Here's an attempt to answer some questions that were raised and
mention a few things that occurred to me during our weekend in Orono.
Heather and I spent about 45 minutes talking with Maine coach Shawn
Walsh before Saturday's Merrimack-Maine game, and it was a lot of fun.
Some of this deals with that.  It's kind of long, but I hope you'll
find it interesting.
 
TARDIF SITUATION
A) KNEW BEFORE BU
The important point raised in the AP and Herald articles, which Woody
Carville was apparently trying to point out, was that they were aware
of Pat Tardif's apparent ineligibility the Thursday BEFORE Maine
played at BU.  This information was not given to the Maine hockey
program (nor, it seems, the other sports' coaches) until this past
week.  I don't tend to believe a coverup was underway, but I really
cannot understand why the athletic department would not immediately
notify everyone who should be notified of this - especially the coach.
 
As Coach Walsh told us, besides the point about holding Tardif out of the
games at BU, he very likely might have changed strategy against BU
(knowing that with the forfeits, Maine might play at BU in the HE
quarterfinals) as well as not starting G Blair Allison in the second
game.  Allison had beaten BU 5-1 earlier and shut them out in the 0-0
game, and he was bound to have more confidence against BU if his
record was left at that rather than playing the second night where he
didn't have as much luck (was pulled with an injury in the third, down
4-1 I believe).
 
I understand the fact that the dept. may have been still investigating
to see if Tardif and the others really were ineligible.  But I still
believe that once you uncover something like this, you have a duty to
inform the coach, tell him what's been discovered and let him decide
whether he wants to risk dressing the player or sit him out.  Don't
take that decision out of the coach's hands.
 
B) IRONY OF IRONIES
Talk about ironic...Coach Walsh showed us the page in the NC$$ rules
manual (thick as a brick) with the bylaw dealing with student-athletes
returning from Olympic competition and said he'd looked on that page
many, many times over the last year (for obvious reasons).  And then
he slid his finger up 2-3 inches...and there is the rule about graduate
student-athletes needing to take 8 credits to be eligible.  Right on
the same page.
 
C) HEATHER & PAT
During Sunday's game, Heather went over to Pat Tardif who was up in
the stands and told him she was with Merrimack and that everyone at
Merrimack felt for him and hoped everything worked out well for him.
She said he really appreciated that we felt that way.  We hoped he'd get
a sense of how this transcends one person, one school - it could happen
to any player anywhere, if he/she receives bad advice from someone who
is supposed to know better.  Of course the Maine people are on his side,
but I thought that if it were me, it would mean a lot to know the
other guys felt the same way.
 
SHAWN & HOCKEY-L
In case any of you wonder how much Shawn reads HOCKEY-L...he told us
he brings home stacks of printouts every night and to go ask Tracey
and she'd verify it.  And she did. :-)  She had the little ones there
Saturday night for one of their few appearances of the season - really
cute kids.  One of the biggest reasons why he did not leave Maine for
a pro job, he said.
 
Anyway, something people may find interesting...Shawn uses postings
for motivational purposes.  He mentioned a message earlier this year
from when Maine played at Clarkson, and someone (Bri Farenell?) wrote
that Cal Ingraham should have been #1 star of the game.  Shawn
highlighted that and dropped it in Cal's locker.  He said he likes
letting the players know what the fans' view of the game is.
 
MORE TARDIF
Last comment here on the Tardif case: it isn't as cut and dried as
originally seemed, so I am wondering if it will be as easy to resolve
as we thought.  First, there may have been some games that he was not
ineligible for earlier in the season.  Second, it may be possible to
restore his eligibility for the remainder of the year.  Suffice it to
say that I can see a case for both points.  Someone mentioned here
that he may have been registered for enough credits at certain points
in the season to be eligible as far as the NC$$ goes - that is my
understanding, too.  And since apparently other students have been
allowed to pick up classes this late in the semester, it will be
interesting to see if they allow him to do this too.
 
I GUESS NO ONE ELSE WAS AVAILABLE
Special thanks to Maine radio play-by-play man Joe Carr, who had
me on in between periods Saturday night and then kept me on to do
a little color in the third while his regular color guy was busy.
We talked a little about HOCKEY-L, during which Joe asked me about
how many people read it - I guessed about 1,000.  Wayne since has
estimated it at about 2,000.  I was shocked when Joe cut to a
commercial halfway through the intermission - we're lucky to have
commercials before and after the intermission!
 
OLYMPIANS...PLUS ONE
Sunday night, there was a sign up at the far end of the rink which
read something like, "We Salute Our Olympians: Chris Imes, Matt
Martin, Peter Ferraro, Mike Dunham, Garth Snow [those five names in
blue], Jean-Yves Roy, Paul Kariya [those two in red]".  My immediate
thought was that Chris Ferraro's name should be added to that
sign...and it should be done before the twins return.
 
GOTTA START SOMEWHERE
Another sign Sunday read simply, "1-30-0". :-)
 
MAINE IMPRESSIONS
Several things this weekend impressed me about the way Maine does
things, even more so than the last 4-5 times I've been there.  For
one, a ceremony was held prior to Saturday's game to present a plaque
to Blair Allison, who was named Co-Rookie of the Month in November and
Co-Rookie of the Week last week.  Recognizing a player's accomplishments
in front of his entire home crowd...seems like such a simple thing,
yet how many places do it?  And I didn't miss the significance
of this award in particular, keeping up the spirits of a guy who had
been having a great season before being injured last week.
 
Then, there was the ceremony for the seniors after Sunday's game
(ouch).  We were curious, so we postponed our 3 1/2 hour drive home to
watch even though Heather & I both had to get up to work today.  It
was nice - each senior was introduced along with a reading of his
career accomplishments, then he came out to applause (much of the
crowd remained) and spoke for several minutes, thanking the fans and
anyone/everyone.  I like the fact that players at Maine seem to be a
part of the school, whereas I can name you one place where it just
doesn't seem that way.
 
Don't think we don't notice these things...I'm always looking at how
other people do things and hoping to borrow the ones that really
impress me.
 
GARTH DIDN'T PARTY ON
On Garth Snow taking enough grad credits to be eligible last year:
an article I read in a Maine paper Friday said he did, and that this
was not a problem (they said how many he took - I forget).  They've
also checked everything back four years and found nothing else.
 
GREG HIRSCH, or "It Must Be The Pretzels"
OK, some hockey talk.  Pat Ellis asked about Greg Hirsch.  Greg was
cut early in the season.  After Allison's injury, he was brought back
and is currently second string.  Last week he was playing for a Maine
fraternity - and I think floor hockey at that.  He stopped 5 of 6
shots in 10:51 Saturday night; with the game all but over, I suspect
he was brought in to get him some time in case (God forbid) Marsh
should get hurt and he is suddenly the man.
 
The scoreboard and fans had signs that read, "It Must Be The Pretzels".
If you've seen the commercial where George Costanza from "Seinfeld"
gets called out of the stands to play net for the Capitals, this will
be funny to you.  Hirsch did not make any saves with his teeth, though.
 
SOME *REAL* HOCKEY TALK
Maine looked GOOD this weekend.  Merrimack did not, except in
stretches.
 
SAT: UM 8, MC 3
Saturday night, Maine was flying up and down the ice and Merrimack was
having trouble adjusting to that.  Still, the Merrimack defense was not
terrible and the heavy Maine shot advantage was really because most of
Maine's shots came from the outside (skate into the zone, throw it on
net and change up) while Merrimack could not put it on net.  In the
third, with Maine up only 4-2, 2 goals by Justin Tomberlin at 4:29 and
6:07 chased Martin Legault from the game.  The defense wasn't able to
contain Maine at that point, and on the 6th Maine goal, Legault made a
judgmental mistake in trying to come out to poke the puck away after
McKenna had gone down to block the shot.  Tomberlin easily moved
around him and flipped it past Legault, who might have made the easy
save if he'd stayed in the net.
 
SUN: UM 6, MC 4
Sunday, Merrimack came out storming and carried the play much of the
first period and a half.  The Warriors picked up their level of play
quite a bit and were clicking on their passes.  Through half the game,
Merrimack had the shot advantage and the score was tied 2-2 - but both
Maine goals came on the power play.  Maine started getting some guys
free for shots late in the period and in fact outshot MC 14-2 over the
last half of the period but only led 3-2.  A rebound goal by Jim Gibson
and a beautiful breakaway goal by Tom Johnson enabled Merrimack to take
its first lead, 4-3, and they were playing superbly - outshooting
Maine 9-3 halfway through the third.
 
The roof started to cave in with about 8 minutes left, and with 5
minutes left Maine blew the roof off.  First Tim Lovell sneaked behind
the D and put in his own rebound at 15:02 to tie it, then at 16:13
Mike Latendresse blew by Dan Hodge and scored the eventual winner, and
26 seconds later, Reg Cardinal made a nice move around a D's attempted
shot block and nailed the insurance goal.  But Lovell's goal really
killed Merrimack.  They had been working so hard to stay in the game,
then to go ahead and then to hold on, so when Lovell tied it, they
seemed devastated, almost hanging their heads.  After Latendresse beat
Hodge, you had to feel for the Warrior D...he got caught turning the
wrong way on a play that happens to every defenseman now and then.
Hodge had had a great game, too, blocking shots left and right and
threading the needle to Johnson on the goal that had given Merrimack
the lead with 10 minutes left.
 
Looking for a reason for Maine's quick surge...how about Merrimack
playing only three lines all night for the first time all season.
Swingman (forward/D) Chris Ross sat out Sunday for Ryan Mailhiot, who
hadn't played in a while - and then Mailhiot only stepped on the ice a
couple of times the whole game.  The fourth line only appeared a few
times, sometimes with a different center.  The Warriors seemed tired
down the stretch after two games in which they had to skate more than
they did all season, and with only three lines playing, disaster
struck.  Maine seemed to have the better legs in the last 8 minutes.
 
Still, something surprised me...all of Maine's final three goals in
that two minute stretch, if I remember correctly, came when Merrimack
was caught up ice.  Up by a goal or even tied, late in the game on the
road - how can you not have at least two guys back on D?  I have to
figure this was because of the level of tiredness, but it's still odd.
 
THIS CARDINAL REALLY FLIES
Players who impressed me for Maine: well, Tomberlin had a great
weekend.  First star both nights, 3 goals and 4 assists.  He went to
the net and used his strength well.  Cal Ingraham, his wing, had a
superb game Saturday in particular.  But the guy who really knocked me
out was Reg Cardinal, #85.  2 assists Saturday and 1-2--3 Sunday.  He
has some real speed and is a great playmaker.  This guy is going to
open some eyes around the country within a year or two.  He has great
potential and probably can be as good as he wants to be.
 
Wayne Conlan had a trick Saturday and combined with Cardinal on some
nifty plays.  A distressing thing for Merrimack is that of the 14
goals they allowed on the weekend, only 2 were scored by players who
currently are in double digits in goals.  Maine has talent, but not
as much talent as in the past when they've blown Merrimack out.
 
The difference I saw in Maine this weekend was two-fold: 1) they were
very quick, and 2) except for stretches here and there, defensively
they seemed much improved.  I would venture that Maine is perhaps the
second best team in HE right now - at worst, third.  They are 4-1-3
over their last 8, and that includes a pair with BU, a pair with
Lowell, and a pair with UNH, as well as a pair with a Merrimack team
that hadn't allowed more than 4 goals in 7 straight games.
 
Merrimack G Marty Legault did not have a good game Saturday, but even
with the six goals he allowed Sunday, I thought he played pretty well.
Over the first two periods, he made three absolutely amazing saves off
of deflections - if they went in, the game would have been over early.
Unfortunately, his allowing six goals each night isn't going to help
the case I've been trying to build for him being named to the HE
All-Rookie Team.  He went down entirely too much this weekend and was
beaten upstairs on many of the goals, probably because Maine was
effective at getting in front of him and forcing him to duck and move
around to try to see the shot.
 
The other freshmen, for the most part, played extraordinarily well
Sunday night.  The Beck-Krauss-Peca line was reunited and gave Maine
fits all night.  That's a good sign for the future, after a night
which discouraged me even more than the 8-3 loss.  Johnson was immense
and is showing signs of turning into a real sniper, and linemate Jim
Gibson (senior, actually) also played well.  But the experienced first
line continued to struggle - on the ice for the last two goals against.
In total, it was not good that the kids played such a big part in
staking the team to the lead and then the upperclassmen lost it.
 
THANKS
Finally, thanks to Coach Walsh and the Maine people for their
hospitality, other than 60 minutes Sat and Sun nights. :-)  We will
have to do it again, either sometime before the end of this year or
next season.  I certainly encourage anyone who has a chance to sit
down and talk hockey with him, to do so.  We enjoyed it.  I'd just
like to know what he thinks of the shootout now after the Canada-Sweden
game. :-)
---                                                                 ---
Mike Machnik                                          [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMM* 11/13/93
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