It was great to finally get to see Hobey Baker Rink, the memorabilia,
and to meet fellow HOCKEY-L-er Chris Dietrich!  Baker Rink is a fine
place to view college hockey.  Even with the University students away on
holiday, the Tiger supporters and community filled the stands.  The game
was obviously being treated as an ""event" by both teams, but it was a
spirited game.
 
A high point was a penalty shot by Princeton.  Spartak returned their
top goalie to the crease for the (unsuccessful) shot.  Speaking of
penalties, the referees were Melanson and Bunyan ...  a very strange
pairing in my book, since Ned Bunyan will call *any* funny stuff while
John Melanson calls only the most flagrant and important to the play
penalties.  Each is an OK style, but the pairing made for a lot of
frustrated players (especially Spartak).
 
Spartak was not as good as the teams that traveled from the USSR in
previous years, but the players were larger and more talented than those
from the hustling Princeton team.  An acquaintance of mine here at
Princeton made the arrangements for the Russian visit.  Turned out there
were lots of problems that I won't bore you with, but perhaps an
interesting point was that the arrangement called for $4000 being given
to the Moscow team ...  and it had to be in CASH!
 
It was fun to watch the cruising and circling Russians in contrast to
the stop-and-start Tigers.  I love the way Spartak was not afraid to
retreat into their own zone to start their rush down ice: US teams could
learn a lot!
 
Holiday cheers,
 
Wayne (Princeton fans dress better than Maine fans) Smith
The College Hockey Discussion List administrator
Systems Group - CAPS              BITNET/CREN:  wts@maine
University of Maine System        internet:     [log in to unmask]
 
P.S.  Anyone know the other Spartak scores (Plattsburgh & Providence);
      they played BC to an 8-8 tie, as was probably reported earlier on
      HOCKEY-L.