Jim Love: Please sit down for this one!
 
Last night Greg and I  were watching the NU-UML game on NESN (very poor
showing by UML) when Bob Norton, who was at the UNH-BU game at Portland on
Thursday, announced that UNH will play its HE quarterfinal playoff game at
BC's Conte Forum instead of Manchester's JFK Coliseum.  We had first heard of
this possibility through friends of ours at the UNH-Lowell game at Manchester
last weekend, but nothing was official.  Now, Norton did not say from whom at
UNH he received this information, but it must be true if he said it on TV.
 
The reasons for this are obvious: JFK's narrow ice surface with its
practically nonexistent center ice area is ill-suited to the Wildcats'
free-wheeling, skating style.  It is no secret that the team has struggled
for every point there this year.  Most Wildcat diehards we know have
expressed concern (and some, downright fear) about the prospects of a
single-elimination quarterfinal at JFK, and Conte Forum certainly provides
for a larger ice surface.  It also means playoff tickets are easier to get
for all Wildcat fans (particularly those of us who live in metropolitan
Boston :-)) since CF has about 5000 more seats for hockey than JFK.  But what
happens if BC is the opponent?   UNH fans recall with horror the 1990 HE
semifinal OT loss to BC at Conte Forum, when Maine's measles epidemic
prevented the HE finals from being played at the Garden.  I know that the
Eagles have struggled this year, but Greg Taylor is certainly capable of
standing on his head and knocking a team out of the hunt.
 
I thought I would throw this one out today to get some reaction.
 
Karen Ambrose, UNH '72
Go Blue! Beat BU (again)!!!!!!!!!!!!