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I guess I was one of the last people to learn about this, since I was at the games in Providence and just found out when I got home about midnight. Whenever news like this comes out, it is always depressing to those of us who follow the game as closely as we do, because we like to think that college hockey is above reproach. Unfortunately, these things happen in college hockey too. The goal is to ensure that they happen as rarely as possible. To that end, I also have to commend the University of Maine administration for the way in which they handled the matter and chose to make the difficult decisions they made. They are decisions that, as the administration probably knew, will hurt the program in the short run, but in the long run should go a long way towards preventing such transgressions from happening again. As well, I feel badly for the people involved with the Maine program, whether guilty or not. The sanctions appear deserved, but I still feel badly that the situation reached the point where sanctions were necessary. My hope is that everyone involved will be able to put it behind them and move forward once everything is dealt with in totality (after the NCAA rules). And, I do feel the worst for the current players who were unfortunate pawns in the whole thing and will not have a chance to take the extra step and possibly win an NCAA title this season. They did no wrong, but as it goes, they have to bear some of the punishment. It is admirable that the administration voluntarily pulled Maine out of the NCAA tourney and it probably also was the right decision, yet that doesn't mean we can't sympathize with the players. Also, I have to commend Deron for his comments. I'm sure it wasn't easy for him to report the outcome, yet he did so with grace - something we can all learn from. A couple of questions come to mind as I read the posts. Not all are answerable right now, but they may give people something to think about as we try to figure out what the ramifications of this are. * As suggested, will HE choose to bar Maine from the HE tourney this year? If so, will the 9th place team simply move in as the 8th seed? And if HE does take such action, will the university contest it? I'm not sure whether I would agree with such an action on HE's part, yet it is possible that if Maine plays in the tourney, they would win it and render void the league's automatic bid to the NCAAs. * How will this set of sanctions affect any possible decision that the NCAA may hand down? Will the NCAA be lenient because of Maine's response, or will they determine that other, more strict penalties are warranted? * How will the NCAA Selection Committee determine Maine's status for the 1995 tournament with regard to the other teams? For example, one of the criteria used is "record against teams under consideration (TUC)". Will Maine not be considered a TUC because they have voluntarily withdrawn from the tourney, even though they might have otherwise been a TUC? * Will the announcement of certain violations from seasons in the past result in Maine having to forfeit additional games, other than forfeitures that have already been dealt with? Could it affect Maine's finish in past HE and NCAA tourneys? * As SteveK posted on INFO-HOCKEY-L from the Maine web site, > -- Members of the University's ice hockey team accepted promises of a >stipend for competing on the 1992 and >1994 U.S. Olympic hockey teams after being led to believe by the Olympic >teams' administrators that the stipends >were permissible under NCAA rules. They later proved not to be. I forget which Maine players competed in 1992. Were there any who returned to play for Maine in 1992-93? If so, would the above violation cause those players to be ruled ineligible for that season and place the 1993 NCAA Championship in jeopardy? * I did not see any mention of violations that affected the 1992-93 season, yet it was said that violations occurred from the late 1980s through 1994. Were there any other violations that could affect the 1993 NCAA Championship? I ask these latter two questions simply because I believe they need to be asked and because it seems that not all of the violations have been publicized. I do hope that the answer to both is no. * I saw no mention of anything done with regard to the boosters who were said to have been involved in at least a couple of violations. Was anything done in this area regarding the manner in which these and other boosters may deal with the program? BTW, Brian Morris asked about seniors and mentioned Jeff Tory...Tory was reclassified as a junior for this season, I believe, upon re-examination of his eligibility status. I'll close by wishing the best to the Maine program as they work to deal with the situation and hopefully come out the better for it. The next year at least will surely be a tough one for the team, the players in particular, but Maine has a bunch of good kids on their team and I hope for the best for them. --- --- 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.