I got out of work 4 hours early tonight (the retail industry is struggling) and I stopped by the NYA Ice Arena before coming down to the lab. The mood at NYA was very somber. One of the Casco Bay Youth Hockey teams had finished a practice a short time earlier and I walked past at least a dozen kids in the parking lot, and not one of them was laughing or smiling like they usually are. A men's league game had just started when I arrived and the crowd was much quieter than I remember them being three years ago. I went to the office to ask about Travis, and was told that he had come through his surgery, and that the spinal cord was not cut, but the swelling was still too severe to make any prognosis. I'd like to thank the people who have sent their notes. I'll be mailing the letter tomorrow afternoon, but I'll stop by the lab before I go to work and print up any other letters that come in by then. A note of interest: among the hundreds of people who have already written to, or visited, the hospital for Travis are Bobby Orr, who went to the hospital and sent a special note to Trav, and the Boston Bruins, the team he wanted to play for one day, who sent a fax signed by captain Ray Bourque. As BU coach Jack Parker said, "These things seem to bring out the best in people." John Forsyth HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.