The first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs is a two-game series plus
a mini-game if needed, exactly like the ECAC Division I quarterfinals,
except that the mini-game is 15 minutes instead of 10.  Results of the
Division III first round, which took place last weekend:
 
Friday, 3/8:
     EAST:
     Babson 4, Oswego State 1
     Mercyhurst 5, Elmira 4
 
     WEST:
     Mankato State 4, Gustavus Adolphus 4
     Wisconsin-Stevens Point 9, Lake Forest 1
 
Saturday, 3/9:
     EAST:
     Babson 10, Oswego State 4
          (Babson wins series, 2-0)
     Elmira 7, Mercyhurst 6
     Elmira 2, Mercyhurst 1 (2 OT) (minigame)
          (Elmira wins series, 2-1)
 
     WEST:
     Mankato State 7, Gustavos Adolphus 2
          (Mankato State wins series, 1-0-1)
     Wisconsin-Stevens Point 6, Lake Forest 3
          (Wisconsin-Stevens Point wins series, 2-0)
 
The Division III semifinals will take place Friday at Elmira's Murray
Center, with the consolation and championship games on Saturday.  Friday's
matchups are Wisconsin-Stevens Point (25-9) vs. Babson (19-7) and Mankato
State (22-6-6) vs. Elmira (27-4).
 
I almost would rather have been at Murray Center last Saturday night than at
Boston Garden, because Elmira and Mercyhurst combined for an incredible
four-and-a-half hour hockey marathon to decide their series.  After blowing
the first game Friday night, the Soaring Eagles found themselves down by a
5-1 margin after the first period on Saturday, but Elmira rallied with four
straight goals in the first half of the second period.  Mercyhurst appeared
to take the starch out of the Soaring Eagles comeback bid with a go-ahead
goal just 17 seconds into the third, but Elmira tied it again 1:21 later and
got the game-winner at 6:28 of the period.  After all that, the two teams
still had to play a mini-game, and Elmira fell behind quickly in that one
too.  Fortunately for them, the mini-game in Division III runs five more
minutes than the one in Division I, as they tied the score at 1-1 with 2:40
left in regulation.  The whole thing finally ended at 3:41 of the second
overtime (and at 11:52 pm real time), when Scott Doherty, who had started
Elmira's rally from four goals down earlier, poked in a rebound.
 
In other Division III action, Trinity won the ECAC North-South tournament
Sunday night, beating Fitchburg State 4-3 in overtime.
 
Rumor department:  The Boston Globe printed last weekend that John Cunniff,
ex-coach of the New Jersey Devils, is a leading candidate for the Boston
College job when Len Ceglarski steps down.
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86
LET'S GO RED!!
 
"A four-year study of couples found that men who did housework were healthier
 than those who didn't."
"Their wives let them live."
-- "Sylvia"