Some miscellaneous thoughts and tidbits:
* The Eastern Regionals are very close to a sellout now. I had not gotten
tickets previously due to a tournament my son was playing in, but as soon
as it became clear that we'd only miss the beginning of the Maine game on
Saturday, I tried to order tickets. There were NO two seats side-by-side
that were available for both nights. I was able to get seats directly in
front of/behind each other which was fine for me. We'll see if Ryan gets
to spill popcorn on me or if he's wearing my Coke. :-) But in any case,
if you still want tickets, you'd best get off your butt.
* When it comes to matchups, BU seems to have no luck at all. Last year, as
the number one seed in the Hockey East tournament, instead of facing a
legit bottom seed in the first round, they got Maine which had been
artifically lowered due to the forfeits. (BU sucked it up and won.) This
year they get the number one seed in the East and what is waiting for them?
The Boogeyman is making noises in the closet. They get the winner of
Clarkson-Lake Superior. No dissing Clarkson here, but Lake Superior has got
to be the team everyone is looking at. And the team that has the best shot
in the East of beating BU. I'd consider BU the favorite against any other
team in the East; I consider a potential BU-LSSU matchup as even. So BU once
again got unlucky as the number one seed. OTOH, however, if BU can exorcise
its demons and beat the Lakers, this will make them a stronger team for the
Final Four. It'll be a great matchup for college hockey and may the bull
with the biggest cojones win.
* Although I disagreed with almost all the gripes about the officiating in the
BU-PC game, the worst has to be regarding Prendergast's injury. The plain
fact is that "he certainly sprang right up after the play was whistled dead"
as the griper put it and *skated right into the locker room*. You can maybe
accuse a player of faking it if he goes right to the bench with a smile on
his face and is out the next shift. But if he goes directly into the locker
room, he's clearly not faking it and you can avoid future *face a la egg* if
you pay attention to that.
* Regarding sportsmanship, "Sieve" chants are so widespread that even the
neophyte UMass-Lowell fans have adopted one. Even something like RPI does
during the opening player announcements is ok IMO, though it does push the
envelope. The do some clapping thing and then yell, "You suck!" after each
opposing player is announced. At the regionals last year I thought it was
amusing, my ten-year old son thought it was hilarious. (And no, he can't use
that word.) Some may be offended by the use of the word, but the chant seems
to be good-natured.
The only example of poor sportsmanship (beyond the occasional lone drunken or
just plain stupid fan) that comes to mind came this weekend from a small
section of, sad to say, BU fans at the end of the game against Providence.
As the players were lined up for the post-game ceremonies, a section of BU
fans did a chant of "Hey Kramer [the PC captain], you suck!" Now THAT was
offensive, coming from victorious fans during the postgame. Even my son Ryan
(who liked the RPI chant) looked up and me and said, "That's not good."
Coming at this time, it seemed mean-spirited and totally devoid of
sportsmanship. The postgame is the time to congratulate the team which
pushed you to your limits. To their credit, a couple BU fans nearby looked
disgusted and I am CERTAIN that the BU fans I know from this list did not
participate in this inappropriate chant. However, fans should realize that
others may be quicker to generalize behavior to the entire fan population.
* I'm for instant replay to decide goals or no goals. It keeps its use to a
minimum so it doesn't interfere and does its best to get the calls right.
Although 100% of the games won't be televised, it seems advisable to me to
get the calls right in as many of the games as is possible.
* Someone wrote that "it seemed to me that Lowell is missing leadership,
especially in the form of Dwayne Roloson." I think they are missing
Roloson's goaltending more than his leadership. IMO they went from the
best goaltending in Hockey East last year to the worst in HE this year.
Lindsey may yet come around, but the jury is still out. As to leadership,
Lowell graduated a *ton* of talent last year and had a very young team this
year. This was exemplified by the fact that their captain this year was not
a senior, but was junior Jeff Daw. They are graduating only three seniors
this year: defensive forward Eric Brown, and defensemen Aaron Kriss and Paul
"The Human Penalty Minute" Botto. (Botto's nickname courtesy of Steve
Weisfeldt. I'd nicknamed him "PMS" earlier in the year.) So if no
one turns pro, they'll have a much more mature squad. Campbell and Bullock
would seem to be the only serious threats to leave early. I suspect Campbell
will stay for one more year and then exit with the rest of next year's
seniors.
Personally, I think Bullock is gone. His self-immolation during the HE
consos had all the look of someone who knew that contracts were waiting for
him and didn't care that he was ticking off the coach. Crowder has benched
Bullock before for stupid penalties and yet he still hasn't gotten the
picture. This, combined with his virtual no-shows for so many regular season
games has me convinced that he's leaving. BTW, I'm not a Lady Byng type
myself. My favorite player is Christian Sbrocca who has been known to pick
up some time in the box himself. But he comes to play every game, a trait
that could not always be ascribed to Bullock this year.
***************************************************** ,-******-,
* Dave Hendrickson "Robo" [log in to unmask] * *' ## '*
* A Hockey Polygamist and Get-A-Lifer * *## ___##___ ##*
* GO BROONS!!! Go Red Wings!! Go Leafs! * * ##| ___ \## *
* GO UMASS-LOWELL!!! Go Maine!! Go BU! * * | |___) | *
* --------------------------------------------------* *######| ___ <######*
* Although I can't remember ever having an original * * | |___) | *
* thought, and am certainly parroting someone who * * ##|________/## *
* actually has a brain, these opinions are mine, * *## ## ##*
* not Hewlett-Packard's. * *, ## ,*
***************************************************** '-*******-'
|
