This past Monday evening, the Pro-Am's (the college level) started. Although the teams have names like the "Sharks," "Bruins," "Clovers," etc, I will refer to them by their description. In the first game, the pseudo-BU team beat the pseudo-Northeastern team 9-3. For the pseudo-BU team, the line of Mike Grier, Chris O'Sullivan, and Chris Drury ran circles around the opposition. BU recruit Albie O'Connell showed nice touch around the net, but did not stand out otherwise. The game was not very exciting, but seeing Sean McDonough behind the bench and Shawn Ferullo in net was nice. The second game was odd. The pseudo-Darthmouth team had 5 players change their minds and not show up. This led to a bunch of guys who were still hanging around from the first game joining what was left of the Devils (formerly pseudo-Dartmouth) and beating the "mixed team" (Jets) 10-4. The only real standout of this game was the goaltending of Brian Audette (Brown Univ). The third game was the best of the evening. The pseudo-UMass/Amherst team defeated the pseudo-BC team 8-6. This game was intensely played and involved more hitting than the first two combined. The star of the night was clearly goalie Todd Sullivan (Yale Univ, now playing for the pseudo-UMass team) He played the first half for the pseudo-UMass team, allowing only 2 goals and making great save after great save. (He was replaced for the second half by the less successful Mark Northup (UConn).) The pseudo-BC team had great offensive rushes, but their defense was bad by Pro-Am standards (REALLY bad) and the goaltending of Boston Bruins draft-pick Evgeny Ryabjikov left something to be desired, especially on anything in close. It was nice, however, to see BU defenseman Jeff Kealty (a big disapointment so far) playing very well, playing with more confidence, and standing out as one of the only good defensemen for the pseudo-BC team. One Pseudo-BC player whose play was intriguing was Jamie Venezia (UConn). His skill and speed put him on the level of div I players, but his extremely small size makes him stand out even more. The low-checking Pro-Am's allow his skills to shine, but I would be intrigued to see how he would have done in a serious div I game. If he could take the hitting (ala Cal Ingraham), he would have made most teams better. Oh well. The next games are this coming Monday. Tony BU'92'93 Former Ogre