It was an interesting first night (afternoon,  actually) at the UConn
SNET Classic in Simsbury,  CT.   In the opening game,  Babson defeated Army
3-2.   Army clearly had the better of the play,  but could not finish.
  And,  they unfortunately had a tendency towards isolated periods of brief
but very sloppy play in their own end.   Babson capitalized on one of these
periods to get 2 quick markers in the second to take a 3-1 lead.   The third
period was almost all Army,  but Babson held them off,  giving up only one
goal,  and,  in fact,  almost getting an insurance tally themselves.
 
     The second game was much closer than it should have been.   UConn came
out flying in the first to take a 2-0 lead.   Brockport had trouble even
moving the puck out of their own end while UConn was hitting on all
cylinders except one (goal scoring).   Shots for the period were 13-4 UConn.
  Needless to say,  however,  UConn let Brockport back in the game (same
scenario as last year).   Brockport hung around,  and by the time it was
over,  UConn was very lucky to take away a 5-4 victory.
 
     COMMENTS:   This was the first time I had seen Army in thirty years.
  They looked no bigger or faster than the teams in the top half of the ECAC
East D-3 league.   This is a team that has beaten RPI,  tied Union,  and
played UMass,  Princeton and Northeastern competitively.  Next weekend,  I
think,  they are playing Colgate and Cornell.    Why on earth,  then,  do
they also play Bently,  Villanova,  Fairfield,  St. Michaels,  and
Framingham State (twice)????   What a crazy schedule!!   With the ECAC East
so large and basically very much split between the haves and have-nots,
 some sort of realignment is in order soon so that the better D-3's and the
better minor D-1's get to play each other more.
 
     I had a very interesting experience at the Army game.   I took a seat
at the start of the second period,  and very soon the gentleman on my right
and I were talking college hockey.   It turned out he was David Chamberlain,
 father of the Army goalie Daryl Chamberlain.   Dave is only the third
HOCKEY-L'er that I have met in person!   (And a great guy as well,  I might
add:-)
 
     Finally,  I heard an interesting rumor hanging around the glass while
the Zamboni was at work.   This is for all you fans of gender equity.
  After UConn builds its building next year,  they will stay with their D-3
schedule because of gender equity.   But the newly formed women's team will
get 18 rides to offset football going to 1-A.   That's just an
unsubstantiated rumor,  but I think it may be true (if indeed women's teams
are *allowed* to give out 18 rides  --  I have no idea:-):-)   Just thought
you'd like to know ....
 
     -- Dick Tuthill
 
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