FORFEITS
* The Globe reports that the decision by the HE ADs to award the
points to PC was unanimous.  That was said by Merrimack AD Bob
DeGregorio through the Merrimack sports information office, but the
Globe's Bob Monahan says an anonymous AD said there was one dissenter
but that it was agreed to make the decision officially unanimous.
 
* Northeastern coach Ben Smith did not agree with awarding the points
to PC.
 
* BC coach Steve Cedorchuk said he wished *his* team had played Maine
the first three games. :-)  But it does point out the problem with the
situation...BU's Jack Parker said it would have been easy had Maine's
three wins in question come over three different teams.
 
All above info from an article in today's (2/8/94) Boston Globe.
 
I have updated the appropriate files in the archives given the
decision.  To see the new HE standings (and those of the other
conferences), send mail to [log in to unmask] and use the
command GET 9394CONF STAND .  I have not adjusted the GF-GA since
stats from the games still count.  I believe the official score is now
1-0 PC for all three games, but I have left the scores in the archives
as is with a note that the games were forfeited to PC.
 
* Finally, for those upset about PC getting the points...the strongest
argument for them getting the pts is that if there's a forfeit loss,
someone has to get the wins.  It's always been done this way.
Precedent was on the side of the Friars.  It just so happened that all
three games Tory played in were wins over PC.  It should not surprise
anyone that PC ended up with the points, although there was apparently
some concern about this happening.
 
BEANPOT comments
BC 5, NU 4 (2 ot)
* WEEI reported this morning that this was the second longest Beanpot
game ever (76:52) and that there was a game about 30 years ago that
went into 3 OTs.  I'd like to hear the details of this if anyone
knows (mainly how long timewise) because if it was over 80:00, it
belongs in the archives' list of longest games.
 
* Game could have gone either way.  BC had several great chances in
the first ten minute OT, and Mike Veisor was superb.  NU had the
better of the play in the second OT, but it was Greg Taylor who stood
strong.  The winner was a quick play deep in the NU zone, but you
could see it develop as NU didn't have everyone covered.  NU had a
great chance in the first OT when a shot went off the post and the
goal light came on briefly.
 
* NU looked to be in trouble when G Todd Reynolds, who had been
playing well, suddenly suffered back spasms in the second and fell to
the ice.  Trainer Ben Miller had to come out and Reynolds was helped
off, Veisor coming in to replace him.  Veisor was shaky early on and
perhaps allowed two bad goals, but with the way he played great in OT,
I don't think this was necessarily the difference.
 
* WEEI's Dale Arnold commented this morning that with Reynolds propped
up in the runway the rest of the game so he could see what was going
on, BU coach Jack Parker came up, put his arm around him and said
something to console him at having had to come out like that.  I
thought that was a classy thing to do and deserves mention with all
the bashing Parker takes here and elsewhere.
 
* BC played about as well as they have played this year and more
importantly, got NU to play into their hands.  The smaller ice surface
worked to BC's advantage, much as it did earlier this year when BC
beat NU at Matthews.  NU is the better skating team but had trouble
putting plays together for much of the game due to BC's physical
presence.
 
* Taylor was getting raves this morning on WEEI, but I thought BC
should have won in regulation if not for 2 bad goals he allowed, one
from almost parallel to the net short side.  I do think he is good and
he has to be with BC's inexperienced defense, but after seeing
Merrimack's Martin Legault outplay him twice head to head and several
other games where Taylor has seemed to suffer lapses and allow very
bad goals (loss to NU), I think Legault gets the nod right now for
All-Rookie Team goalie (haven't seen enough of Maine's Marsh and
Allison to compare them with Legault yet).  Legault has allowed maybe
a handful of bad goals all *season* while usually seing 40+ shots a
night; his save % is still something like 5th highest in the league
overall and best among rookies.  OK, enough plugging him; I know BC is
pushing Taylor hard, so I wanted to give Legault his due.  Both
goalies are good ones, but it will be a crime if the publicity Taylor
gets out of this causes Legault to be overlooked.  Especially if he
beats Taylor for a third straight time Friday night.
 
* Finally, credit BC coach Steve Cedorchuk and congrats to him for a
big win.  First, he called a key timeout in the 2nd OT with NU
swarming and this seemed to allow his players to settle down a bit.
Second, with the way BC has really struggled the last two years since
he took over, this is probably the biggest win of his short tenure at
the Heights.  Although, a win next Monday would be even bigger...
 
HARVARD 4, BU 2
* Holy cow.  Sure, BU was missing two of its three best defensemen in
Kaj Linna and Chris O'Sullivan, and forced to play a few guys on the
blueline who wouldn't normally see time.  And this affected BU's
ability to develop a consistent offensive attack, since Brennan was
the only D able to make the breakout work effectively.  But I still
didn't expect Harvard to dominate this game the way they did.  BU only
had, I think, 9 shots through two periods to Harvard's 27 or so.
 
* Harvard might be playing inconsistently this season from the recent
comments of others here, but they looked like national title
contenders last night.  They played the physical game right with BU
for the whole game, but had the clear edge in speed and play
development.  And at least two of their goals came when Harvard
players outworked Terriers in the corners.
 
* Harvard goalie Tripp Tracy looked shaky enough and untested through
the first two periods that I thought that if BU could get an attack
going in the third, they could come back to win.  But BU doesn't have
the kind of offensive talent this year that it has had in the past, and
the best chances in the first five min were from Grier and (Pomichter?),
who both shot the puck wide from in close.
 
*On the BU end, McKersie didn't play badly at all.  His team was
getting outplayed through two periods and outshot by a 3 to 1 margin,
but he kept them in it.
 
*Right after I mentioned that I thought Harvard's Steve Martins was a
player to watch, he went in and scored a nifty goal.  What Harvard has
that I'm not sure BU has, is a bunch of finishers.  Neither team has
forwards of the caliber of McEachern, Amonte, Tkachuk, Sacco (BU) or
MacDonald, Bourbeau, Ciavaglia, Drury (Harvard).  But Harvard's
forwards finish.  At least, that was the difference last night,
because even with the huge shot differential, BU still had enough good
chances that they could have won if they'd scored on a few of them.
 
*Harvard beats BU in the Beanpot for the second straight year.  Who
said Harvard was overrated?  Let's look at the blemishes on their
13-3-2 record: losses at Colgate (7-6), at RPI (4-3), and at
Minnesota-Duluth (3-0).  Duluth is in 8th in the WCHA, but that may be
the toughest league in the country this season.  Colgate has played
well at times, and we know about RPI.  Ties with Brown (3-3) and Vermont
(4-4), both at home.  As for wins, BU is the biggest, but I think wins
at Brown (5-4 ot) and over Clarkson (7-5) also deserve mention.  Harvard's
biggest problem is it hasn't and won't play many teams among the best
in the country.  That may hurt them in the NC$$s, both in terms of
seeding and performance.  But the team I saw last night deserves to be
considered among the 3-4 best in the nation, no doubt.
---                                                                 ---
Mike Machnik                                          [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMM* 11/13/93
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