the tournament committee (I think he is) I hope he
   still feels that way in a couple weeks.   Top five?  Perhaps he was just
   saying that for effect, but I'm no George Costanza.  If a woman tells me
   I'm the greatest lover in the world, I'm gonna take the compliment with a
   "you too" and a smile.  So thanks, Jack, and the same goes for you.  :-)
 
*  Some nitwit reporter asked UML coach Bruce Crowder if his team was
   overconfident going into the game.  Crowder said something like,
   "Overconfident?  Against the number two team in the country in their own
   rink?  No, we weren't overconfident.  They simply played much better on
   the special teams [BU had three power play goals and didn't allow a single
   UML power play tally, including a 5-on-3 for about a minute].  They
   capitalized on their opportunities and we didn't."
 
*  In the previous UML-BU games, I indicated a limited respect for BU
   goaltending.  Although this seemed to irritate some BU fans, I felt it
   appropriate given the way that Fillion outplayed both Noble and Laroque
   in the first two games (not to mention that Herlofsky and Noble looked
   horrible in last year's games against UML).  I questioned whether the BU
   goalies were mediocre talents who simply played for a great team.  Well,
   Tommy Noble played an excellent game for BU yesterday.  I believe that this
   is the first game in two years against Lowell that the BU goaltending has
   looked decent at all, but Noble was much better than decent and clearly
   outplayed Fillion.  Hats off to The Pretty Boy, and make sure not one hair
   is out of place.  :-)
 
*  BU fans got a cheer going pointing first to their hairy fan Sasquatch (who
   assures me that he does not have hair growing on his fingernails, but IMO
   would be more consistent if he did) and then to UML goalie Fillion,
   chanting, "Sasquatch!  Sieve!  Sasquatch!  Sieve!"  When I explained the
   chant to a UML fan, she wrinkled her nose and said, "I'd rather be a
   sieve."  :-)
 
*  I'm personally having more difficulty maintaining my self-proclaimed
   title of "Hockey Polygamist".  Coincidentally, JohnH made reference to
   this as well in a recent post.  Those who care to check out my sig can
   see that BU has been my number two team for years (not surprising since
   I'm an alum and part-time instructor there).  But as the rivalry between
   BU and UML (my number one team) has heated up, I've been finding my
   allegiances to BU strained.  At last year's NC$$ final I cheered hard for
   BU; at this year's Beanpot my support was lukewarm at best.
 
   Part of this is natural, I suppose.  HOCKEY-L has team supporters who range
   from The Calm and Distinguished, such as Mike Machnik (the Walter Cronkite
   of College Hockey) to The Loudmouthed Cheerleaders, such as JohnH and Tony
   Biscardi (who may refer to himself as The Former Ogre but is really The
   Most Outrageous Flirt in the Universe).  This year I've made a conscious
   effort move towards the latter category and be less respectable (no worry
   in my case) and a lot more vocal.  It just a'int easy trying to lead
   cheers against BU one weekend and then be FOR them two weeks later in The
   Beanpot.
 
   Another aspect, though, has to do with visitor's fans and how they are
   treated.  When you're dealing with classy BU fans like Tony, Adam, the
   'Squatch (perhaps the first time he's been called classy :-)  ),
   and all the rest the BU fans from the list, it's easy to maintain an
   attraction to the Terriers.  But when you're in the visitor's section
   and some peachfuzzed twit runs down from his section, gets in your face
   and hollers "Scoreboard!" (My response to him is not fit for this list) and
   another tears down the UML signs that had been put up in the visitors
   section and throws them at us (he was eventually tossed out), then it
   gives a more emotional edge to the rivalry.  BU fans need not apologize for
   the louts; all schools have them.  I'm just saying that they make it harder
   to maintain "polygamy".
 
   (Let me make clear that I don't believe in going into another school's rink
   and sitting in the home section and being obnoxious.  I've always sat in
   the visitor's section and then felt free to make noise.  I apparently
   annoyed some UNH fans a while back at the Whittemore Center but I made no
   apologies; if you buy a season's ticket in the visitors section, expect a
   few cheers for the bad guys.)
 
   I was PROUD to hear that the UML cheers were so loud on Sunday that it
   disrupted the Lowell radio broadcast.  A Lowell fan said that we were
   pissing him off because everytime something good happened for Lowell we
   were so loud you couldn't hear Ellis and Scoggins.  :-)   We're no BU in
   that respect, but Lowell fandom has come a long way in a short time.
 
   Clearly the most amusing moment came when a row of BU's less-than-finest
   came down from the band's section to taunt us after a BU goal.  In defense
   some UML fans began chanting "Merrimack! Merrimack!  Merrimack!" (in light
   of their upset of BU two days earlier).  There wasn't an immediate retort
   then or when the chant was repeated later, but eventually that BU section
   came back with "Black Bears!  Black Bears!"  since we are (0-1-1) against
   Maine this season.  At first, I thought they *had* to be chanting something
   else, but I couldn't muster any other possibilities.  If so, the irony of a
   section of BU fans chanting "Black Bears!" was enough to crack me up big
   time.
 
*****************************************************        ,-******-,
* Dave Hendrickson    "Robo"     [log in to unmask] *     *'     ##     '*
*        A Hockey Polygamist and Get-A-Lifer        *   *##   ___##___   ##*
* GO BROONS!!!      Go Red Wings!!      Go Canucks! *  *   ##|   ___  \##   *
* GO UMASS-LOWELL!!! Go BU!! Go Maine! Go Michigan. * *      |  |___)  |     *
* --------------------------------------------------* *######|   ___  <######*
* Although I can't remember ever having an original * *      |  |___)  |     *
* thought, and am certainly parroting someone who   *  *   ##|________/##   *
* actually has a brain, these opinions are mine,    *   *##      ##      ##*
* not Hewlett-Packard's.                            *     *,     ##     ,*
*****************************************************        '-*******-'
 
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