My apologlies for not posting in a more timely manner... under the weather would be putting it mildly. > The University of Massachusetts Lowell skated out of Fairbanks with the GAFO tournament title following Saturday's 3-3 tie with the University of Illinois Chicago. The River Hawks finished with a 1-0-2 record and defeated Western Michigan (2-1-0) by virtue of a 3-2 head-to-head victory over the Broncos on Friday. UML faced a stiff challenge in the final 1:10 of overtime as the Flames pulled goalie Paul Spencer in an attempt to win the game and the tournament crown. UIC coach Larry Pedrie was among many questioning the lack of a shootout to break the tournament's two tie games. More on tie-breakers, as well as the future status of the GAFO, later in this report... > Mark Zdan netted a pair of goals for the Flames and missed an apparent hat trick when he missed an open net in the third period. Chris MacDonald was credited with the final UIC goal. UML scorers included Christian Sbrocca, Jeff Daw and freshman Mike Nicholishen, who provided the game-tying marker at 17:19 of the third period. The Hawks were again stingy against the power play, snuffing out all six Flame opportunities. UML finished the tournament by killing 19 of 20 penalties. In the nets, Flames goalie Spencer stopped 21 of 24 shots while the River Hawks' Craig Lindsay saved 27 of 30 shots. > In the second and final game, Western Michigan goaltender Brian Renfrew completed a memorable trip back to his hometown by blanking the host UAF Nanooks 3-0 in front of 3,363 fans. Renfrew stopped all 16 shots he faced, while his teammates Brown, Mayers and Gallentine. Larry Moberg was again solid in the UAF net, turning away 25 of 28 Bronco shots in a losing effort. WMU took advantage of another lackluster Nanook performance to improve to 8-5-1 for the season. The loss dropped the Nanooks to a dismal 4-7-1, heading into a four-game road trip against Miami, Notre Dame and UIC. > The All-Tournament Team was comprised of forwards Cody Bowtell (UAF), Chris MacDonald (UIC), Jeremy Brown (WMU), defensemen Paul Botto (UML) and Shannon Finn (UIC) and goaltender Paul Spencer (UIC). WMU goaltender Brian Renfrew was named as the Tournament MVP. Attendance for the weekend totaled 9,785, just 67 short of last year's record, a fact due largely to the record cold weather for Thursday's opening round games. > Local radio station KIAK loaned broadcasters Bruce Cech and Bob Downes to pick up the play-by-play for UML fans back East. It seems the cool temperatures were quite the conversation topic in Massachusetts. I spoke to Bruce this morning and he appreciated the positive response from the UML fans. > A parting word on shootouts and other tourney topics. Tie games were not a factor in the previous two Face Offs. Ironically, past champions Maine ('92) and Lake Superior State ('93) went on to claim NCAA titles later in the season. Better watch out for the River Hawks... As for next year's Great Alaska Face Off, several problems loom for organizers to tackle in the coming months. First, as UAF will become a full-fledged CCHA member next season, 30 of the Nanooks 34 games will be dedicated to CCHA opponents. Of the remaining four games, two are committed to in-state rival Alaska Anchorage. That leaves just two games with which to put together a tournament format. Add to that the CCHA's desire to schedule conference games over Thanksgiving to minimize player class absences. > Two options remain to save the GAFO. Option #1 would be for the Nanooks to pitch the 3-game, 4 team round-robin format in favor of a 2-game, 4 team elimination format. Option #2 would be to keep the current format but include one or more Canadian schools, games against which do not violate the NCAA 34-game limit. In either case, the tournament would probably move to the Christmas/New Year's break. I, for one, favor Option #2. I like the idea of all tournament teams playing each other, rather than random drawing for elimination pairings which can avoid key matchups. Also, the idea of Canadian schools works well up here, as UAF has (for obvious scheduling reasons) historically played games against these universities. > At any rate, it was a great weekend of hockey in Fairbanks, no matter which team you follow. Thanks for the comments. I'd appreciate feedback on Nanook road games throughout the season. I'll be reporting next on the Harvard series here in late December. > Mark Sonnier [log in to unmask]