Well, an amazing feat occurred in the Nation's Capital this weekend:  We
got to see all eight games!!!!!!
 
Ch. 53 came through and showed them.  Here are the scores and my general
impressions of the games.
 
Wisconsin 6, Western Michigan 3
-------------------------------
 
I only got to see the last period of this game but it seemed that WMU was
down and out.  They looked tired and demoralized in the 3rd.
 
New Hampshire 2, RPI 0
----------------------
 
Only one word for this game:  CHOKE!  The game was fast with both sides
showing blazing speed up and down the ice.  RPI should have won this game,
they had a number of chances where Cavicchi was out of position and they
missed the net!  UNH capitalized on their chances and came away with a
shutout even though they were outshot by RPI (I think).
 
Lake Superior 6, Northeastern 5, OT
-----------------------------------
 
Where did Northeastern come from?  For a team that "should not have been
in the tournament," they played like a phinal phour team.  LSSU looked slow
and Lacher was unimpressive.  In the 3rd period, a Northeastern goal was
waved off.  From the replay, it was a goal.  The entire puck did cross the
line, however, Lacher's glove blocked the view of the goal judge and the
ref was way out of position.  Had the goal counted, Northeastern would have
won the game.  OT lasted all of 15 seconds as LSSU stuffed the puck through
the pads of the Northeastern goalie.  From the replay, it looked like it
banked off the right leg pad and trickled into the goal.
 
Boston University 4, Wisconsin 1
--------------------------------
 
I was very disappointed in Wisconsin.  They were very chippy and did a lot
of hitting after the whistle.  There were a lot of matching penalties called
because BU would retaliate.  BU looked very good - what a defense!!!!  BU
should have no problem making it to the final.
 
Mass-Lowell 4, Michigan State 3
-------------------------------
 
Definitely one of the best games of the weekend.  MSU was playing well but
Mass-Lowell was not playing like a3 seed.  I was very impressed by the
stick handling of Roloson.  A number of times, he came out of the crease and
made a good pass up the ice.  Lowell has a great penalty killing unit but
they seem to take too many cheap penalties.  This will come back to bite
them if they get to the phinal phour.  MSU pulled Buzak with 45 seconds left
and Lowell shut them down.  Most of the play was at center ice even with
the extra man.  Lowell was out shot in this game 27-17.
 
Havard 7, New Hampshire 1
-------------------------
 
The score says it all.  It was 2-0 after one and 2-1 after two.  Harvard
scored five times in the third to put the game away.  The first and second
periods were a little slow but Harvard showed their speed in the third.  New
Hampshire played a full set of seniors for the last minute of the game, I
think this was a great gesture.
 
Lake Superior 5, Michigan 4, OT
-------------------------------
 
Wow!!  LSSU dominated the first period.  An unusual delay of game penalty
occurred at 18:01 of the first.  Lacher covered the puck beyond the face
off circles and was called for the delay.  Michigan came back in the
second period and the game went into the third tied at 4.  The third period
was really fast but there were few shots and no goals.  The refs swallowed
their whistles in the last ten minutes of the game.  One of the announcers
made the point that "if it does not affect a scoring drive, there will not
be a penalty."  He was absolutely right as there were a number of holds,
hooks, and trips away from the puck without penalties.  About 2 minutes into
OT, Aldridge found the puck at the point a put it past an unscreened Shields
who never touched it.
 
Minnesota 2, Mass-Lowell 1, 2OT
-------------------------------
 
A really defensive contest.  Lowell scored in the first period and that was
all the scoring until 14:30 of the third when Minnesota tied it up.  The
Lowell penalty killing is awesome but their offense is not as effective.
Dan Woog, Coach Woog's son, separated his shoulder in the second or early
third period and was out for the rest of the game.  In the third period,
Minnesota had out shot Lowell 13-1 at the time of the goal.  During the first
OT, McHugh of Minnesota was checked into the boards, head first.  He lay on
the ice for quite a while as the trainer checked him out.  He left the ice
under his own power.  There was no penalty and the replay showed that it was
definitely a check from behind and should have been called.  Minnesota won
this game during the second OT on a shot from Jeff Nielson.  These were
20 minute overtimes.  The goal was around the ten or eleven minute mark and
the announcers called it the sixth longest game in Division I history but
they did not give an official time of the final goal.
 
Refs
----
 
I usually don't say anything about the refing in games but I have to mention
two points.  Gallager is useless.  He refed the BU-Wisconsin game and he
was calling matching penalties on everything.  The refs in the LSSU-Michigan
game also deserve special attention.  I felt that their attitude toward
penalties in a tie game late in the third and during overtime was absolutely
terrible.  Hey guys, if it is a penalty in the first, it is a penalty in the
third!
 
Announcers
----------
 
I was pretty impressed by the announcers for both the East and West games.
They seemed knowledgable about the game and the teams.  The announcers at the
Eastern regionals noted (after the Harvard game) that 6 of 6 teams that got
byes this year and last year, made the phinal phour.  I will have to check
to see if this is correct (of course LSSU broke the streak).  He seemed very
much against the byes in the first round but he did not offer any suggestions.
 
Coverage
--------
 
The Channel 53 coverage was great.  According to them, they were the only
station to show all eight games.  The only annoying part was that instead
of commercials, they were doing a pledge drive to raise the $16,000 it cost
them to televise the games (they are a PBS station).  The result of this was
that I could not see any of the interviews, post game shows, or in between
period commentary.
 
 
 
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Eric Maiwald                             maiwald at dockmaster.ncsc.mil
Citicorp                              Go, Go, Go, You, Red, Red, Red!!!
Reston, VA                                                      RPI '87
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