UNH did indeed beat the Maine Black Bears, 3-2, last night before over 6400 fans (about evenly-divided in loyalties) at the Cumberland County Civic Center. A goal by Eric Royal off a great feed from Eric Flinton gave the Wildcats the 3-2 lead early in the second period. It was the decisive score and also a timely one since it came just under a minute after Scott Parmentier's goal tied the game for Maine. The two teams then held each other off the board the rest of the way, a more significant event for the 'Cats and Trent Cavicchi in the nets, since the Black Bears began to take full control of the game in the third period. It was to no avail for them, however, and the Wildcats emerged victorious, aided by excellent penalty killing at the very end of the game with Blair Allison pulled, and UNH a man short for the final 1:12. The key sequence in the game came late in the second period when after a wild scramble in front of the UNH net, the puck ended across the Wildcat goal line. Referee Bob Fowkes immediatly waved off the goal saying that the puck had been kicked in. Maine Coach Shawn Walsh took exception to this interpretation, at one point grabbing a stick and pointing to the spot (near the heel?) where he claimed it had hit, and thence into the net. My take on this is that Fowkes may have invoked the now rarely-seen "kick shot" rule, which disallows a puck which has been propelled into the net by a stick pushed forward by a kicking motion from being called a legal goal. It could be that MR. Fowkes just didn't see well enough to *notice* a stick on the puck at all (thus "kicked in" in his mind), but, I wonder if that was his call? Anyway, it was an excellent college hockey game with a large and appreciative crowd however you measure your loyalties. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Robert J. Constantine | >> The Corner Man << Chemistry Library | Parsons Hall | "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit University of New Hampshire | of Hockey" Durham, NH 03824 | (603) 862-1083 | UNH in '94-'95= Go "Homeless" Cats! E-mail: [log in to unmask] | +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++