I guess I was one of the last people to learn about this, since I was at
the games in Providence and just found out when I got home about midnight.
 
Whenever news like this comes out, it is always depressing to those of us
who follow the game as closely as we do, because we like to think that
college hockey is above reproach.  Unfortunately, these things happen in
college hockey too.  The goal is to ensure that they happen as rarely as
possible.  To that end, I also have to commend the University of Maine
administration for the way in which they handled the matter and chose to
make the difficult decisions they made.  They are decisions that, as the
administration probably knew, will hurt the program in the short run, but
in the long run should go a long way towards preventing such transgressions
from happening again.
 
As well, I feel badly for the people involved with the Maine program,
whether guilty or not.  The sanctions appear deserved, but I still feel
badly that the situation reached the point where sanctions were necessary.
My hope is that everyone involved will be able to put it behind them and
move forward once everything is dealt with in totality (after the NCAA
rules).
 
And, I do feel the worst for the current players who were unfortunate pawns
in the whole thing and will not have a chance to take the extra step and
possibly win an NCAA title this season.  They did no wrong, but as it goes,
they have to bear some of the punishment.  It is admirable that the
administration voluntarily pulled Maine out of the NCAA tourney and it
probably also was the right decision, yet that doesn't mean we can't
sympathize with the players.
 
Also, I have to commend Deron for his comments.  I'm sure it wasn't easy
for him to report the outcome, yet he did so with grace - something we can
all learn from.
 
A couple of questions come to mind as I read the posts.  Not all are
answerable right now, but they may give people something to think about as
we try to figure out what the ramifications of this are.
 
* As suggested, will HE choose to bar Maine from the HE tourney this year?
If so, will the 9th place team simply move in as the 8th seed?  And if HE
does take such action, will the university contest it?  I'm not sure
whether I would agree with such an action on HE's part, yet it is possible
that if Maine plays in the tourney, they would win it and render void the
league's automatic bid to the NCAAs.
 
* How will this set of sanctions affect any possible decision that the NCAA
may hand down?  Will the NCAA be lenient because of Maine's response, or
will they determine that other, more strict penalties are warranted?
 
* How will the NCAA Selection Committee determine Maine's status for the
1995 tournament with regard to the other teams?  For example, one of the
criteria used is "record against teams under consideration (TUC)".  Will
Maine not be considered a TUC because they have voluntarily withdrawn from
the tourney, even though they might have otherwise been a TUC?
 
* Will the announcement of certain violations from seasons in the past
result in Maine having to forfeit additional games, other than forfeitures
that have already been dealt with?  Could it affect Maine's finish in past
HE and NCAA tourneys?
 
* As SteveK posted on INFO-HOCKEY-L from the Maine web site,
 
> -- Members of the University's ice hockey team accepted promises of a
>stipend for competing on the 1992 and
>1994 U.S. Olympic hockey teams after being led to believe by the Olympic
>teams' administrators that the stipends
>were permissible under NCAA rules. They later proved not to be.
 
I forget which Maine players competed in 1992.  Were there any who returned
to play for Maine in 1992-93?  If so, would the above violation cause those
players to be ruled ineligible for that season and place the 1993 NCAA
Championship in jeopardy?
 
* I did not see any mention of violations that affected the 1992-93 season,
yet it was said that violations occurred from the late 1980s through 1994.
Were there any other violations that could affect the 1993 NCAA
Championship?
 
I ask these latter two questions simply because I believe they need to be
asked and because it seems that not all of the violations have been
publicized.  I do hope that the answer to both is no.
 
* I saw no mention of anything done with regard to the boosters who were
said to have been involved in at least a couple of violations.  Was
anything done in this area regarding the manner in which these and other
boosters may deal with the program?
 
 
BTW, Brian Morris asked about seniors and mentioned Jeff Tory...Tory was
reclassified as a junior for this season, I believe, upon re-examination of
his eligibility status.
 
I'll close by wishing the best to the Maine program as they work to deal
with the situation and hopefully come out the better for it.  The next year
at least will surely be a tough one for the team, the players in
particular, but Maine has a bunch of good kids on their team and I hope for
the best for them.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
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