Finally I get my college hockey fix in Southern California! I missed the preliminary games at the Forum on Saturday (scores were Lake Superior 3, Princeton 1 and Maine 4, Western Michigan 1), but I did catch the consolation and championship games on Sunday. The line scores were Western Michigan 1 2 3 - 6 Princeton 2 1 0 - 3 and Lake Superior 0 0 2 - 2 Maine 0 1 2 - 3 In the first game, Princeton seemed to be in control throughout much of the first half of the game. Of the teams in the tourny, Princeton was probably the most physical team on the ice. IMHO, Princeton made a tactical error in the second half of the game by letting up a bit on the physical play and trying to skate with the Broncos. This played directly into the Broncos' hands because they clearly had forwards with whom the Princeton defensemen could not keep up. Obviously, WMU lit it up in the third. This rather surprised me primarily because Princeton seemed to have so much success in the first half of the game in bottling up the WMU offense at the blue line. Maybe the Tigers just got tired, especially after having played a brutally physical game with the Lakers the previous night. Since many of you saw the LSSU-Maine game on Prime, I'll keep this one short. I have already seen comments on the list about what happened (officiating-wise) in the third period, but that didn't come close to what could have happened in the first. In the first ten minutes or so, LSSU played like the defending NC$$ champs and Maine was out of sync. Put that together with a couple of horrendous Maine line changes and LSSU should have had at least two first period goals if it weren't for Mike Dunham (30 saves on 32 shots). One breakaway featured an LSSU two on none in which Dunham saved the original shot and the rebound. Spectacular. There was at least one other break-away situation which should have been converted, but Dunham was ON. Through the first two periods, the shots were even at 17 apiece. This is deceptive. Many of LSSU's second period shots were hurried and uncontrolled while Maine marginally out-skated the Lakers. After Maine scored the first goal (Salfi), I thought the score would end up 1-0 considering the way both goalies were playing. In the first half of the third period, LSSU got several power plays after Maine went up 2-0. After a holding call when Maine was up 3-1, Shawn Walsh had a fit which was easily deserving of a 2-minute minor, which it got. I didn't get it. The Maine defense had been frustrating the Lakers most of the night, and yet Walsh essentially sent an extra Maine player off the ice personally. In hindsight, I suspect that Walsh was irritated at the number of calls going against his team in the third. Still, he's gonna have to learn to bottle it up come the post-season. To LSSU's credit, they ran the ensuing 5 on 3 beautifully and got a much needed goal. LSSU ended up outshooting Maine for the game by 32-26 (I think). The rest has already been covered. It was a great game, easily filling its billing as the biggest-game-of-the-year-to-date. One wonders what may have happened had the stars of these teams been present. -- Stephen Leroy (Cornell '88) | Disclaimer: Caltech knows Division of Geological and Planetary Science | better than to take California Institute of Technology | responsibility for what I leroy@(cluster,satur1).gps.caltech.edu | may claim.