Friday April 3rd
 
 While other Hockey-L folks took off for Cooperstown, New York City, and other
 places of interest, I spent the day out on Wolf Road. Pam and Lisa went off
 shopping and I figured that I'd find something to do! What I did find was that
 I had misplaced/lost some of my travelers checks and spent most of the after-
 noon getting them replaced. Mostly I just relaxed and read the new Judith
 Krantz novel. No excitement that evening either, but it was a nice break from
 all the insanity one usually has to deal with.
 
 Saturday April 4th - Championship Day!
 
 Got up late and hit the Burger King for a little breakfast and even treated
 Pam and Lisa to bagels which I brought back to the room. There were some
 pretty loud fans in red and white that had invaded the serenity of our hotel
 and they were feeling pretty confident that they were going to kick some
 serious butt that night. I was trying to figure out HOW I was going to leave
 the room again without getting a hard time from them. Luckily by the time we
 took off, they had disappeared for parts unknown (liquor store??). We also
 discussed the fact that if Wisconsin won the championship, there would be no
 sleep for anyone in the hotel! ;-)
 
 On Friday morning, Derek Snyder had called to let me know of a get-together
 over at RPI at 1:00pm in the Student Union Rathskeller, hosted by Rich Vehlow.
 So, Pam, Lisa and I headed over to the campus to see what was going on. We met
 up with Rich and Brian Farenell who had driven down just for the get-together!
 The five of us sat around and talked for a while and then Rich volunteered to
 give us a mini-tour of campus on his way back to the library to get some
 studying done. RPI has a very nice campus and we even took in part of the
 Lacrosse game that was going on when we walked by. We stopped at the computer
 center and sent a multi-user posting to the list, which was fun. After that we
 went outside to take a few photos and Rich had even brought his video camera
 along and "interviewed" each of us for his archives! :-)
 
 We left Rich at the library and went back to the Student Union to see if they
 had any interesting hockey souveniers. I picked out a couple of pins and a
 button I liked and a few postcards. Too bad we missed the T-shirts! My friend
 Patti told me later that evening that she got a "Co-ed Nude Hockey" T-shirt at
 RPI. Oh well, next time!
 
 We went back to the Red Roof Inn and had to decide where to eat dinner. It was
 a toss-up, but we settled for the Ground Round which was nearby on Wolf Road.
 After dinner we caught the CDTA shuttle to downtown and the Knick. When we
 arrived there were about 20 people marching around with "Tsongas for
 President" signs. I laughed because most of the people were from out-of-town
 and wouldn't care.
 
 The crowd inside the Knick was primed for a great game. The Wisconsin
 contingent seemed to have doubled in size overnight! There was red and white
 everywhere. I had brought my camera to the game to get a few action shots and
 a few other photos. Kevin and Michael told me all about their trip to New York
 City and Cooperstown with Mike. We decided that we'd cheer for LSSU. Michael
 said he thought that they were going to win, and didn't waver even when
 Wisconsin went up 2-0.  I was impressed by the camraderie of the LSSU fans all
 in the one corner section. They had four or five large school flags that they
 waved whenever they scored. It was really something to see! I really enjoyed
 watching them celebrate.
 
 During the period break I went over to Mike's section and got a photo of him in
  his seat! I also got a photo of Kevina and Michael, although Michael was
 pretending to be camera shy and I convinced him that I don't take bad photos,
 especially of hockey players! ;-) :-) ;-)
 
 During the second intermission I met William Sangrey and Lynne (R. David Smith'
 s girlfriend) and they were dissapointed that I had run out of red buttons, but
  they liked them anyway.
 
 The game got more exciting during the second and third periods and I was sure
 we were going to see some overtime that night. Actually, when there were 8 or 9
  minutes to go in the third period, I knew that we WERE in OT right then! It
 was apparent that tempers and fuses were getting shorter and shorter. The
 Wisconsin crowd grew unusually quiet. I teased Kevin about going over there to
 inspire the crowd to cheer for their team. And I sat in my seat singing a
 little song very softly.
 
 The Badger fans have been known to sing a little ditty to the opposing teams
 goaltender to taunt him. It's short, sweet and to the tune of "Mary had a
 Little Lamb":   ___goalie's name____ is a great big sieve,
                Great big sieve,  Great big sieve,
               ____goalie's name___ is a great big sieve,
               He lets the puck go by!
 
 A couple of times after singing this to the Wisconsin goalie, LSSU did score
 believe it or not!  And no one could hear it, not even Michael who was sitting
 right next to me. It occured to me after the game was over, that I really
 should have gone over to the entire LSSU crowd and got them to sing it!
 (Nah, that would have been really mean ;-) )
 
 The game was spoiled by all the temper tantrums at the end of the game, but I
 was at the oppposite end of the ice and couldn't see very much of what was
 going on. In fact, I was busy watching the LSSU team celebrate with :02 seconds
  left right in front of me. It was great to cheer for a team that won! After
 the final two seconds ticked off the clock, I remember seeing the Wisconsin
 players just standing there in shocked silence, as if they didn't believe it
 was over. Kind of like the Russians when Team USA beat them in 1980. As much as
  I am happy for the winners, I KNOW how much it hurts to lose a game like that.
  And it hurts plenty, I felt sorry for the Badgers.
 
 We left the arena, content and ready to party till dawn.
 (end of part 4)
 
 Carol