Heather and I returned tonight from Providence after our three day
trip to the Final Four.  It was nice to have been only a little more
than an hour drive away.  The place was a ghost town after the final,
as the BU people took their party to Boston quickly.
 
We had great seats, front row blue line on the glass.  The atmosphere
inside the rink was really something - all three games had great
excitement and even as a neutral observer, it was hard not to get
caught up in it all.  This is why the season is played and this is
what we live for: to experience a Final Four is something everyone
should enjoy at least once.
 
Some very random and not too specific thoughts:
 
First, thanks to Geoff Howell for posting the game boxes and
all-tourney team/MVP.
 
MICHIGAN-MAINE
At the five-minute mark, with Michigan up 2-0 and vastly outplaying
Maine, I said, "This one is over."  And then it wasn't for almost
another five hours.
 
I think this was the most incredible game I have ever been at.  I
believed ahead of time that Michigan had the edge and would win, and
certainly through regulation, Michigan displayed more talent and was
quite an awesome team to see.
 
Maine deserves credit for bouncing back early from the way Michigan
was taking the play to them.  It is a sign of the great coaching job
Shawn Walsh has done as well as the tenacity of the Maine team.  Many
other teams would have folded under Michigan's onslaught.
 
After the exciting first overtime, Dave Hendrickson came down and
said, "I hate when teams sit back and play a defensive style in
overtime...it makes for such a boring game." :-)  I haven't seen such
an exciting overtime since BU-NMU in 1991.  Both teams had a myriad of
chances to win it, and it took great plays on both sides as well as
superb goaltending by both Turco and Allison to insure that we were
going to be there for a while.  And after Michigan's early edge, shots
on goal quickly evened up and remained that way the rest of the game.
Every way you looked at it, this was a very evenly played game.
 
At one point late in the second OT, I couldn't help but think that
this was a game that was simply not going to end.  Ever.  We were
going to have to call in to work between overtimes, quit our jobs and
move to Providence, spending the rest of our days watching this game.
 
I will have to post an article that appeared in the Providence paper
on Friday.  It included a lot of great lines, like, "When the game
began, Red Berenson was a player for Michigan...when it ended, he was
behind the bench as coach.  The NCAA ruled that players on the bench
for the game who didn't step on the ice could take a redshirt year."
And so on.
 
I think there was a lot of disappointment from the fans when
Shermerhorn scored early in the third OT to win it...we wanted it to
continue.  As it was, there was a huge ovation given both teams for
one of the most amazing performances we have been privileged to
witness...and I felt awful for Michigan and their supporters.  It was
a game neither team deserved to lose.
 
Chris Imes showed in this game why he was named HE's Player of the
Year.  I lost track of the number of great plays he made in covering
for teammates who made mistakes or just breaking up fine scoring
chances.  One nice thing about Maine winning was that it meant one
more chance to watch him.
 
HANSONS
Forget the Fan Fair (which we did not attend).  The greatest promotion
during the Final Four was the appearance of the Hanson Brothers from
"Slap Shot" at various bars and clubs in the area.  The guys were a
lot of fun and I can't wait to see the pictures of Tony Biscardi,
DaveH's son Ryan, and others being "mauled" by the Hansons - complete
in their Charlestown Chiefs uniforms and with the bottle glasses and
long hair.  They even had the foil on.  Classic.
 
MINNESOTA-BU
We'd already seen two complete games in one, and I think that this
game was difficult for the tired fans to get into, but it also lived
up to its billing in many ways.
 
I was impressed with Minnesota's tough defense and ability to contain
the Terriers through the first two periods.  At the same time, BU had
to be happy that they had been outplayed through two but were still
tied 3-3.  But Lachance's goal 20 seconds into the third set the tone,
as the Terriers had the better chances and capitalized on them.
 
I felt afterwards that the Minnesota folks should certainly be proud
of their team.  It took a lot for them to get there, and they'll be
back.  Mike Crowley played very well and should anchor another strong
defense next season.  But it's tough to keep BU down for an entire
game.
 
HOBEY HOLZINGER
Although I did not attend the Hobey ceremony, let me add my
congratulations to Brian Holzinger for being awarded the Hobey Baker
Award.  I can't claim to be as familiar with him as many other people
on this list, but when you hear the kinds of things said about him
that have been said all season, it certainly seems that the right guy
won the award, and I'm happy for him.
 
It was apparently printed in one of the papers that Maine's Chris
Imes was runner-up.
 
MAINE-BU
This was as highly-anticipated a game as I can remember since I began
following college hockey about ten years ago.  Outside the rink, the
ratio of ticket buyers to sellers seemed to be about 20 to 1 or more.
I'm sure a lot of people went home empty-handed.  I do know that a
number of people paid $200 or more for a $25 ticket.  And inside, it
seemed that there were not many neutral observers.  You were either
for Maine or BU.  The intensity and excitement level was higher than I
can ever recall.
 
Maine started out strong and actually outshot BU about 8-2 at one
point.  But BU's first goal seemed to break the ice and turned the
tide the other way.  I don't think ESPN gave this goal the analysis it
deserved, unless they returned to it between periods.  It was probably
one of the two or three key goals in the game and was a turning point.
 
After Maine's Dan Shermerhorn had been tossed out of the draw, Steve
Thornton won it ahead and fired a quick shot past Allison to make it
1-0.  Shawn Walsh was quite irate and sent Jeff Tory, I believe, over
to discuss it with the officials.  I'm still not sure whether he was
upset over the way Shermerhorn had been tossed out of the draw or over
something that occurred on the ensuing faceoff.
 
BU went on to control play most of the rest of the game.  From that
point on, they would land about 22 of the next 23 shots on goal and
score twice more in the second to go up 3-0, putting Maine in a hole
they could not recover from.  A nice goal by Lovell and then an early
PPG by Trevor Roenick early in the third made it 3-2, but then another
key goal came when Bates intercepted a bad pass in his own end, went
up the left side and fed Mike Sylvia in front to make it 4-2.  From
that point on, the result was not really in doubt.
 
Did the fatigue from Thursday affect Maine?  I think it must have,
although I wouldn't expect Maine to use it as an excuse - nor do I
necessarily think the result would have been different.  But it was
easy to see that a number of mistakes Maine made were ones you'll see
a tired team make.  When BU opened up the game, Maine had trouble
keeping up and was unable to keep Grier, O'Sullivan, Joubert, etc.
away from the front of the net - and that spells doom.
 
POST CHAMPIONSHIP
First, I hope Maine will get the accolades they deserve from fans for
the wonderful season they had - this was a team many people felt was
about fourth best in HE talent-wise before the season.  But it was
also a team full of determined players, led by a great captain in
Imes.  I could not help but think that deep down, Shawn Walsh was not
really disappointed.
 
Knowing how young Maine was and that almost everyone will return, I
believed that the best thing for them was to remain on their blue line
and watch the way BU celebrated and received all of the attention.
They can be very proud of their performance, but watching what was
going on several feet away has to serve as motivation for next season.
 
I knew that going in, I was going to be happy for whichever team won.
And for BU, I was happy to see that the program and their fans finally
received the national title they have been working towards for a long
time.  Despite the attention given to Grier and O'Sullivan, it was the
lesser-known players like Bates, Thornton (1-2--3), and Rausch who
made this championship happen.  It was nice to see that the first
player Jack Parker hugged after the clock turned to zero was Rausch,
the consummate team player - the type of player without which you
cannot win championships.
 
Many of you know of the shirt TonyB waves at BU games and the fact
that it was due to be retired when BU finally won.  Joubert skated by
during the celebration and as planned, Tony tossed the shirt over the
glass to him, and Joubert accepted it with a huge grin and displayed
it to his teammates.  According to Tony, it will be hung in the Jouberts'
home in Indiana.  (I don't know what Tony will wave now.)
 
A sign in the stands read, "Hey Keith and Dan, We're National
Champions...Can We Be On SportsCenter?"
 
It seemed that tonight, many of the Boston tv stations devoted a lot
of time to the BU win, which was nice to see - the first time the
title returned to the Boston area since Harvard in 1989.  And on New
England Cable News, which has a nightly sports wrap-up/call-in show, I
got a kick out of the host - Jimmy something - who said, "Tonight,
we'll be talking about the basketball Final Four...yeah, I know BU won
the national championship, but anyone who cares about BU is out
partying tonight!" :-)
 
Well, I know this was rather haphazard in content, but maybe there
will be more in-depth discussion of the games in coming days.
 
Afterwards, Heather and I joined some of the HOCKEY-L folks in
attendance for dinner and made our way back home - a quiet finish to
an exciting weekend.  As in 1993 when Maine won, we were content to
leave the BU folks to their celebration and politely refused
invitations to join the partying.  This was their championship...their
time to enjoy it.  Someday, we will have our own.
 
A hearty congratulations to BU and their fans for a hard-earned
championship and outstanding season.  And the same to Maine, Michigan,
and Minnesota for giving us a memorable Final Four.  There were truly
no losers this weekend...a weekend in which all four teams fought
valiantly, gave it their best and can take pride in their showing.
This is what makes college hockey great.  As Badger Bob no doubt was
thinking while looking down, this was a great weekend for hockey.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93