The results of the Friday Marriuci Classic games have been posted so I'll just
give some commentary.  By the way, my understanding is that LSSU beat Minnesota
for the championship 4-3 in double OT.  I was on the road back to Michigan on
Sunday so I was unable to attend the Sunday games.
 
 
LSSU vs. Maine
 
I thought Maine had the better playmaking in the first half of the first
period.  LSSU won the penalty-fille second half of that period by virtue of
outshooting Maine and in the process outscoring them.
 
The second period Maine came back to even up the play, but not the score.
Maine switched goalies from Marsh to Allison.  Allison was certainly more
entertaining to watch with aggresive and well done puck handling in and out of
the net.
 
Maine built towards the end inlcuding a flurry at the very end with the goalie
pulled.  Final score was 2-1 in favor of LSSU.  The shots favored Maine 24-21.
 
A quote from Minnesota Coach Doug Woog helped me understand the game a little
better, "Lake State wins by elminating the other team's offense rather than
creating their own.  They depend on great goaltending, on playing tough along
the rail, in the corners and in front of the net, and they out-muscle you."
 
 
Minnesota vs. Cornell
 
Cornell took the first shot of the game but didn't see another shot until the
second period.  Minnesota was high-flying and fun to watch finishing the
period 2-0 in score and 10-1 in shots.
 
I've seen this before, Minnesota overwhelms the other team in shots.  The
Minnesota goalie hasn't been in the game for some time and lets the next shot
in.  History repeated itself, Cornell's second shot of the game was also a
goal.  To Cornell's credit, the came out harder hitting in the second and
made it a much evener game.  For the period, the scores and shots were
Minnesota 2-14 and Cornell 2-10.
 
Cornell changed their goalie to start the third period.  However, this period
was a lot the first period, mostly Minnesota.  Minnesota outshot Cornell 16 to
9.  Four the of the Cornell shots came in the last thirty seconds when they
had a 5-3 power play.
 
 
Minnesota Comments
 
The announced attendance was 8879.  There seemed to be an awful lot of empty
seats for a number that is near sell-out.  If the Classic was on the season
ticket then people going home for the holidays would explain the empty seats.
 
In support of comments made earlier this year, the sound system in Marriuci
Arena is not very good.  If this is improved from earlier, I would hate to have
heard it then.  Somebody didn't do a very a good job.
 
Having seen the Gophers at the Palace in Michigan and in Marriuci in
Minnesota, I think I understand better their problems at the Palace.  Marriuci
is a fast, wide (Olypmic) ice surface.  The Palace was a soft, slow
(sloppy wet) as well as narrower (standard) ice surface.  With the wider ice
surface at Marriuci it seems that the Gophers are making use of many cross-ice
passes to break out of their zone.  With the wider ice there is a lot more
space for people to be open.  Further, in talking with some hockey players,
there is something to the speed of the ice surface that you have to get
adjusted to.  To me, I now see why the Gophers had such a problem breaking out
of their zone and having so many passes off the mark or intercepted.  Of
course, the need to adjust their play to the arena is a whole other issue.
 
Doug P.
--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--
Douglas J. Peterson                   Have         _--____    ____
[log in to unmask]            you        `   /  ----        /
Safety Laboratories Department            driven     -/- __  ____ _  /
Ford Motor Company                           a    .  /  / \--/___/ \/
(313) 390-8089            GO GOPHERS!!!           \_/  ,\_/ /    \_/_   lately?
--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--