Just a couple of notes on things which I have been observing in
the last couple of weeks.
 
        This year's Stanley Cup playoffs have been absolutely riveting  --
made more so by all the excellent TV coverage.   But ... has anyone else
besides me noticed that the amount of blatent interference and stick-holding
that is allowed in the NHL has grown to disgusting proportions?   This is
apparently with the approval and encouragement of upper NHL management.
Brian Burke was quoted recently in the Hartford Courant as saying the league
would **not** be cracking down on that sort of thing because it is the only
tactic which protects defensemen from forecheckers in their own end.   He
said something like "If we cracked down,  the next night we'd be picking
plexiglass out of the teeth of every defenseman."
 
        Geez,  is that what it's come to?   I hope the college game never
gets like that!   All you have to do is enforce the hitting from behind
rule at the same time.   Btw,  I think Burke was a defenseman at Providence
wasn't he?
 
        The other thing that I have noticed recently,  is that college
recruiting this year seems to have even more of a Canadian flavor than
normal.   Seems like only the occasional American gets to play D-1 these
days,  while D-3 is populated almost entirely by American kids.   Is this
simply a numbers thing,  or does it speak to something structural in the
youth hockey programs of the two countries?
 
        -- Dick Tuthill