Ben Cloutier writes: >..... I think....During my freshman year at Maine, U.S. International, out of >sunny and warm San Diego, came to Orono to play the Black Bears. That was in >1987 and Maine won 4-1. I beieve they were div. I. I can't tell you if they >exist today. Any followup? US International, besides being the only DivI team from California, was a pretty decent team. As Ben says, they only lost 4-1 at Maine in 87-88, and in early 85, Maine went out there and played two, tying 3-3 and winning 8-6. In USIU's last season, they went 19-12-0, including handing Merrimack two of its four losses as Merrimack was 32-4-0 prior to the 1988 NC$$ tourney. Perhaps the most well-known player for the Gulls was goalie Tony Couture, who transferred to North Dakota and played well for the Sioux. USIU's athletic department went bankrupt after the 1987-88 season and they dropped all programs, including hockey. That was really the beginning of UAA and UAF entering the WCHA and CCHA, as USIU, UAA, UAF, and Northern Arizona were the four members of the famous 5th DivI conference, the Great West Hockey Conference. Northern Arizona dropped hockey after the inaugural GWHC season of 1985-86, and the other three competed in the GWHC for the next two seasons until USIU left. That could have left us with the two member Great Alaska Hockey Conference, but it didn't happen. :-) >GO BLACK BEARS!!!!!!! (please win one NC$$ away from Alfond, maybe three?!) Here's an interesting stat...there have been five tourneys played so far with the 12-team format, and a #1 seed has never won the title since then (1988-92). The #1 seeds this year are LSSU and Maine. You can get the list of tourney results from listserv with GET NCAADIV1 RESULTS to find out the seeds for those years. On top of that, here's a frightening stat for Maine fans...since Maine's first DivI tourney in 1988, the Black Bears' record in NC$$ games played away from Alfond is a horrendous 1-9-0. The one win was a consolation win over Minnesota in 1988. Since Maine went 1-1-0 in consolation games in 1988 and 1989, their away record in games that really meant something (where they had a chance to advance) is 0-8-0. That would actually make a win Saturday over Minnesota/Clarkson a momentous one despite their 39-1-2 record. Maine takes a 22 game away winning streak into Saturday's game. Their last road loss came a day short of a year away from Sat's game, 3-2 to MSU in Providence on 3/28/92... --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors alternate address days: [log in to unmask] *HMN* 11/13/93 (Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)