Remember, the awards are not for the championship game only - Roloson
was named *tourney* MVP.  He played all four games for his team and
allowed only 6 goals in those four games.  I saw all four of those
games, by chance, and here's what he did in each game:
 
* 7-1 win over Merrimack: played outstanding first two periods to keep
Lowell ahead.  Chiefs broke it open in the third.
* 3-0 win over Merrimack: Game was 1-0 till 1 1/2 min left.  Stopped
30+ shots while Merrimack outplayed Lowell for much of the game in a
desperate attempt to force a third game.  He was the ONLY difference
in this game.
* 4-2 win over UNH: Kept UNH off the board in the first two periods
and start of the third as Lowell built a 3-0 lead.  UNH turned it on
in the third and scored two, but Roloson was the big reason they
didn't tie it up.
* 3-2 loss to BU: with Lowell being outshot by almost a 2-1 margin,
this game would have been over quickly if not for him.  And in the
third when Lowell had to open it up a bit to try to tie it, BU had
some great chances and were stoned by Roloson - the save on Grier with
3 minutes left was one of the most incredible I've ever seen.
Everyone in the Garden thought it was in except Roloson and Grier.
For those who didn't see it, Roloson is down, half the net is open,
Grier pulls the puck away from Roloson (trying to cover it), slides it
over and is about to tuck it in the other side to ice the game - when
somehow, Rollie's right arm and stick appear and deny him.  I had to
see it a couple of times on replay before I believed it.
 
All of that, combined with the fact that no one stood out for BU, made
Rollie an easy choice for MVP IMO.  It would have been a crime if
anyone else had received it.  However, I thought Grier should have
been named to the All-Tourney Team.  BU people can evaluate this
better than me, but I thought this might have been the best few games
Grier has played all season.  Also, where was Pomichter?
 
A couple other thoughts I had:
 
This is the first season HE has had no forwards named among the Hobey
finalists.  Roloson was the only HE player I thought deserving of a
Hobey final 10 appearance, so I was not surprised that no others were
named.
 
Overall, offensive talent seems to be down across the nation, but
mainly in the East.  That was obvious if you saw the HE and ECAC semis
and finals.  All of BU, UML, Harvard, and RPI have outstanding
goalies, but they did not have to face the kind of firepower from any
of their opponents that we have seen in years past.  This may hurt the
East teams in the NC$$s.
 
In the ECAC final, Harvard won because they were able to create a
presence and intimidate RPI in front of Little, while hammering any
RPI player who got near Israel.  Little played a great game and kept
it close for a while, but I was continually amazed that RPI let
Harvard skate through the crease and whack Little with almost no
retaliation.  It's smart not to take dumb penalties, but if you allow
the other team to establish themselves in front of your goalie, you
are in trouble right away.
 
Notice that in all of the big games this season, Harvard's team
defense and goaltending has come up very big.  That is something to
watch for the next two weeks.
 
BTW, this was the first shutout in an ECAC championship game EVER.
 
My picks for seeds along with some explanations will be along shortly.
For now, this tease: Michigan #1 in the West no matter what they do vs
LSSU.  And LSSU may need to win to get the 2nd seed, else it goes to
the Gophers.
---                                                                 ---
Mike Machnik                                          [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMM* 11/13/93
Opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the poster.