1)  Attendance
        Friday:  Was pretty good for only 1 eastern team involved for the
day.  Maybe half full for the tail end of the 1st game.  Most people stayed
for a good portion of the second.  I would say about about half Maine fans
and a quarter UM fans and the other quarter DU or just fans.
 
        Saturday:  As I expected the building was about a little over 3/4
full for the UNH/UM game.  Electric atmoshere for the UNH/UM game.  Not as
much for the Maine win because I think nobody gave it much thought.  He did
have some interesting moments.
 
2)  Games
        Maine/OSU:  Maine clearly the better team but did take a while to
shake OSU.  Giving up the goal at the end of the first with a 2 goal lead
changed the way Maine opened the 2nd.  OSU goalie kept them in it but Maine
was making him look good also.  I could decide if he was that good or just
that lucky.  Maine missed some golden opportunities early but converted on
them late.  This was an ok game.  In reality, it looked like a 2 seed
mopping up a 6 seed.  Maine didn't get the 2 but you get my drift.
 
        UM/DU:  Very interesting game.  This is why we are all college
hockey fans and love this game so.  The 30 minutes were mirror images of
each other.  After the first 30 I thought Denver would make it to Anaheim.
A question did arise though, are Comrie players on both teams related?
Final thought on that game, does Brenzweig(sp?) jump into the play more than
any defensemen in college hockey?  He was fun to watch!  Logs a lot of ice time.
 
        Maine/CLK:  After the initial CLK score to draw even I thought they
would make a game of it, guessed wrong again!  This game did have the
excitement of a 5 on 3 and then a penalty shot then more 5 on 3.  The
penalty shot was awesome, great move on a very good goalie.  Evans beat him
bad.  I thought that might make a difference, if they could have just got 1
more goal from that sequence it might have made a difference.  We will never
know.  Maine clearly the better team.  Best goal I've seen, Cole (CLK)
faking the wrap around and feeding it in front for the score.  Totally
fooled Michaud.
 
        UNH/UM:  UNH played defense like I thought they never could.  They
are usually a team that gets frustrated without scoring and especially by a
hot goalie.  They stayed in it though.  Michigan never really tested Conklin
for long periods, a shot here and there that was it.  Great game, the second
game is always the gem it seems in the east.
 
3)      Centrum:  The ice appeared soft, lots of rolling puck, falling, etc.
The games appeared in slow motion towards the end of the periods.  The
available food was a joke. Can you believe on Friday that Papa Gino's ran
out of pizza before the second game started!  Saturday we went to the Hockey
Fans buffet.  That was a pretty good deal, $17.95 for all you can eat and
drink (non-alcoholic).  Plus they had the hockey and basketball on the tube.
 
4)      Hockey East:  3 teams, 5-0, wow!  Clearly the dominate conference in
the nation. Makes you think what if Providence made it.
 
5)      ECAC:  0-2, out-scored 12-4!  Can the MAAC be far behind.  I am an
ECAC fan but their best (CLK) was no match for Maine.  I only saw the 1st
period of SLU/CC but SLU was clearly outplayed though not out-scored.
 
6)      WCHA:  Overrated?  UND was bottled up pretty good by the #3 HE team
for the year.  CC beat SLU but then just didn't have enough to finish off
MSU.  Though they didn't have Peterson.
 
Very good tournament so far.  Plenty of good games.
 
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