UMaine Blue-White
Just a couple of thoughts to add to Wayne's astute observations of last
Friday's Blue-White game.
 
I thought Blair Allison did a reasonable impersonation of Garth Snow for
2 periods in the Blue goal.  He stopped 11 of 12 shots, including a pair
of great saves on Jamie Thompson during the same shift.  More impressive,
though, was his puck handling.  Allison has clearly worked very hard on
that aspect of his game.
 
An interesting battle is shaping up for the second goalie's spot.  Blair Marsh,
who had a 3.86 GAA in 18 games last year, faces a real battle from a
rejuvenated Greg Hirsch.  Hirsch was the third-string goalie on the '92-'93
championship team, but only got in one game last year.  He only played one
period Friday night, but made about a dozen saves, giving up just one goal.
 
Generally speaking, the defense was pretty tight after just 11 days of
practice.  I agree with Wayne that Chris Imes was spectacular.  Jeff Tory
was also impressive.  Jason Mansoff, who had a real solid freshman year
last year, turned his ankle and didn't play much after the first period.
 
Newcomers Shawn Wansborough and Scott Parmentier had the crowd of
1,700 buzzing.  They were on a line with speedy junior Brad Purdie.
Parmentier, who played with Thompson in Omaha last year, was the
only player to score twice in the game.  Wansborough was nursing a
sore ankle, although it was hard to tell.
 
The same questions still remain about this team.  Although Wansborough,
Parmentier, Purdie, Thompson, Tony Frenette and a few others showed
some explosiveness, they did not finish all that well.  The power plays
on both sides were not good, either.  It will be a solid defensive team,
but it still appears that goals will be tough to come by.  Some of the key
returnees-Reg Carinal, Dan Shermerhorn, Tim Lovell and Trevor Roenick
were pretty quiet during the game.  They will need to produce to key
the offense.  This will be a very quick team up front.
 
The fans who saw the game seemed to be encouraged by what they saw.
If nothing else, it's nice to talk about the team in the context  of its
on-ice performance again.