This past Monday evening, the Pro-Am's (the college level) started.
 
Although the teams have names like the "Sharks," "Bruins," "Clovers,"
etc, I will refer to them by their description.
 
 
In the first game, the pseudo-BU team beat the pseudo-Northeastern
team 9-3.
   For the pseudo-BU team, the line of Mike Grier, Chris O'Sullivan,
and Chris Drury ran circles around the opposition.
   BU recruit Albie O'Connell showed nice touch around the net, but
did not stand out otherwise.
   The game was not very exciting, but seeing Sean McDonough behind
the bench and Shawn Ferullo in net was nice.
 
 
The second game was odd.  The pseudo-Darthmouth team had 5 players
change their minds and not show up.  This led to a bunch of guys
who were still hanging around from the first game joining what was
left of the Devils (formerly pseudo-Dartmouth) and beating the
"mixed team" (Jets) 10-4.
   The only real standout of this game was the goaltending of
Brian Audette (Brown Univ).
 
 
The third game was the best of the evening.
 
The pseudo-UMass/Amherst team defeated the pseudo-BC team 8-6.
 
   This game was intensely played and involved more hitting than
the first two combined.
   The star of the night was clearly goalie Todd Sullivan (Yale
Univ, now playing for the pseudo-UMass team)  He played the first
half for the pseudo-UMass team, allowing only 2 goals and making
great save after great save. (He was replaced for the second
half by the less successful Mark Northup (UConn).)
   The pseudo-BC team had great offensive rushes, but their
defense was bad by Pro-Am standards (REALLY bad) and the
goaltending of Boston Bruins draft-pick Evgeny Ryabjikov left
something to be desired, especially on anything in close.
   It was nice, however, to see BU defenseman Jeff Kealty
(a big disapointment so far) playing very well, playing with
more confidence, and standing out as one of the only good
defensemen for the pseudo-BC team.
   One Pseudo-BC player whose play was intriguing was Jamie
Venezia (UConn).  His skill and speed put him on the level of
div I players, but his extremely small size makes him stand
out even more.  The low-checking Pro-Am's allow his skills
to shine, but I would be intrigued to see how he would have
done in a serious div I game.  If he could take the hitting
(ala Cal Ingraham), he would have made most teams better.
 
Oh well.
 
 
The next games are this coming Monday.
 
 
Tony  BU'92'93
Former Ogre