>>> "F.W. Sharrock" <[log in to unmask]> 01/15/97 07:55pm
>>> Please, enough of the gratuitous insults to the Army hockey team!
>>> Some recent examples:  Weintraub writes that "Somehow the Red
>>> managed a 1-1 tie against a decided lesser Army squad."  Phelps
>>> writes that "I can't believe...that Cornell lost to Army [actually
>>> the 1-1 tie] and that Colgate had to come back from being behind
>>> 5-1 [here's a clue: thanks to 3 power play goals] and then go to
>>> overtime to pull out a win at Starr".  For the record, this season,
>>> Army also tied Princeton, currently #1 in the ECAC; last year Army
>>> beat Cornell 4-1; for the last two seasons, Army lost to Colgate by
>>> a single point.  Hmmm.
 
Ok, Army is not a "bad" team. They've certainly played very competitive games
against "good" teams. Hey they even beat a "fair" team in Minnesota-Duluth and a
"promising" one in Mankato State. You can argue that Weintraub's "decided(sic)
lesser" comment is a bit out of line. But, Army is "promising" at best. If you
put Army in any league, they're going to finish in the cellar. Hockey is an
exciting sport where a "decidedly lesser" squad can pull off occasionally
inspired upsets ... and Army has shown that recently. You can't blame the fans of
stronger teams from expecting their teams to whitewash Army like Umass Amherst,
Providence, Merrimack have done.
 
>>> One can only imagine what an Army team that was not "decidedly
>>> lesser" could do.  However, not too shabby that a team composed
>>> solely of players from the United States can tie the two top ranked
>>> teams in the ECAC, eh?
 
Having 100% American players is not really a handicap or anything. You make this
remark like you think the teams who skate Canadiens have some great advantage and
Army should get some sort of extra credit. There are several other Div. 1 teams
who sakte only US players and they kick butt in a lot better fashion than Army.
 
>>> F.W. Sharrock
>>> Army fan/parent
 
Can you imagine what Cornell, Colgate and Princeton would do against Williams,
Bowdoin, Mount Allison and company. I'm sure they would beat them by more than
one-goal. Still, Army is having a good season and no team should underestimate
them. I know I breathed a big sigh of relief when Lowell held off an Army
comeback to win 4-3 back in November. At 4-0 in that game, my saliva was
certainly showing my anticipation of some heavy scoring, then all of a sudden
Army turned the game around.
 
Best of luck against Iona and Rockport this weekend.
 
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