At 6:05 PM 10/29/95, J. Michael Jackson wrote: >Obviously, this seems to be the word. I've attended the last two Final >Fours and I don't see it. It was only four games, but he was not very >impressive on the ice. Scott Bell of the Gophers made some very pointed >comments after last year's loss to the effect that Grier played lazy. >That's the way it seemed to me, though a BU fan said he was playing hurt. > I'm just trying to get some opinions about whether he really is that goo= d. Well, by your own admission you've only seen him play a few times, and I= agree that he was not as much of a factor in those games. Also, Grier did= not really come into his own until last season. As a walk-on, no one= expected much out of him until he started scoring up a storm last year as a= sophomore. I would say I have seen him dominate enough games to the extent that I think= he has a real chance to do well in the NHL. However, he also has a number= of things to deal with that weren't a problem for him before. The focus is= on him now, for one thing, so he has to "prove" himself almost every time= out. Opponents bother him more than they used to, and they try to knock= him off his game to prevent him from being a factor in the game= offensively. He also has to strike a balance between being the heavy= hitter and creating scoring chances, as well as helping out defensively. = He's not always able to strike that balance. My opinion is that Mike Grier could not step into the NHL today and be the= player that many people think he will be. He has things to learn, many of= them psychological. That is the challenge he faces in his next two years. = But he's come pretty far already, so I would be the last one to bet against= him. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93 >> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System << ***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at: ***** ***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html ***** HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.