Okay, here, as promised, is my non-informative account [:-)]
of yesterday's Great Western Freeze-Out semis, as sort of a supplement
to the boxes I posted to INFO-HOCKEY-L last night:
 
        I walked into the rink while Maine and Miami (Ohio) were
warming up for the first game.  Never having seen the Redskins'
uniforms, I was thrown for a moment, mistaking them for BU.  But then
my conscious mind kicked in as I remembered it was BC that was in the
tournament and realized that the word in white across the red jerseys
was "MIAMI" and not "BOSTON".  Of course, that confusion was nothing
compared to the best line of the Freeze-Out, asked by a little boy of
his mother: "What color is Florida wearing?"
 
        For some reason, AAA had decided that the best available seat
was halfway up on the Redskin goal line.  This actually proved useful,
as I got a good view of the Black Bears' second goal, which slid
behind Prior (as Deron Treadwell pointed out on INFO, I misidentified
the Miami goalie as Deschambeault in my summary last night, as the
name had escaped me and I guessed wrong; a thousand pardons) as he
grabbed it with his glove.  From my seat, it looked like it didn't
make it across the line, but it was a fast play, and the official was
a lot closer.  (Oh, speaking of officials, when CCHA ref Shegos's name
was announced, someone in the crowd yelled "Shegos sucks!"  I was
amused.)
 
        This was actually my second time meeting Hockey-L people,
since Bob Stagat and his family watched the ECACs with me and some
friends in Santa Barbara, but it was my first primarily H-L gathering.
John Paraels, who was to meet me at my seat, got caught in traffic and
didn't make it until late in the first period, when the score was 3-2
Maine.  Margie Rennett and her kids visited before the game and
between periods, and John and I joined them in their seats behind the
Maine goal in the third period, by which point Rick MacAdoo was also
there.
 
        As I mentioned elsewhere, both of the underdogs played well,
and Miami in particular seemed to have been one lucky bounce away from
overtime.  In addition to the close call in the first period,
questionable delay of game late in the third, and a blatant trip by
Maine that went uncalled at 19:50, there was one sequence in the
second, where Miami got Allison down on the ice, but the puck was
deflected into the stands.  Considering how dire it looked when Maine
scored at 0:13 of the first, the Redskins never gave up.  After giving
up back-to-back power play goals to go down 3-1 in the first, they
converted a power play of their own at 16:01, and then killed off a
penalty that came 23 seconds later.  After Schermerhorn and Cardinal
scored in the third to put Maine up 5-2 at 7:06 of the third, we
though it was over, but again Miami fought back.  Although the
Hockey-L crowd (of 5) was predominantly Hockey East, more than one of
us began pulling for an upset as the game went on.
 
        Between games we migrated up to Beers of the World for the
scheduled gathering.  Actually, we had to search for it, since the
stand itself was closed, and the ushers didn't seem to know where it
was.  When we got there, no one was there, so either we had all
already found each other or any lurkers in attendence were still
lurking.  We're counting on tomorrow's gathering at the Video Arch in
the Pond to be better attended.
 
        Before the Michigan State-BC contest, Margie and her daughter
Nancy made their way to the MSU bench to say hi to Michigan State
coach (and Hockey-Ler) Dave McAuliffe, and I joined them.  Dave was
late coming out of the tunnel, and seemed too focussed to notice
Margie and Nancy's attempts to get his attention until the last
minute.  [In fact, he may now be saying, "so *that's* who was yelling
at me!" :-)]  Margie's son Mike, who had been hanging out with the
Maine players between games, came over to sit with us behind the
benches for the first two periods.
 
        Before the second game, as before the first, I was annoyed
that the Forum only played "The Star Spangled Banner" and not "O
Canada".  I mean, this is *hockey*, after all.  Another notable
omission was Steve Kariya's name from the Maine roster in the program.
Nancy joked that perhaps he was so short they overlooked him.
 
        In the second game, I was struck with how well BC played early
on, but also with the sizable and vocal Michigan State contingent.
None of the other schools seemed to have more than a scattering of
fans, but there was a block of MSU supporters across from us cheering,
chanting "Let's go State", and at least once doing whatever it is
Spartans do after a goal.
 
        After the first intermission, we all moved back behind the
goal, and the last two periods really felt like a Hockey-L event, with
the five of us sitting, watching and talking hockey.  Nancy put on her
Hockey-L sweatshirt, and Rick (whom I had taken to task between games
for his anyone-who's-not-Red complaint last spring about Cornell, BU
and Wisconsin) had been wearing his Hockey-L and Phinal Phour pins all
along.  John had bought one of the Freeze-Out sweatshirts (which
sported "Bum Equipment" in much larger letters than anything else,
BTW), more because he was cold than anything else.  As the PA
announcer was giving away Freeze-Out sweatshirts to people with signed
programs, I suggested that we should have had Dave MacAuliffe sign a
program and given that person a Hockey-L shirt.  Margie said we'd
better ask Carol first.  Carol?
 
        Tomorrow the action moves to the Pond in Anaheim (once again,
any Hockey-Lers in attendence who don't find the rest of us first
should meet at the Video Arch between games), site of the 1999 NC$$
Phinal Phour.  One other thing I did learn was that *Alaska-Anchorage*
is the host school that year.  That was nice to hear; sure, the
Colorado schools are closer, but it's nice to give Alaska hockey
another boost.
 
        I'll leave you with all two sentences of the LA Times' report
on the action, another sign that they need to work on their College
Hockey coverage a bit in the next three and half years:
 
             Scott Parmentier scored two goals as Maine opened
     defense of its Great Western Freezeout title with a 6-5
     victory over Miami of Ohio at the Forum.  Michigan State
     defeated Boston College, 5-2 in the second game and will
     play Miami [sic] in Sunday's title game at The Pond of
     Anaheim.
 
                                        John Whelan
                                        Cornell '91
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