The results of the Friday Marriuci Classic games have been posted so I'll just give some commentary. By the way, my understanding is that LSSU beat Minnesota for the championship 4-3 in double OT. I was on the road back to Michigan on Sunday so I was unable to attend the Sunday games. LSSU vs. Maine I thought Maine had the better playmaking in the first half of the first period. LSSU won the penalty-fille second half of that period by virtue of outshooting Maine and in the process outscoring them. The second period Maine came back to even up the play, but not the score. Maine switched goalies from Marsh to Allison. Allison was certainly more entertaining to watch with aggresive and well done puck handling in and out of the net. Maine built towards the end inlcuding a flurry at the very end with the goalie pulled. Final score was 2-1 in favor of LSSU. The shots favored Maine 24-21. A quote from Minnesota Coach Doug Woog helped me understand the game a little better, "Lake State wins by elminating the other team's offense rather than creating their own. They depend on great goaltending, on playing tough along the rail, in the corners and in front of the net, and they out-muscle you." Minnesota vs. Cornell Cornell took the first shot of the game but didn't see another shot until the second period. Minnesota was high-flying and fun to watch finishing the period 2-0 in score and 10-1 in shots. I've seen this before, Minnesota overwhelms the other team in shots. The Minnesota goalie hasn't been in the game for some time and lets the next shot in. History repeated itself, Cornell's second shot of the game was also a goal. To Cornell's credit, the came out harder hitting in the second and made it a much evener game. For the period, the scores and shots were Minnesota 2-14 and Cornell 2-10. Cornell changed their goalie to start the third period. However, this period was a lot the first period, mostly Minnesota. Minnesota outshot Cornell 16 to 9. Four the of the Cornell shots came in the last thirty seconds when they had a 5-3 power play. Minnesota Comments The announced attendance was 8879. There seemed to be an awful lot of empty seats for a number that is near sell-out. If the Classic was on the season ticket then people going home for the holidays would explain the empty seats. In support of comments made earlier this year, the sound system in Marriuci Arena is not very good. If this is improved from earlier, I would hate to have heard it then. Somebody didn't do a very a good job. Having seen the Gophers at the Palace in Michigan and in Marriuci in Minnesota, I think I understand better their problems at the Palace. Marriuci is a fast, wide (Olypmic) ice surface. The Palace was a soft, slow (sloppy wet) as well as narrower (standard) ice surface. With the wider ice surface at Marriuci it seems that the Gophers are making use of many cross-ice passes to break out of their zone. With the wider ice there is a lot more space for people to be open. Further, in talking with some hockey players, there is something to the speed of the ice surface that you have to get adjusted to. To me, I now see why the Gophers had such a problem breaking out of their zone and having so many passes off the mark or intercepted. Of course, the need to adjust their play to the arena is a whole other issue. Doug P. --+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-- Douglas J. Peterson Have _--____ ____ [log in to unmask] you ` / ---- / Safety Laboratories Department driven -/- __ ____ _ / Ford Motor Company a . / / \--/___/ \/ (313) 390-8089 GO GOPHERS!!! \_/ ,\_/ / \_/_ lately? --+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--