I won't do a real trip report, but I do want to throw in a couple comments:
        1)  It was great to see all the hockey-l'ers in Cincy!  Another
great hockey-l dinner!
 
        2)  Although having the tourney in an arena that didn't usually
host hockey probably contributed to the "Men's Slush-hockey Championship"
debacle, the committee's purpose in having this event in Cincinnati was at
least partially served.   We had four Cincinncati Cyclones season ticket
holders sitting behind us who were VERY impressed by the level of play and
were heard to say (already during the CC-UVM slush-a-thon) "if it's always
like this, we'll have to head up to Miami sometime next year!"
 
        3)  Today's St. Paul Pioneer Press contains an article by Gregg
Wong about a piece of news I learned at the Barkan Bash* in Cincy:
 
*Not a completely free advertisement for you, Jon; I'll collect my fee of a
beer (or two, or three...) next year in Milwaukee.  :-)
 
If the WCHA takes in Mankato State and Nebraska-Omaha, (without losing
Northern Michigan) it would reach twelve teams.  The proposal is that they
should be split into three divisions:
 
The "Mariucci Division" after former Blackhawks great and Minnesota Coach
John Mariucci would contain the four Minnesota schools - Minnesota,
Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State and Mankato State.
 
The MacInnes Division, named for former Tech coach John MacInnes, would
have Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech, Wisconsin, and North Dakota.
 
The Armstrong Division, named for former Denver coach Murray Armstrong,
would consist of Denver, Colorado College, Nebraska-Omaha, and Alaska
Anchorage.
 
Each team would play the 3 teams in its division four times each, with two
games against each of the 8 teams in the other divisions for a total of 28
games.
 
A major disadvantage of this for Gopher fans is the loss of four-game
series against arch-rivals Wisconsin and North Dakota.  (Although, of
course, the four-game decrease in conference games could be used to make up
the lost games with those rivals...)
 
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!!!
Ski-U-Mah!!!
 
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