Rowe, Thomas wrote, in part:
>  For those in St. Louis, I hope you enjoyed both the trip and the games.
> As usual, I had to watch on TV.  From my perspective, this was one of
> the best FFs, and the principal reason I say that was the officiating.
> I loved the fact that the refs didn't "swallow the whistle" and
> continued to call penalties through the third periods.  I can't get as
> good a perspective sitting at home as you can at the game, but based on
> what I saw and the commentary, the games were also very evenly called.
> Good job officials!
>   

I agree wholeheartedly that it was a well-officiated Frozen Four, but I 
had quite the opposite feeling ... the officials "let 'em play" and 
called what they thought important to call.  If someone was hooked, 
tripped or hit in the head, it was called, but holding was, IMHO, 
prevalent and rarely called.

St Louis was a very good Frozen Four host site.  The city was welcoming 
and interesting.  Most of us could have done without the all-time record 
low temperatures, ... but the airport is good, there are plenty of 
reasonably priced rooms, the arena is large, and plenty to do and see 
away from the arena.

That said, I have to wonder how long the lines would be and how hot the 
top of the "Arch" would be in the heat of summer! ;-)

> You also had to be impressed with the spunkiness of Michigan State.  In
> the final, BC clearly outplayed them for two periods, but they hung in
> there and finally started to get scoring chances in the third.  It had
> to be thrilling and hearbreaking at the same time to get the winning
> goal with only 18.9 seconds to play.  Altogether, unless you were
> rooting for BC, a thoroughly enjoyable game.  Congrats to the Spartans
> for never giving up.
>   

I agree, Tom!   This Frozen Four had 3 tremendously interesting games.  
Excepting the first 5 minutes against Maine, MSU had one of the best 
fore-checks I've seen.  I kept thinking BC would get more of their 
lightening quick or overpowering goals, but the MSU defense was up to 
the first task and goalie Lerg controlled or gave no rebounds at key times.

Everyone was talking about MSU's Justin Abdelkader and Tim Kennedy, and 
justifiably so, but I really liked some of their other players such as 
#25 Jim McKensie (Wow, did he look strong!) and #16 Tyler Howells.

cheers, wayne