Thoughts and comments on the "Floating Four" in Cincinatti:
(Road trip report dedicated to June on her retirement; see #10 below.)
1. The semi OT goal -- it's been discussed to death already, but I wish it
hadn't ended on a controversial note. We stayed in the hotel with some
of the CC guys, and I asked one of them how the ice was during the game.
"Pretty bad" was the answer, not surprisingly. "Like an outdoor rink".
I don't care how many explanations I have heard, this type of problem
should NOT occur at a championship.
2. Congratulations to all the teams, and especially to Michigan, who
obviously wanted the title just a little bit more than the rest. I can't
say I was surprised that BU had such a hard time with them, given their
play at the end of the season, but I had hoped they would give UM a tough
game. Vermont impressed a lot of people with their showing, and overall
I think the ECAC gained some respect with the playoffs. I told some of
the CC fans that commented (favorably) on St. Louis' play that they didn't
see his best moves. At least they captured one of his better moves on the
Hobey Baker video introductions. CC gave it their all, and it certainly
wouldn't have been an upset if they had won the championship -- we all
were impressed with their skill, skating, and attitude.
3. The lack of bands from CC and Vermont was disappointing. We didn't
know if CC had one, but Vermont certainly does, and anything to provide
some relief from the Michigan overkill would have helped. (Fair
disclosure -- I actively dislike the Michigan teams, band, fan base, etc.
A holdover from one year of grad school at Northwestern ...)
4. Cincinatti: Not the most exciting city in North America .... It has
some nice things, some okay things, some not-so-good things, but nothing
really struck me as special. The Coliseum is definitely only in the
"okay" category. If it hadn't been for the hockey fans and the Pride
kids, it would have been a pretty dull downtown area. But, to be fair,
the downtown has about 10 Skyline and Gold Star chili outlets. :-)
5. Ah, yes, the Pride kids. A nationwide anti-drug convention with
several thousand teenagers filling the hotels, the restaurants, the
sidewalks, and especially the elevators, where you could wait up to 10 or
15 minutes to get a ride. Forgive me if I hope they don't show up in
Milwaukee next year.
6. One of the nicest things about going to the finals is sharing the place
with all the supporters of other teams, even those whose teams aren't
playing. I saw almost every Division 1 school represented, and a number
of Division 2-3. I felt sorry for the lone UIC guy, too. We sat next to
a couple of Harvard women's hockey players, the only Harvard people we
saw (sorry, Richard, didn't get their names. But one was rooting for
Michigan with her Wolverine parents.) Thankfully, there were only a few
people wearing their Kentucky basketball clothing. Regrettably, the
only BC connections I saw were ex-coach Len Ceglarski, coach Jerry York,
and me and Linda. I'm afraid the BC fans tend to show only when their
team is involved (which will happen again soon, I hope.)
7. NC$$ police: Having found Carol in the corridors between periods at
the first semifinal, I tried to get my HOCKEY-L buttons from her. When I
pulled out my dollars to reimburse her (note: not a commercial purchase,
a private transaction between friends) the security staff came up and
told us if money changed hands they would throw us out. I have little
respect for the NC$$ to start with, but this really ticks me off. Do
they think the sale of 12 dollar mouse pads with the championship logo
is enhanced by a restriction on our buttons?? I refuse to pay their
extortionate prices -- I know I was there, I don't need a $120 jacket
to prove it. (Besides, you can buy the championship stuff from the
catalog without ever going to Cincinatti. Catalogs were free, the only
item that was.)
8. HOCKEY-L gatherings: As many others have noted, the best thing about
going to the finals is the opportunity to meet and talk to my fellow
hockey "nuts" from the list. It certainly provides a friendly extended
family that makes the weekend a lot of fun. We got together in the
corridors between every period and every game for casual discussions,
reviews of the action, debate of the referees' calls, news on the ice
damage/repairs, and of course, worries about how many overtimes the
first semifinal would go. I got to meet some new folks, renewed some
acquaintances, and laughed with all of them. I did get a few strange
looks, though, from some of the people sitting near us, when we got up
and disappeared after every period like clockwork ...
The HOCKEY-L dinner went off pretty smoothly (once we got there); thanks
again, Carol, for your work in organizing this. Unlike last year, we
had a chance to go around the room and introduce ourselves (a regular
tradition, I guess.) I knew some of you, and appreciated hearing from
all the others, even if a few of you felt the need to woof at others. :-)
At least we know our fellow HOCKEY-L'ers are good college hockey fans,
not just fans of one team, and we can respect everyone for that. I hope
I got everyone's name right; please forgive me if I don't remember
all of you next year. (I think we need some sort of badge with names
and schools; it's too easy to forget the names after one introduction.)
9. Hobey Baker presentation: My respect for the Army recruiting command
has risen greatly after that brief (very!) speech by the Army rep; I was
worried he would drag it out with a long talk. No real surprise at the
winner, congrats to Brian Bonin. Kudos to runner-up Jay Pandolfo, who
had a fantastic year for BU. Thumbs-down to the Cincinatti TV station
who reported that "Brian BONE-in" had won the award.
10. Let us all wish June, our waitress at the lunchtime coffee shop on
Friday, a pleasant and happy retirement. She told us she had worked there
for 40 years and that Saturday was her last day (amongst complaints about
the crowd and all the "kids" and the hassles, etc.) A real piece of
Americana, was June -- she didn't look at any menu, didn't write down the
order on any pad until it came time to calculate the bill, had all the
prices of every item in her head, calculated the sales tax in about 1.5
seconds (in her head), ... Half the time you weren't sure if she even
heard you when you ordered, but she got it right (eventually.) I found
her a refreshing change from the uncaring, math-impaired kids you find
in most McDonald's.
11. I will try to get and post the end-of-season stats for BC soon, and
want to thank everyone for all their work this season in keeping the
HOCKEY-L folks the best-informed fans in the country. If all goes well,
I will see everyone next year in Milwaukee.
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Rick McAdoo [log in to unmask]
"Volunteer reporter" A hopeful BC fan. GO EAGLES!
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to
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