FYI, the Boston newspapers publish weekly notes columns on college hockey, with the following schedule (info from each paper's sports dept.): Boston Herald: John Connolly's column, printed in Monday Herald. Boston Globe: column (author not specified), printed in Wednesday Globe, starting in JANUARY. Highlights from Monday's Herald column by John Connolly (material both quoted and summarized): Brown skates to quick start: Brown (6-2-0) leads the ECAC despite ranking eighth in offense and seventh in power-play and penalty-killing efficiency. The Bears' secret is even-strength play, where they have allowed only 2.5 goals per game. The Bruins' experienced defense is anchored by goalie Mike Parsons, a 5'9", 160-pound junior. "Brown is certainly a surprise", said Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni. "They are pretty experienced defensively. The big question coming into the season was who would replace Geoff Finch in goal. But Parsons has stepped forward and answered the call. They are a very resilient bunch. They keep playing. Certainly, Bobby (Gaudet) and Brian Durocher have done a good job (coaching). They've been pretty good the last two years, so it's not like they're coming from the bottom of the pack. They have a pretty gtood nucleus, and they don't give you too many second and third shots." Nanooks of the North: Harvard leaves Boston 7am Tuesday for Alaska, to play a two-game set Dec. 21-22 at UAF. "It was 48 below zero up there (Saturday)", said Tomassoni. "But it will be a fun trip." Harvard will play without Ashlin Halfnight (on USA squad for World Junior Championships at Red Deer, Alberta), Michel Breistroff (on French National team at Izvestia Tournament in Russia and Mont Blanc Megeve event in France), Brian Famigletti (shoulder problem); Geb Marett will return from a groin injury. Halfnight and senior forward Cory Gustavson have arguably been Harvard's best players so far this season. Tomassoni is quoted saying Gustavson has been getting lots of ice time and they're trying to improve the power-play. Burke's Law: Providence junior RW Dennis Burke has big weekend on Dec. 9-10. Newton, MA resident scored his first goal of the season Friday in a 3-3 tie with Northeastern, then scored 4 goals in a 10-3 blowout over NU at PC's Schneider Arena. Burke was named HE player of the week. Purdie Goals: Junior center Brad Purdie scored GWG for Maine in 3 straight games, a 3-1 win over Merrimack and two wins over St. Cloud State, 4-3, 6-1. Colgate forward Rob Mara (Belmont, MA) scored his first career goal in an 8-3 win over Army. Colgate senior goaltender Jason Gates has left the team for personal reasons; he had not appeared this season after playing 41 career games (16-18-3, 4.20 GAA). My own observations, based on the Brown-Harvard game at Harvard earlier this month, is that Brown is a very entertaining team to watch and very much better than Brown teams of a few years ago. I will be gone for Xmas from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2, so I will not be reporting on the BC-Notre Dame game. If anyone goes to that, try to post some news. Thanks. --------------- ---------------------- Rick McAdoo [log in to unmask] BC will return! GO EAGLES!