I just want to make a few comments on the state of hockey at this school As most of you know, OSU is at the bottom of the CCHA, a place they are not unfamiliar with in the last few years. In fact, they have finished no better than fifth since the 83-84 season and have been 8th twice and 7th once in the last four years. They won the CCHA in 71-72, their first year in the league and they get as much mileage out of that as possible, but there is just no tradition here. For the last 17 years, Jerry Welsh, a member of that 71-72 "championship" team has been the coach. He has compiled a record of 301-291-44 and is the winningest coach in OSU hockey history. (Shows you what can happen if you hang around long enough.) His conference record is 192-217-32. I guess I find it ironic that at a school that fires a football coach (Earle Bruce) when he is the winningest coach in the conference, a coach of a major sport can survive with that kind of conference record. His record isn't the main problem though. The program is a mess. This team has talent on it, but it only took a few games for me to realize that they lose because they lack the discipline on both ends of the ice to properly compete. That kind of discipline is the coach's responsibility. The fascilities here are awful. The rink is perhaps the worst rink in all of Div I hockey. It only has seats along one side and behind one goal. It resembles a public park rink and is an embarassment to the university. There is no fan support (How I long for Lynah Rink) to speak of either. The only reason I can figure for the university's acceptance of this situation is that as long as the program is mired in mediocrity (at best) it can use funds it might have given to hockey for the more high-profile football and basketball teams. Any other opinions out there? R. David Smith Cornell '91 OSU Med '95 --