Before tonight's (Sat) broadcast of Maine-Merrimack, Joe Carr ran an
interview with Maine's Shawn Walsh that had been conducted that day.
 
In it, Walsh admitted that he may be changing his opinion of the
shootout.  He referred to the BU-Maine shootout last week and that it
seemed to him to be "anti-climactic", as so many others here have said
who saw that game.
 
He also talked about the Merrimack shootout win over Maine Friday and
how the MC players poured off the bench "as if they had won the
national championship." :-)  However, perceptive as always, he also
noted that perhaps the real strength of the shootout is that it gives
teams who are trying hard to build their programs the opportunity to
feel as if they have really achieved a win.  Backing this up was a
quote from Merrimack goalie Martin Legault after the game: "I don't
care what the NC$$ says, it feels like a win to me."
 
I, of course, wondered on the air whether Walsh's opinion might be
clouded by the fact that Maine has lost 4 of 5 shootouts. :-)
 
I still believe that the key is whether a team either enters a game
feeling it should win or ends up in a shootout after a game it led.
In either of those two situations, it seems natural that a team would
feel the shootout to be anti-climactic.
 
In the course of the interview, Walsh also commented on the strong
play of Legault Friday and how he "played his first real 60 minute
game against us and looked like the goaltender some people were
telling us he was."  As Joe and I were listening to the interview
while it ran, I immediately got Joe's attention and grinned, pointing
to myself. :-)  (The things you can't see because it's radio.)
 
Of course, this reminded me of St Paul last year, where several of us
were discussing with Walsh who some of the players to watch in HE
were for this season.  When I mentioned Legault, he said that "he
didn't look too good against us."  Well, I feel vindicated now. :-)
 
(disclaimer: all quotes are from my memory and are not exact.)
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93