** Ryan
First off, thanks to all for the nice comments about Ryan. He's a great kid
who had a great time. I'm sure when he becomes an adult he'll be telling
stories about how he whipped all three Hansons. :-)
** Faceoff goals
Was anyone else struck by the number of goals and near-goals that were generated
*right off the faceoff* in the semis and finals? In TheBestGameI'veEverSeen,
Shermerhorn almost lost the game as he let his man walk right off the faceoff
near the end of the third period (or maybe it was end of the first OT, in any
case it was relatively *early* in the game :-) ). Allison saved his butt on
that one and off course Shermerhorn more than redeemed himself with his
game-winner which was virtually *right off the faceoff*.
Then, in the first goal scored in the finals, Shermerhorn gets tossed out of
the faceoff circle for what appeared to be a gratuitous pre-puck-drop shove
on Thornton (I'd love to hear Shermerhorn's inside scoop on that one), and
Thornton undressed whoever then took the draw, controlling the puck and then
roofing it for a huge goal.
I seem to recall other faceoff plays but can't remember specific details.
I'm just surprised that at this level players were allowed to generate so much
directly off the faceoff. Hockey 101 seems to dictate that you *must* tie your
man up off the faceoff. Granted as they get more skilled it gets tougher, but
presumably all the players involved are high-skilled and should make sure that
opportunities like this are much more rare than what we saw.
** BU and movement away from the puck
I was really impressed with how much better BU was at generating offense with
movement *away* from the puck. This, combined with the patience of the
puckcarrier to give that player time to get open, was just one more reason BU
proved to be at the head of this year's class.
** A tired Maine?
I don't think the OTs were the cause of their defeat in the finals. BU beat
them like they did to everyone else in the tournament. Maine did not play two
full games, they (from a legs point of view) played essentially one and
two-thirds games since the third OT lasted only a few seconds. Since teams are
used to playing back-to-back nights during league play, I can't see that having
a full day off in between wouldn't allow full recovery. One could argue that
they got an extra five hours or so of recovery time since they had the early
game.
What might have been a bigger factor is the emotional and mental drain of the
thriller against Michigan. Still, IMO BU won because they were the
demonstrably better team.
** Norton
I love him. I wanna hear the schools and the details and everything. And I
don't think he favors any team.
** HE goalies & the NHL
Keep in mind that not only is Hockey East smaller than some conferences,
they've only been around ten years now. So there are no ten-plus year veterans
in the NHL because there was no HE then. Apparently Terrerri was the lone
NHL-bound goalie in HE's early years. In around HE's middle years Garth Snow,
Mike Dunham, and Dwayne Roloson began paying their dues and all three appear
to have legit pro shots within the next couple years.
It certainly seems that Wisconsin has something extra-special in their goalie
coach, but I'd be surprised if the current Western-slant aside from Wisconsin
didn't even out as time progresses.
***************************************************** ,-******-,
* Dave Hendrickson "Robo" [log in to unmask] * *' ## '*
* A Hockey Polygamist and Get-A-Lifer * *## ___##___ ##*
* GO BROONS!!! Go Red Wings!! Go Leafs! * * ##| ___ \## *
* GO UMASS-LOWELL!!! Go BU!! Go Maine! * * | |___) | *
* --------------------------------------------------* *######| ___ <######*
* Although I can't remember ever having an original * * | |___) | *
* thought, and am certainly parroting someone who * * ##|________/## *
* actually has a brain, these opinions are mine, * *## ## ##*
* not Hewlett-Packard's. * *, ## ,*
***************************************************** '-*******-'
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