I would have posted this yesterday, but I'm having trouble with my mail system. All in all I thought the Providence Championships were splendid. The host city should be commended for the great job they did in catering to the fans. It was a nice touch having all the stands around the Civic Center area selling food and beverages (especially the Pete's Wicked Ale truck.) I found the people, including the policeman, to be very friendly and helpful. The only gripe I can make is the high cost of parking ($8.00) although I'm sure there were cheaper alternatives. The Civic Center itself seemed small to me, but that also served to increase the decibel level, especially on Saturday. It also made it fun spotting the coaches out in the audience--I saw Jeff Jackson sitting below the Maine band, and Dan Fridgen on the aisle above Mike Machnik. The Hockey-L gathering was a highlight in itself. It was great fun wandering around the Civic Center on Thursday and being accosted ( ;-) )by fellow listers. I have great admiration for the depth of support exhibited by some of those fans who travelled so far to witness their team's play, especially the disconsolate John Haussler, who journeyed back to Michigan on Friday. Wayne's family received the deserved accolades for all their work (and patience) with the list. Ron Correia also merits mention for the nice job with the dinner at the Player's Corner Pub. BTW who was selling those $2 beers--not bad for Anchor Steam!) Ron set the standard for future Hockey-L gatherings--imagine getting the Hanson Bros. just for Hockey-L! I did talk with the middle Hanson about his work as GM with the Albany River Rats last year. He was a pretty regular guy, and said he thought the Albany franchise was a pretty solid operation. Also, thanks to Luiz Valente on his Providence guide. Cheryl and I dined at an Italian restaurant on Atwell Street on Saturday night. Excellent! and very reasonable. The competition was quite good--even without the epochal struggle between Michigan and Maine. BU was clearly the class of the field. On Thursday's game I thought that BU looked a little lazy, yet still had the excess talent to easily out-class Minnesota. Herlofsky also looked a little soft, but the BU defense could have supported anyone playing in the net. BU is an amazingly deep team. While Grier seemed to have an off-series, other guys like Kaj Linna, O'Sullivan and Jacques Joubert really sparkled. Jack Parker put on a great coaching show supplying the right answers all night. I was wondering why Maine was so upset on the first BU goal. Looked like a pick play off the face-off, but as we all know, that's fair game in a championship. I also got a kick out of the BU fans chanting BC sucks at the end of the semi-final game. Oh yes, and Maine--this team is the team to beat next year. Although they lose Chris Imes, this team has got a surplus of horses to win next year. Add young Kariya and it seems like they'll have all the pieces. I have to comment about two Black Bears--Chris Imes and Shawn Walsh. Although Allison put on the show in Thursday's game, Imes was simply awesome. As Mike noted, Imes was constantly circling back to cover the Maine defense's mistakes, laying some heavy muscle on both Michigan's and BU's forwards. I thought that Imes' defensive responsibilites might have taken away his offense in the BU game. Walsh also seemed unwilling to play him on the power play, going instead with Jeff Tory most of the time. I thought perhaps that was to give Imes a rest for the load he seemed to be carrying. In the Michigan game Imes' offense was, for lack of a better word, great. The third Maine goal was a masterpiece. Imes took the puck on the point and started skating down the slot. I kept yelling shoot, shoot but Imes instead evaded the oncoming defenseman and bore on. Reaching the corner of the crease Imes stopped, and kept waiting, waiting, until a Maine forward finally got open on the opposite corner. Quick dish, quick score. Hate to hang a label on him, but I think Imes is a can't-miss in the NHL. Shawn Walsh--he proved to me what an outstanding coach he is. He is a master of the between-periods speech. In both the Michigan and BU games Walsh took his team into the lockerroom, outlined a play, and watched his team execute. In the Michigan game I think it took about 30 seconds for Maine to score in the second period; with BU Maine took about 90 seconds to (temporarily) claw back into the game. I watched the patience of the Maine team in that semi-final overtime, and thought what a superb coach Walsh must be to instill such dedication in his players. Repeatedly Maine would bring the puck into the Michigan end, but every time one of the Maine forwards would peel back into the center zone to play defense. The only time I can remember the Maine defense getting caught was when Imes pinched in deep and got knocked down. On that play Allison showed his mettle--I sat staring at the goal light, only it never went on. Perhaps I should temper my prediction on Maine--Michigan will be back next year too. The Wolverines had the best #1 line in the nation this year. Freshman Marty Turco played every bit as well as Allison, and his return alone must establish Michigan as the beast in the West. Sorry to ramble so much, but once again, congratulations to BU, the best team in the nation (you have to be to beat LSSU.) BU won its championship in a great tournament, which really painted a nice picture of college hockey. Too bad the television viewers didn't get to see it. ****************************************************************************** Brian Morris RPI Engineers--1995 ECAC Champions [log in to unmask] Tenth Anniversary of the '85 Championship