Mike has graciously provided us with the line-up of the proposed
"governor's cup" featuring Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and
UMass. This brought to mind a previous attempt to establish
such a tournament (with an eye toward developing a "beanpot"
type rivalry among the New England state Universities). I think
about ten years ago, the proposal was to include ME,NH,& VT with
UMass-Lowell (then, I think, still called University of Lowell--
but nevertheless part of the Mass. system). The proposal went
nowhere fast--will the addition of the "real" UMass make a
difference? (Perhaps the real question is whether Governor
Weld of Massachusetts is more of a hockey fan than former governor
Michael Dukakis).
Of course, the other attempt at developing a regular Northern
New England tournament--the Auld Lang Syne, is now hardly
recognizable in its original form, which featured UNH, UMaine,
Vermont, and Dartmouth. When Maine bolted to do its own Dexter
classic, I think that tournament lost a lot of its appeal. Now
it seems more of an excuse to play hockey over Christmas break
(never a bad idea!), but without the tradition of having the
same teams run up against one another year after year, as in the
beanpot (a "visiting" team is now brought in to face NH, VT, and
Dartmouth). Here's hoping the Governor's cup becomes a showcase
of non-Boston hockey in New England.
Jim Farrell
Dept. of Communication
University of New Hampshire
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