I wanted to post some of my comments regarding this past weekend's
tourney:
 
I realize some of this may be old news, so I'll keep it short.
 
MAINE / MICHIGAN :
What a Game!  This was indeed the game of the year and I am so glad I
was there to see it.  Both teams played well and keep the game close
and nerve-wracking.  In fact, I think I chewed my fingernails off
because I was so nervous and interested the entire game.
 
The Maine Black Bears are indeed an incredible hockey team.  Sorry,
though, IMHO, they are not unbeatable.  They are not the most
incredible team of the century.  They ARE d**m good.  They did beat
Michigan.  But play the game again and it would be just as close.  I
guess what I am saying is that Michigan and Maine deserved the #1 and
#2 rankings all year.  Each was an incredible hockey team and I am
upset that the season is over and we can't watch them play again
until next year.
 
Michigan took charge of the game at the beginning, and got out to a
2-0 lead.  But when the third period started, Michigan had a 1 goal
lead and played defensively for 20 minutes.  For some reason, they
forgot about offense and just played "let's not let Maine score"
instead of "let's score another."  This, IMO, was their downfall.
You CANNOT give a team as powerful as Maine 15 shots on goal in one
period.  Steve Shields played an incredible game, but he cannot and
will not stop every shot blasted at him from a team like Maine.
Maine, to their credit, played hard and took advantage of Michigan's
lack of offense to get tons of hard shots and great scoring
opportunties throughout the entire period.  In the end, they deserved
the win -- they fought extremely hard for it, and played like winners.
 
As hard as it is to take, the Michigan players should not go home
with their heads down -- they too played an awesome game.
 
LSSU / BU :
Frankly, this game bored me.  I think this was really because I was
so emotionally drained from the first game -- I just wasn't into it.
LSSU is the better team, though.  BU was not sharp and, IMHO, didn't
play like a phinal phour team.
 
UNSPORTSMANSHIP OF THE YEAR AWARD:
My a**hole of the tournament award goes to LSSU netminder Lacher.
I'm sorry, LSSU fans, but this guy really lost his cool.  After BU's
first goal, Mr. Lacher decided to take it out on the BU scorer.  The
BU player skated in front of the net with his arms up celebrating the
goal, and Mr. Lacher literally punched the guy in the face. (a la Bob
Probert and Vince Riendeau, but backwards).  Fortunately, ref
Sheppard (?) was standing there with his hand still pointed at the
goal and promptly issued Lacher a 2:00 minor.  Well, Lacher didn't
like this.  The words that came out of his mouth defied all decency.
I'm really surprised he didn't find himself with a 10:00 misconduct.
Not only did he use wonderful words (clearly audible from the third
row, corner, where I was sitting), he proceded to grab his water
bottle, place it near his crotch, and squirt water out of it (towards
Sheppard).  Then some more choice words...
 
Very impressive.  I only wish I was a referee -- I don't care that
the game was the semifinal -- he would have found himself sitting in
the box for 10 minutes.  Period.
 
 
It was a great weekend, except for the 4 inches of snow.  It was
great to get a chance to meet some of ya'll, and I apologize for not
attending the gathering Thursday.  I was travelling with some
friends, and they wanted to do other things.  They even got me to
sell my ticket for Saturday so we could watch the Michigan basketball
game.  Oh well.
 
Lastly, congrat's to the Maine Black Bears and to Paul Kariya -- very
much deserved national champ's and Hobey winner.
 
Let's all hope the off season progresses quickly... I can't wait to
walk into Yost for yet another year of college hockey at its finest.
 
Roger
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        ____      ____
Roger L. Spurgeon                 [log in to unmask]   |_  \    /  _|
Michigan Engineering `94                                 | \ \  / / |
                                                         | |\ \/ /| |
MICHIGAN HOCKEY  --  1964 NCAA DIVISION I CHAMPIONS!!   _| | \  / | |_
DETROIT RED WINGS - JOHNNY O. - HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!   |__|  \/  |__|
MUDDY THE MUD HEN SAYS "GEE, THE TIGERS REALLY SUCK!"      Go Blue!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"For lo, the winter is past, and the voice of the turtledove is once
 again heard in our land"              -Ernie Harwell