All the teams visited a local Dexter Shoe outlet today and got a Christmas present. Then ... Clarkson 7 , Western Michigan 0 The game was 1-0 going into the third period, but a couple of goals on a 5 minute major for charging the goalie took the wind out of the Western sails and Clarkson routed a rather immature Western team. The Western coach joked that his team statistically played man-down well because they have had so much practice. This game was no exception; Western took many many penalties ... most of them foolishly. With a stronger goalie (sorry, I missed his name) and a lot less foolish penalties, Western Michigan could be an NCAA tournament challenger. Clarkson on the other hand is a talented hard-working team that to me deserves its high rankings this year. Curry was excellent between the pipes. The Clarkson-Maine championship game tomorrow night should be a dandy! Maine 7, Brown 5 Maine ran to a 3-0 lead and then forgot about the game and remembered the finals that (some) had earlier in the day. The Brown goalie (I have a hard time with losing goalies today) was superb robbing Roy 4 times (and others) on semi-breakaways. With Maine up 6-4 through much of the third period, and with less than a minute left in the game, Brown pulled the goalie and stuffed home a rebound sitting near the goal line. The final goal was an open netter with about 16 seconds to go. Maine goals were scored by Roy(2), Tomberline, Tepper, Weinrich, Robitaille, and Pellerin (I think). Exceptional for Brown were King and Brewer. A nice touch tonight was the singing of O Canada before the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. Maine hockey (and for that matter baseball) tournaments have the extra touches that make them enjoyable and special. P.S. As I'm off to Princeton for a week, I'll be missing the Dexter Saturday games ... how about an attendee posting a description? Brian? Jay? someone else? P.P.S. Happy Holidays everyone. It's been an honour and a pleasure to "administer" the list for the past year (7 months :-)). As our list membership now reaches 200, I congratulate you on making it the success that it is. Best wishes for the new year!