Some comments on the 44th NCAA DivI Championship Game: I feel bad for people who could have watched this game but decided to watch Duke-UNLV instead. I feel a little better for those people who switched to ESPN after Duke-UNLV and at least caught the BU comeback and the overtimes. I also couldn't help but think: for all those people tuning into ESPN across America and watching a college hockey game for the very first time, what a brilliant introduction to the sport. This game had everything you'd ever want to see in hockey. Powerful offenses, methodical power plays, fantastic goaltending, pinpoint passing, crunching bodychecks, clutch defensive plays, TWO huge comebacks, exciting overtime play, and a ton of great individual efforts that combined into two superb team performances. I've only been watching the DivI championship game since 1985, so I have to qualify this by saying that I did not see the famous BG-UMD 4ot match in 1984. That said, Saturday's game was the best championship game I have ever seen, and very possibly the greatest college game I have ever seen. It beats out Harvard-Minnesota in 1989, RPI-UMD in 1985 (just barely), and Maine-Northeastern in 1988 for the HE championship, among others. It was uncharacteristically high-scoring for a championship game, but it wasn't like that ridiculous NHL All-Star Game last year. Both teams had such great scorers that it wasn't possible to keep the score down when they really wanted to put that puck in the net. I don't think it would have been as high-scoring if BU hadn't jumped out to that early lead (causing NMU to turn it on in the 2nd) or if NMU hadn't stormed back in the 2nd and early 3rd (causing BU to turn it on in the 3rd). I couldn't help but get that feeling of deja vu after the second overtime ended. Four years ago, on another Easter Eve, I sat and watched the New York Islanders beat Washington, 3-2, in the seventh game of their playoff series - a seventh game that started at 7:30 and didn't end until after 2 am, halfway through the *fourth* overtime. If you thought Saturday's game was long, imagine sitting through a game for six and a half hours! I had to change tapes twice during the game. First after the third period, then again after the second overtime. I had grabbed a tape with an hour of tape left on it, thinking, "The way it's been going, it will definitely be decided within the first two overtimes." Not all of our mail has rolled in yet and I'm sure some people have already given good descriptions of what happened. I also don't know that I can do justice to what a fantastic game it was. On top of that, I started making a few notes when the game started, and as it went on I wrote less and less because I was so involved in the game. When BU tied it, I just wrote one word: Sacco! I will admit that I began the game pulling for BU but still hoping for a good match, and when they mounted their comeback I was *really* pulling for them. Still, I thought Northern was definitely the better team, and to that end, justice was done in the form of the better team winning. Werenka was just stupendous, the player of the game in my opinion with Beattie a close second. Werenka made one great defensive play after another, and BU made him work. Then he'd lead a rush into the BU zone. What a player. And Beattie won a lot of big draws with his feet and was nearly unstoppable all night. Congratulations to NMU and their fans, the Wildcats sure did earn it! Finally, congratulations to the Terriers for a great season and a great effort. I don't know how much respect they had from Western people before the game, but they had to have earned some just as NMU earned it from Eastern folks. Probably just about everyone had them counted out with eight minutes left. There's no loss of pride in losing a game like this, and they can be disapppointed but still proud. BU will graduate goalie John Bradley (a tough second period, but he was hung out to dry), defensemen Phil von Stefenelli and Mark Krys, and forwards David Tomlinson, Ed Ronan, Chris McCann. and Darin MacDonald. In addition, sophomores Tony Amonte, Peter Ahola, and Petteri Koskimaki, junior Shawn McEachern, and freshman Keith Tkachuk all have opportunities with the pros or with their countries' Olympic Teams (Ahola and Koskimaki with Finland). That's a loss of at least 7, maybe 12 players, with 10 or 11 players very likely to be gone. I enjoyed watching this team over the past two years, except when they were beating up on my poor Warriors. Who knows when, if ever, I may actually root for BU again? :-) What a game. Charlie Shub writes: > However, I'm still not convinced >the Northern "non-goal" in the second period was not a goal. I agree, the replays are no help and there is no sound so we can try to see if the puck does go in before the whistle. So, I don't think we can easily ascertain whether the wipeout was a good one or not. That's something we'll probably never know. Werenka was clearly knocked into the net by an opponent, but that wasn't the issue. If the referee decides that he blew the whistle before the puck went in the net, then nothing else matters. That's what I am assuming the officials' conference after the goal was meant to determine. Jim Baines writes: >No overtime penalties? That's full-fledged baloney. In a way I agree, and in a way I agree with the "let them play" school of thought. I am glad the game was decided in a manner that can't be argued (although, had BU won, Northern may have had a legitimate argument based on the Werenka non-goal). Both teams committed an equal number of uncalled infractions, from my viewpoint. But I also think the "don't change the rules just because it's ot" view is valid. I'd like to say there's a gray area here, but there isn't! Either you call the penalty or you do not. I cannot honestly say that I agree wholeheartedly with either side. I have problems with both. NUMBERS The 15 goals is the most scored in an NCAA championship game in 34 years. In 1957, Colorado College beat Michigan, 13-6. 1991 was the third highest- scoring championship; in 1950, CC beat BU, 13-4. Northern's 8 goals are the most by an NCAA championship-winning team since Michigan beat BC, 8-2, in 1965. BU's 7 goals are the most *ever* by a runner-up. The game time of 81:57 makes this the second-longest championship game, to 1984's 97:11 (Bowling Green 4, Minn-Duluth 3 in 4 ots). Three of the first 36 championship games were decided in overtime. Three of the last four championship games have been decided in overtime. NMU's win gives the WCHA two straight national championships. The last conference to do this was also the WCHA with North Dakota in 1982 and Wisconsin in 1983. That ended a stretch of six straight national champion- ships by the WCHA. The last conference other than the WCHA to win two straight was the ECAC with BU in 1971 and 1972. - mike p.s. my string of predicting the national champ comes to an end. can't come any closer, though...