** Ryan First off, thanks to all for the nice comments about Ryan. He's a great kid who had a great time. I'm sure when he becomes an adult he'll be telling stories about how he whipped all three Hansons. :-) ** Faceoff goals Was anyone else struck by the number of goals and near-goals that were generated *right off the faceoff* in the semis and finals? In TheBestGameI'veEverSeen, Shermerhorn almost lost the game as he let his man walk right off the faceoff near the end of the third period (or maybe it was end of the first OT, in any case it was relatively *early* in the game :-) ). Allison saved his butt on that one and off course Shermerhorn more than redeemed himself with his game-winner which was virtually *right off the faceoff*. Then, in the first goal scored in the finals, Shermerhorn gets tossed out of the faceoff circle for what appeared to be a gratuitous pre-puck-drop shove on Thornton (I'd love to hear Shermerhorn's inside scoop on that one), and Thornton undressed whoever then took the draw, controlling the puck and then roofing it for a huge goal. I seem to recall other faceoff plays but can't remember specific details. I'm just surprised that at this level players were allowed to generate so much directly off the faceoff. Hockey 101 seems to dictate that you *must* tie your man up off the faceoff. Granted as they get more skilled it gets tougher, but presumably all the players involved are high-skilled and should make sure that opportunities like this are much more rare than what we saw. ** BU and movement away from the puck I was really impressed with how much better BU was at generating offense with movement *away* from the puck. This, combined with the patience of the puckcarrier to give that player time to get open, was just one more reason BU proved to be at the head of this year's class. ** A tired Maine? I don't think the OTs were the cause of their defeat in the finals. BU beat them like they did to everyone else in the tournament. Maine did not play two full games, they (from a legs point of view) played essentially one and two-thirds games since the third OT lasted only a few seconds. Since teams are used to playing back-to-back nights during league play, I can't see that having a full day off in between wouldn't allow full recovery. One could argue that they got an extra five hours or so of recovery time since they had the early game. What might have been a bigger factor is the emotional and mental drain of the thriller against Michigan. Still, IMO BU won because they were the demonstrably better team. ** Norton I love him. I wanna hear the schools and the details and everything. And I don't think he favors any team. ** HE goalies & the NHL Keep in mind that not only is Hockey East smaller than some conferences, they've only been around ten years now. So there are no ten-plus year veterans in the NHL because there was no HE then. Apparently Terrerri was the lone NHL-bound goalie in HE's early years. In around HE's middle years Garth Snow, Mike Dunham, and Dwayne Roloson began paying their dues and all three appear to have legit pro shots within the next couple years. It certainly seems that Wisconsin has something extra-special in their goalie coach, but I'd be surprised if the current Western-slant aside from Wisconsin didn't even out as time progresses. ***************************************************** ,-******-, * Dave Hendrickson "Robo" [log in to unmask] * *' ## '* * A Hockey Polygamist and Get-A-Lifer * *## ___##___ ##* * GO BROONS!!! Go Red Wings!! Go Leafs! * * ##| ___ \## * * GO UMASS-LOWELL!!! Go BU!! Go Maine! * * | |___) | * * --------------------------------------------------* *######| ___ <######* * Although I can't remember ever having an original * * | |___) | * * thought, and am certainly parroting someone who * * ##|________/## * * actually has a brain, these opinions are mine, * *## ## ##* * not Hewlett-Packard's. * *, ## ,* ***************************************************** '-*******-'