Since I'm a UMass-Lowell supporter and provided whatever UML game reports
appeared this year, and there has been the controversy over Minnesota's
standing in the HOCKEY-L poll relative to UML, I figured I'd toss out my votes
in the final poll and my explanations:
1. Lake Superior ; need I say more?
2. Michigan ; #1 or 2 all year long and beat LSSU every time except
; the one time it mattered most. And that loss was in
; OT...
3. Harvard ; #2 or #3 all year long and took LSSU to OT... Also
; beat BU head-to-head.
4. Boston University ; it was tough not to pick them #2, but the Holocaust
; Final plus the Beanpot Debacle left me thinking that
; in big games against top teams, they were a little
; lacking.
5. Minnesota ; IMO there's a big drop between 4 & 5. I put them
; ahead of Lowell because they *did* win even though
; the fresh legs were the difference.
6. Mass-Lowell ; It would have been legit to make it a tie for 5th,
; but I can't stand homers so I bent over backwards to
; be objective.
And regarding recruiting in-state, until it's legislated that in-state kids get
to use Megas, Bauers, and CCMs while them-there-foreigners-from-Nahth-of-the-
border have to choose between white figure skates and double-runners, I won't
particularly care where the new recruits come from as long as they can play
and cut it academically. BU is in the enviable situation of being able to
*select* the cream of the local crop. Lowell must *recruit* the talent
wherever they can find it. It'll be nice if they can ever get to the *select*
stage but it doesn't appear that way this year.
Minnesota's tradition is fine, but when local xenophobes anywhere complain about
not having enough local kids, it only reminds me of a quote I'm paraphrasing
from that legend of winter's second best sport, Red Auerbach: "I'm here to win,
not to please the local yokels."
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* Dave Hendrickson "Robo" [log in to unmask] * *' ## '*
* A Hockey Polygamist and Get-A-Lifer * *## ___##___ ##*
* GO BROONS!!! Go Red Wings!! Go LA Kings! * * ##| ___ \## *
* GO UMASS-LOWELL!!! Go Maine!! Go BU! * * | |___) | *
* --------------------------------------------------* *######| ___ <######*
* Although I can't remember ever having an original * * | |___) | *
* thought, and am certainly parroting someone who * * ##|________/## *
* actually has a brain, these opinions are mine, * *## ## ##*
* not Hewlett-Packard's. * *, ## ,*
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