Well now that I'm back at work and have weeded through pages and pages of
Hockey-L mail ;-), I can post a few things!
First, from an article by Jay Weiner in the Star Tribune this morning on Team
USA: FOUR STATE PLAYERS STILL ON U.S. HOCKEY TEAM.
The 1992 U.S. Olympic hockey team will depart for Europe on Thursday with no
more than four Minnesotans on its roster, a bare representation for the
premier international squad.
"When we select players from the United States we don't care where they are
from," Olympic coach Dave Peterson said MOnday. "I don't have an answer as to
why it might be. In fact, I probably can't tell you the hometowns of the
players on our team."
Defenseman Sean Hill, Duluth <and Wisconsin>; Brett Hedican, North St. Paul
<and St. Cloud State>; Guy Gosselin, Rochester <and Duluth, I think>; and
forward Jim Johansson, Rochester <and Wisconsin?> are the only Minnesotans
remaining on the 26-man roster, including 15 forwards, 8 defensemen and 3
goalies. By Thursday, the roster will be trimmed to 23: 13 forwards, 7
defensemen and 3 goalies. Johannson is on the bubble.
Peterson confirmed what had been an informal but foregone conclusion: former
Gopher goalie Robb Stauber is "out of the picture." Stauber received a tryout
in December, but was sent back to the Los Angeles Kings' farm club in Phoenix
earlier this month. There had been a chance he would be recalled, but Peterson
ruled that out yesterday.
"Robbie was one of the experiments that didn't work out for us," said
Peterson, a native Minnesotan, who formerly coached at Minneapolis Southwest.
"We didn't have enough games to keep him busy."
The Olympic hockey tournament begins for the United States on Feb. 9 against
Italy.<END OF ARTICLE>
I can't tell you how very disappointed I am about this. If Dave Peterson wins
a medal for the USA, I'll gladly admit that I know nothing about getting a team
like this together....but we'll have to wait and see now. This will be the
first time since 1932 that there have been NO Gophers on the U.S. Olympic
team. (This was stated during the Gopher game on 1/17/92.)
Some Gopher Notes:
Yes, I was too sick to attend the Friday night game in person. A nasty sinus
infection held me hostage! Lucky for me that the game was on TV. I also caught
the first hour of the first Merrimack-Maine contest before the Gopher game
started. My health was drastically improved on Saturday and that plus a ride to
and from the game by fellow hockey-l'er Erik and his wife Paula enabled me to
attend the second game. I wasn't up to my usual level of sound, so I didn't do
too much yelling. ;-) It was good to BE there tho'.
In response to Steve Christopher's note that they (NMU) were cheering on the
MTU Huskies...in a RARE break from tradition, the Gopher crowd LOUDLY CHEERED
the Wisconsin score when it was announced. (This is as close to sacrilidge as a
Gopher fan can get!) So you see....we'll take all the help WE can get too!!!
**Steve, does the NMU crowd cheer on MTU when they're not playing Minnesota?
More later if time permits.
Carol
U of M
GO Gophers!!!
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