Thanks to Bill for his great recap of the Cornell banquet and to the others
who have posted details of theirs.  I like seeing who has received the
various awards from the teams - in many ways, they mean more than the awards
that are voted on by people who don't get to see the players as much, and they
aren't as political.
 
I found the comments on Duffus receiving the so-called "three stars" award
very interesting.  Some may know, all Hockey East rinks award three stars
of the game at each game, league or nonleague.  This is just another of the
nice little things the league does as a whole.  The leaders in league games
are supposed to be recognized in some way although I haven't seen anything
yet on this.
 
I help SID Jim Seavey select the stars at Merrimack, and it isn't always an
easy thing.  It is a tough decision - do you pick players who seemed to stand
out as playing the best in the game?  Do you go with guys who had great
statistical showings, even though they might not have played as well as others
whose efforts aren't reflected in the box score?  All too often, and I'll
admit we've been guilty of this, the time will come to pick the stars and
the first thing we do is look at the scoresheet.  Unfortunately, we tend to
slight the defensive players whose efforts are at least as important.  When
a guy like Danny Gravelle is scoring 23 goals and 28 assists in the course
of a year, he's going to get in the three stars an awful lot, but a superb
defenseman like Mark Cornforth will tend to get edged out.  As well, goalies
tend to get in there an awful lot although sometimes their showing is more
due to great defensive play.
 
Probably the times I feel the best about the selections are when we recognize
the players who don't get the ink and don't have the impressive numbers but
clearly have fantastic games.  This is something I want to devote a little
more effort to next season, recognizing these players.
 
Maybe it would be nice to be able to get all DivI teams involved in the three-
star awarding and keep some kind of national tally.  This would be something
that is actually selected by the people who see the games.  (Although, then
you could have teams intentionally awarding stars to players who they want
to have nationally recognized, i.e. another reason to tout a player for
All-America or the Hobey.  Maybe it is better to keep it "grassroots".)
 
BTW, Cornforth, who was awarded Merrimack's Rookie of the Year and will
anchor a strong, experienced defense in 1992-93, is now helping Merrimack's
tennis team to one of its best years ever, playing both singles and doubles.
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   mikem@{beanpot,bubba}.ma30.bull.com
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)