Hello all, Here are my impressions of Friday's WI-UMD gamefrom sect 227 of the Great Dane. First off, it was a night when things seemed to be "out-of-sorts" somehow. The Wisconsin Band was in Ohio preparing for the football game, and the Madison East High School Band filled in by playing On Wisconsin with a _polka_ beat. The Badgers came out flying, peppering Lendzyk with shots in the first period, and looking pretty speedy on the ice. They would set up some nice plays, but the last shot always would seem to go wide, or end up hitting a post. At the end of one, it was 1-1, even though the Badgers had controlled play. (The Bulldogs' goal was a short-handed opportunistic goal.) UMD's weathering of the storm took some of the wind out of Wisconsin's sails. The Badgers still generated some really nice chances, but had a heck of a time finishing the plays. Both teams' power plays sputtered in the face of aggressive penalty kills -- the points on both sides were attacked, and neither team made the adjustment to the "inside, lower" power play very well. WI went 0-6 and UMD 0-7, I think. With Buzzy Christiansen as one of the refs, there was some creative penalty calling, of course, but it didn't really favor one team over another in the final analysis, especially with the power-play troubles. In the third period, the Badgers had a 2-1 lead that you could just feel wouldn't hold up. For about 2/3 of the period, they just looked flat, and Duluth was finally able to apply some pressure. After the 'Dogs tied the game, Wisconsin came alive again, and had the better play for most of the rest of the way. Once again, Lendzyk and the goalposts came up big to deny the game-winning goal, in spite of some very close scoring chances. So... The Badgers looked ok out there, but not quite clicking yet. I saw a lot of good things, especially in regards to working hard and playing as a team. The power play has got to improve; shake up the line-up, try a new strategy, SOMETHING. The good play of the younger team members is a good omen, I think. This team will improve over time. They just need to get more in sync. On Wisconsin, john nash -===-John R. [log in to unmask] Chem. Dept-===-