This is a dubious distinction, at best. How on Earth can anyone possibly
judge the best player in the NCAA? If all players were to play head-to-head
a more plausible case could be made. However, as teams to not play all other
NCAA teams, this is a nearly impossible case to make.
 
Of all the players in the CCHA I've watched the past couple of years, two
stick out in my mind. Both showed me things Morrison did not. Though Brendan
is a gifted player, and is undoubtedly among the best. Sean Tallaire and his
brother both showed me flashes of absolute brilliance every time they touched
the puck. They completely dominated on both ends of the ice, knew how to move
the puck, and led their team both on and off the bench. This was obvious.
Anson Carter also did not have a good season. His skating is breathtaking, and
his presence is awesome. You know when he's on the ice. And there's one more
guy that explodes out there: Curtis Fry. He's a one man wrecking machine.
Never mind Keith Aldridge, who is also quite a dominant player. But how can
we compare these players to players in the other conferences?
 
Perhaps I'm naive, but such judgements are terribly hard to make. As someone
who plays, coaches and just loves this game, I can't possibly say one player
is better than another at that level. This becomes even more difficult when
I think that many of these players' skills are not yet fully developed. College
play is much different than NHL or pro play. And that's the real proving ground
for their potential.
 
If every team played every other team, and these guys went head-to-head, we'd
have a great showing of who's got the goods. But these are young men playing
a game they love. And when they touch the ice it's not who the better player
is, it's what the better team it is. This year it is Michigan who will carry
the torch. But that does not necessarily mean that the individual parts are as
great as the sum of their efforts.
 
And Cody Bowtell is one of the fastest skaters I've seen in the NCAA. He was
terrific against Notre Dame in their '94-'95 matchups. How often do we get
to see some of the other players like Bowtell in CCHA land? Once every two
years? This is the quandary. In the NHL, every team plays every other team
and we get a good idea of who can do what. We get to see them all play against
each other; unlike college where the chances of Notre Dame facing Colorado
College, for example, is very slim.
 
Peace,
John-Andrew Murphy
Coordinator
International Studies Resource Center
University of Notre Dame
 
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