> team is that Ralph Cox, UNH '72, didn't make it. I've never understood how > the guy who was the leading scorer for most of the team's exhibition > schedule could get cut. I felt then, and still feel now, that Herbie > Brooks had the western bias and Ralph was a victim of it. But that is a > small potatoes complaint compared to what really counted. > I read the articles Sunday morning and immediately a flood of memories poured through me. Things like only doing my paper route between periods and having the unlucky subscribers ringing the phone off the hook towards the end of the third period. Staying up late to watch the tape delays. etc. Yesterday one of the local (St. Paul, MN) talk shows talked most of the day on the "Miracle on Ice". More memories. Herb Brooks' wife even called in to share some of her memories. Regarding the west bias: This is out of one of the articles in the St. Paul Pioneer Press from February 20, 2000... ``We didn't set out to say we want Minnesota players,'' said Brooks, now the Penguins' coach. ``It just evolved that way through the analysis. If anything, I was tougher on the Minnesota kids in analysis than I was otherwise, because I didn't want to hear that it was all politics or it was fixed or it's all regionalized. I was even more strict on critiquing the Minnesota players than the others. We ended up with 12 Minnesota kids that year, and it just so happened that they persevered and they rose to the top.'' Mike Ramsey, the youngest player at 19 to make the squad, said the issue of the team's Minnesota flavor was raised during the six-month, 63-game pre-Olympic tour. ``We took a lot of pride in that and a lot of abuse for that,'' said Ramsey, a defenseman from Minneapolis. ``We won the NCAA that year (1979), and Herb took half the team. The eastern guys said it was regional. That was the big line every time we had a disagreement. They always complain about that, but it was part of our coming together.'' I knew one of the guys cut in the late stages of forming that team. He was from MN and went to the U. I'm sure he'll tell you what he thinks about the "western bias". Did you know that Steve Janaszak is the only gold medal winner to never have competed in the olympics??? Janaszak was the starting goalie but Brooks put Jim Craig in for the first game. Good time to decide to get hot between the pipes. -- - Matt Rein - [log in to unmask] HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.