With the Mayor's Cup back on the proper shelf and ready for the engravers (a local difference of opinion was settled at Schneider Arena last Saturday when Brown emerged with an impressive 8-5 victory over Providence College), thoughts now turn to another road trip tomorrow night and a chance to see how well the Brown Bears match up against the fifth-ranked Black Bears of Maine on neutral ice (kinda -- if it was really neutral we should be playing at the Towse Rink and the Maine fans - southern branch - would not have ensured a sell-out) at the Portland Civic Center. This game will be the second in a brutal run of seven consecutive away games for Brown before January 2nd. After the Maine encounter, and the coincidental opportunity to enhance their strength of schedule component, Brown has a return match vs. Harvard at Bright Arena this Saturday, then onto Clarkson/St. Lawrence, UMass-Lowell and Merrimack for some Holiday greetings. Luis Valente said, "a tough week for the Bears"; I would amend that slightly to read "a tough month". On the upside, Brown has seemingly found its scoring punch in the last two games against Yale and PC and the goaltending has been strong right along with all three goaltenders (Parsons, Audette & Holowaty) shining in their appearances; on the downside, all of the teams they'll be going up against during this stretch are playing/starting to play well. So, as we begin to log some serious road miles, there is a bit of anticipation for some pleasant surprises along the way and, of course, some terrific hockey. How is this for an opposing goaler sextet -- Allison, Tracy, Murphy, Bracco, Fillion & Legault -- here we come, anyway! Bill Corrigan LET'S GO BRUNO! HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.