Just when Maine fans thought it couldn't any worse comes this, unmentioned fact. More important than them being banned/re-instated/whatever from the Hockey East tournament. More important than whether or not they will be able to defend their national title. More important than any of that comes this unfortunate fact. For the first time in its three year history, the coveted Hockey-L Ceramic Dalmation will not reside in Orono. After two years in Maine, the Dalmation will be making its way to Ann Arbor, Michigan. (insert smiley faces) As for H-O-C-K-E-Y (on the ice), Clarkson learned of its quarterfinal round opponent. Yesterday, Colgate scored with just over 3 minutes left in the game to edge St. Lawrence, 4-3. SLU completes the season with an 0-4 record vs. the Red Raiders. The last team to go 4-0 vs SLU ended up winning the ECAC title (last season)... bad omen for Clarkson? :) Clarkson defeated Colgate, 4-2 in Potsdam in a game that I thought Clarkson dominated. Oddly enough, a few weeks later, Clarkson defeated Colgate, 5-1 in Starr Rink, in a game that was MUCH closer than the score would indicate. Colgate was down 3-1 with under a minute left before Clarkson scored an empty netter and then another goal after that with the goalie in net. It will be interesting to see who plays in net for Don Vaughan's team. I thought Jason Gates played fairly well against us in Potsdam and was fabulous against us last February... handing us our only loss between mid-January and the NC$$ tournament. I'm don't remember who played against us when we visited Colgate. Should be a good series. I'll certainly be keeping me eye also on the other series, obviously. They all look intriguing. As bad as Big Red fans seem to think Cornell is, I certainly wouldn't put an upset past them. They have shown, at times, that their offense CAN score. They need to do everything right, and get solid goaltending, but it's possible. Union-RPI should also be a good series. Normally, I'd pick Union. WIth a long unbeaten streak to end the season and RPI's consistently inconsistent season, Union seems like a good upset bid, but I don't know. I'd like to see Union knock off the Engineers but it seems, the last few years, no matter how good Union is playing or how bad RPI is going, the Engineers always seem to get up for Union (seems like the opposite of what you might expect). Vermont-Brown. I don't know how much of an upset this would be, if UVM won. Vermont is a team to possibly watch out for, IMO. Tim Thomas is playing well in nets, and is more stable, IMO, than his predecessor Christian Soucy (if less spectacular). I guess the big key in Vermont is that they seem to have more balanced scoring than at any time in the recent past. This is due in part to their excellent rookie crop (Eric Perrin, Martin St. Louis). Brown seemed to flounder down the stretch. Geoff Finch will have to regain his earlier season form and play like he did in last year's ECAC final four (sue me) for Brown to have a chance. I have to predict an RPI-Clarkson, Vermont-Harvard semifinal matchup. Let's go Tech! (and BU) *************************************************************************** Bri Farenell Clarkson '95 [log in to unmask] Glens Falls High '91 AHL and NCAA contact for rec.sport.hockey Go Erin Whitten (GFH '89)! Adirondack Red Wings, AHL Calder Cup Champs: '81 '86 '89 '92 '94? EMAIL ME FOR INFO ON THE COLLEGE HOCKEY CONFERENCES AWARDS POLLS AND THE AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE MAILING LIST