Here's the column from the St. Paul Pioneer-Press that I mentioned
recently. Let the flames begin:
 
By Tom Powers
St. Paul Pioneer Press
        MINNEAPOLIS -- At 1:29 of the first period Saturday, Andre
Savage, from Ottawa, Ontario, scored off a pass from Jason
Prokopetz of Esterhazy, Saskatchewan. The second assist was credited
to Kyle Peterson, who hails from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
        No, this was not Team Canada scoring a goal during
international competition. It was Michigan Tech scoring against the
Golden Gophers at Mariucci Arena. Our tax dollars at work.
        I think more Americans were on the Coratian national team
that played the Gopher hoopsters last week than play hockey for
Michigan Tech. But this is how it is throughout the Western Col-
legiate Hockey Association these days. If Minnesota isn't facing
off against the North Dakota Maple Leafs, it is jousting with the
Northern Michigan Canucks.
        ``I have to take care of my own business,'' Gophers coach
Doug Woog said. ``I make my statements with what I do. I feel pretty
strongly about the Minnesota kids we have here.''
        Woog won't even look for talent out of state, never mind
scour the hinterlands of Canada. That's a bit extreme. Deep down,
I don't think any Gophers fans would mind if Woog mixed in the
occasional Iowan or South Dakotan. But nobody should have to show a
passport to report for fall practice.
        So it's time to beef up the border patrol. Those scholarship
benefits should be going to U.S. youngsters. Where is Proposition 187
when we need it?
        Somebody tell Newt Gingrich about this matter. Or better yet,
Jesse Helms. Jesse might personally show up at the border carrying
a flintlock.
        In legal disputes, judges look to the Constitution for answers.
In religious arguments, theologians check the Bible. When it comes
to hockey, John Mariucci should be the final word. And back in the
`60s, Mariucci refused to allow his Gophers to play Denver Univer-
sity's team, which consisted primarily of Canadians. John knew it
wasn't right.
        Woog shrugs. He found himself knee-deep in moose droppings
a few years back after criticizing St. Cloud State for recruiting
Canadians. This was right after the school opened its hockey
facility, which was built, ostensibly, to provide more and better
hockey opportunities for Minnesotans.
        ``As long as their (coaches') jobs depend on winning, they'll
go wherever they have to,'' Woog said.
        On Saturday, Tech coach Bob Mancini, a native New Yorker,
used nine forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender from the
Great White North. That's not an exchange program, it's an
immigration trend. Mancini's team, at .500 going in, played
great and upset Minnesota 3-2 in overtime. The two teams square off
again in another international battle royale this afternoon.
        Listen, I love Canadians. I'm also aware, as are most people
who occasionally cross the border, that Canada makes sure it takes
care of itself first and foremost. Its citizens usually have two
choices when shopping. They can buy Canadian, or they can buy
Canadian. Foreign goods are very limited. Nothing wrong with that.
They are taking care of their own people.
        I'm not saying we shouldn't allow any Canadians to receive
U.S. scholarships. But I'd be more than willing to slap on some
limits. Call them quotas if you like. We might as well be up front
about it.
        Granted, it's easy to sit here in Minnesota, where there
are a dozen hockey players on every street corner and dictate what
out-of-state schools can and can't do. Yet this system eventually
sould affect colleges in this state, too. Because it's not just
about hockey. Other sports are guilty of primarily recruiting
foreign athletes at the expense of U.S. athletes.
        Think about it. With scholarship limits on foreign students,
how would any school be able to field a soccer team.
-----
        Tom Powers is a sports columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer
Press. Write to him at: St. Paul Pioneer Press, 345 Cedar St.,
St. Paul, Minn. 55101.
 
 
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|                   Lynn Burke    Newport News, Va.                     |
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