Well, the hockey gods were smiling upon me and held off the snowstorm currently pounding the northeast just long enough for me to drive up to Portland and catch the Harvard-Maine game. Summary first, comments follow. My apologies for any inaccuracies, as I was pretty far away from the ice, "high above rinkside," as it were. My comments admittedly suffer somewhat from Crimson-vision; I'd love to hear what others at the game have to say. --Julian FIRST PERIOD: Unfortunately, I missed all but 2 minutes of the first, and Maine scored just as I was sitting down to take the lead 2-1. Reportedly, the Harvard goal was scored on the power play by McCann, and the second Maine goal was scored by Tardif. The goalies for the first half of the game were Aaron Israel for Harvard, Marsh for Maine. SECOND PERIOD: Harvard 2:31 Gustafson (Holmes, Nielsen) Harvard 4:59 Gustafson (Holmes, Ferrari) Goalies changed approx. halfway through the period to Tripp Tracy for Harvard, Brain Allison for Maine. Maine 14:14 Latendresse (Tardif, Allison) Shorthanded Maine 18:14 Weinrich (Cardinal) PPG Harvard 19:56 Baird (Lonsinger, Craigen) THIRD PERIOD Maine 0:55 Cardinal (Lovell, Tardif) PPG Harvard 2:38 Gustafson (unassisted) Maine 6:51 Roenick (Tardif, Cardinal) PPG Harvard 8:08 Nielsen (Coughlin, Gustafson) Harvard 10:27 Farrell (Maguire, Baird) PPG BY PERIOD: Harvard Goals: 1 3 3 - 7 Harvard Shots: 6 19 7 - 32 Maine Goals: 2 2 2 - 6 Maine Shots: 8 6 9 - 23 * * * * * * * Some observations: The last time I saw Maine play in person was the Hockey East championship game against BU last year, and the team I watched last night are a mere shadow of their former selves. One of the Maine old-timers in the stands near me remarked "This is the worst Maine team in ten years!!!" Harvard had the edge in speed, and in the Cumberland County Civic Center (which seemed to have a pretty big ice surface), it showed. Harvard's forwards were often able to rush up through center ice and carry the puck right in on net. Maine's defensemen seemed lackluster and had serious problems moving the puck out of their zone, even on power plays. The Harvard forechecking was very effective in blunting Maine's offensive flow, particularly during even-strength play. For long stretches of the 2nd period, the action remained in the Maine zone. The Maine power play did not look impressive, yet somehow they managed to score a number of power play goals. I think several of the Maine goals came off of long shots from the point that were deflected into the net; this play at least seemed to work for them. But their power play set never got going. A pass through the middle would invariably get intercepted by a Harvard defender and cleared up ice. Through 2 power plays in the middle of the second, Maine managed only 2 shots! A 5-on-3 followed by a 5-on-4 situation for Maine during the last minute and a half of the game produced few quality attempts for the same reasons. No question, the WHRB radio announcers leave something to be desired. Yet the refereeing did indeed seem inconsistent, with a number of non-calls for both sides. (The only referee whose name I noticed was Leavitt.) What WHRB probably got frustrated at was Maine's apparent strategy of neutralizing Harvard's forwards by holding them against the boards (especially Martins, who was tied up continually by a Maine player). I don't know if this is legal or not, but the Harvard players were complaining all night, and unfortunately they also retaliated, giving Maine its numerous power play chances. Regarding Harvard's goaltenders, I would agree that Israel is playing more solidly than Tracy this year. I don't know what, if anything, is bothering Tripp, but I expect Tomassoni will continue rotating both goalies (traditions die hard at Harvard, eh?) Even though the season is young, for my money Cory Gustafson is the most improved player for Harvard so far this year. I remember last year he might make a flashy move carrying the puck into the opponent's zone, but would always lose the puck doing so. His hard work is paying off this year as he seems to have found the scoring touch--and in clutch situations, no less (i.e. season opener against Brown, last night's hat trick). His last goal was particularly sweet: Shake and bake across the blue line to skate in between two Maine defenders on Allison, a deke to get Allison down, and a flick from his left for the goal. FOR QUADLINGS ONLY: Superfans Leon and Jason of North House were present, as were Cabot residents Yellow Breen, myself, and Bonnie Docherty (not to mention Steve, Cory, and Durand).