Some quick notes ....
 
  For anyone who's interested, I've been made aware of several tentative
changes to the tentative 1996-97 UNH schedule (a double tentative for you
grammar buffs keeping score out there :-) ....
 
Previously:
 
>Date   Day     Opponent
>------ ---     -------------------------------------------------------
>NOV  8 Fri     UMASS-AMHERST
>     9 Sat  at Umass-Amherst
>
>FEB  1 Sat  at UMass-Amherst
 
  Bad weather and/or bad ice has plagued UNH's annual trip to Amherst for
two year's running, so coachs Umile and Mallen have apparently agreed to
swap home/home dates on 8 Nov. and 1 Feb., so that the revised schedule
would have the 'Cats make only a single trip to Amherst 8-9 Nov. for two
games, and UNH would host the Minutemen Icers on 1 Feb. ....
 
>Date   Day     Opponent
>------ ---     -------------------------------------------------------
>OCT 19 Sat     VERMONT (non-conference; ECAC)
 
  UNH voluntarily gave up a home date with the Catamounts last October (and
subsequently lost their season-opener at Gutterson Fieldhouse) because of
schedule overruns during construction of the Whittemore Center; this game
was intended to replace last year's "lost" home date that would have other-
wise been scheduled for Burlington.  But with the termination of the UIC
program, CCHA teams are scrambling to fill the lost dates with the Flames,
and apparently plans are under discussion for several CCHA teams to make
2-game weekend swings through the N'East for games vs. ECAC and HE teams
if/where possible.  Since UNH-UVM meet several weeks later in the opening
round of the Governor's Cup, both teams are prepared to drop this season-
opening match so that each could host an as yet undetermined CCHA team on
Fri./Sat. in Durham and Burlington.  If several CCHA teams do indeed play
seldom-scheduled ECAC and HE opponents to the extent that it's been rumored,
next season's non-conference, inter-league "connectivity" (to resurrect a
phrase from Keith Instone's late, lamented TCHCR :-) could be the highest
in quite some time ....
 
>Date   Day     Opponent
>------ ---     -------------------------------------------------------
>    27 Fri  at Badger Showdown, Milwaukee, WI; Colorado College
>    28 Sat  at Badger Showdown, Milwaukee, WI; Wisconsin/Vermont
 
  Schedule tinkering re: Tournament matchups continues to be a prime "hot
stove" topic in the off-season :-)  Though apparently nothing is yet set
in stone, various off-list messages from folks in Madison suggest that the
more probable opening round matchups will be (1) CC-UVM (a rematch of this
season's NC$$ semi-final thriller in Cincinnati), and (2) UNH-Wisconsin.
The cynic in me has no doubt that Wisconsin's embarrassing opening round
loss to Notre Dame in the 1995 Showdown, coupled with UNH's 0-14-0 life-
time record vs. the Badgers *may* have something to do with how the match-
ups are ultimately determined.  We'll see who gets the last laugh <g> ....
 
  October can't come soon enough for me ....
 
  Cheers from the Chesapeake - Jim
  Go Blue !!!
 
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