Steve Weisfeldt writes: >"Biggest rival" may vary from fan to fan, as well. I'm not sure I speak >for all Lowell fans, but I consider our biggest rival to also be BU. >Again, though, biggest rival may mean "most hated"!! Something that is kind of interesting and disappointing is how the Lowell-Merrimack rivalry has all but disappeared. I have not gotten the impression for a while that Lowell has seen Merrimack as a big rival, at least since the departure of former Lowell coach Bill Riley. Then again, Riley is the guy who ranted at his team before a big game with Merrimack, "I hate their !@#$ team, I hate their !@#$ fans, I hate their !@#$ town...I hate their !@#$ zip code!" (The zip for the section of Lowell where the school is, is 01854...and North Andover's is 01845.) The same is true on the Merrimack side, too. The Warriors would now probably consider BC and BU to be their biggest rivals, although those teams do not feel the same way. The most intense, heated games Merrimack has played over the last couple of years have been with those two teams, and the four MC-BU games this season were all wars. So, it's hard for some to understand how the Lowell-Merrimack rivalry could have been one of the most heated in college hockey, back when the two teams were in DivII - only a little more than a decade ago. That was when a sellout for a Lowell-Merrimack game was guaranteed at either rink, as were brawls on-ice and off. In fact, although I can't verify it yet, long-time area fans say that the last game Merrimack ever played in the Boston Garden was against Lowell in the old Teapot Tournament - the DivII Beanpot featuring (I believe) Lowell, Merrimack, Salem State, and Holy Cross. The Lowell-Merrimack game ended up in a brawl that spilled over into the Garden stands, and that was the end of the Teapot and DivII hockey at the Garden. Emotions ran high, and both teams were usually among the best in DivII which meant the meetings tended to be big ones. I've also heard the opinion that the type of player who plays DivII-III hockey is more of an emotional, hard-working player. The theory is that as the two teams moved into DivI and started recruiting different kinds of players, the rivalry began to fade...as well as the fact that at first, Lowell was in HE and Merrimack was not, and then when Merrimack entered HE, both teams struggled until Lowell last year. I do recall the rivalry remaining somewhat intact in the late 80s when Lowell was doing well and Merrimack was a top Independent, selling out nearly every night, and the teams played twice a year home-and-home. I think it would be good for the area (the schools are about 10 miles apart) and for both teams to somehow rekindle that rivalry. It was hoped that the HE quarterfinal playoff meeting this year might be the beginning of that, but I think that the only people who eagerly awaited the series were the old-timers, of whom there don't seem to be many at the games anymore. And every year when the first meeting between the teams rolls around, the press hypes it and all, but still no one goes and nothing much happens. What it might take is for both teams to be successful again in the same year. Lowell is ahead in that department, and we will have to see if Merrimack continues to head in that direction. Next year should find Merrimack icing its best team since entering HE, so it could be interesting. As one who was around for the waning years of the rivalry, I will say it was very special that Merrimack won out over Lowell in the battle for goaltender Marty Legault. :-) BTW, as a community service, here's a way I found I can reach Steve Weisfeldt. Route his mail through another site which is able to talk to his. For example, his address is [log in to unmask], so to route it through mit.edu, you'd change the "@" to "%" and tack on the string "@mit.edu". Steve would do likewise to mail back to you. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93