I haven't seen anything mentioned here about this, but Tuesday
at Wednesday night at Orlando, Florida, Dynamo Riga of the Soviet
Union took on Team USA, comprised of collegians, in a two-game,
total goals series. I watched both games on cable. The scores
were 4-2 and 6-3 for Riga both nights, giving them the series
win, 10-5.
The first game was very exciting and well-played by both teams.
Both goalies, USA's Chad Erickson (Minn-Duluth) and Riga's Artur
Irbe were outstanding. Irbe is probably the best in the world.
Shawn McEachern (BU) scored one of the US's goals and was named
the game's MVP for USA (Irbe for Riga).
The next night, the first period was more of the same, but Riga
began to take over in the second, going up 2-1 and 6-3 for the series.
When they scored three goals in less than a minute in the third,
it was all over and Erickson was pulled by his coach (also his
coach at UMD, Sertich) for Northeastern's Tommy Cole, who didn't
play badly allowing one goal over the last 15 minutes. Tony Amonte
(BU) was named star of the game as the Terriers swept the awards.
For my money, the best player on the ice for USA was Ed Ronan (also
of BU), although McEachern, Amonte, and Jim Dowd (LSSU) got most
of the publicity. The team didn't look bad considering that 1) they
had just been put together two days before, and 2) they didn't have
their pick of all of the top collegians, since teams like Minnesota,
Boston College, and Michigan State all had games during the week
and couldn't let their players go.
Stupid penalties during the two games hurt USA a lot. I think they
had nine power plays to kill during the first game alone, and while
they only allowed (1?) PPG in game 1, Riga picked it up a bit in
game 2. Amonte got tossed from the first game with five minutes
left and his team down by a goal when he decided to dump the referee
(a Soviet) on his butt as he was preparing to drop the puck.
BU plays Riga tonight, and I'm sure the three Terriers who played
in Orlando have prepared their teammates well. I can't make the game
but it should be interesting, and I wouldn't be surprised if the
Terriers did beat Riga tonight (if they can penetrate Irbe).
- mike
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