* Despite losing 6-3, Lowell became only the second team all year to outshoot BU (41-37, I believe). * After the game, BU coach Jack Parker said about Lowell, "They're one of the top five teams in the country." This brought a BIG smile to my face. If Jack is still on the tournament committee (I think he is) I hope he still feels that way in a couple weeks. Top five? Perhaps he was just saying that for effect, but I'm no George Costanza. If a woman tells me I'm the greatest lover in the world, I'm gonna take the compliment with a "you too" and a smile. So thanks, Jack, and the same goes for you. :-) * Some nitwit reporter asked UML coach Bruce Crowder if his team was overconfident going into the game. Crowder said something like, "Overconfident? Against the number two team in the country in their own rink? No, we weren't overconfident. They simply played much better on the special teams [BU had three power play goals and didn't allow a single UML power play tally, including a 5-on-3 for about a minute]. They capitalized on their opportunities and we didn't." * In the previous UML-BU games, I indicated a limited respect for BU goaltending. Although this seemed to irritate some BU fans, I felt it appropriate given the way that Fillion outplayed both Noble and Laroque in the first two games (not to mention that Herlofsky and Noble looked horrible in last year's games against UML). I questioned whether the BU goalies were mediocre talents who simply played for a great team. Well, Tommy Noble played an excellent game for BU yesterday. I believe that this is the first game in two years against Lowell that the BU goaltending has looked decent at all, but Noble was much better than decent and clearly outplayed Fillion. Hats off to The Pretty Boy, and make sure not one hair is out of place. :-) * BU fans got a cheer going pointing first to their hairy fan Sasquatch (who assures me that he does not have hair growing on his fingernails, but IMO would be more consistent if he did) and then to UML goalie Fillion, chanting, "Sasquatch! Sieve! Sasquatch! Sieve!" When I explained the chant to a UML fan, she wrinkled her nose and said, "I'd rather be a sieve." :-) * I'm personally having more difficulty maintaining my self-proclaimed title of "Hockey Polygamist". Coincidentally, JohnH made reference to this as well in a recent post. Those who care to check out my sig can see that BU has been my number two team for years (not surprising since I'm an alum and part-time instructor there). But as the rivalry between BU and UML (my number one team) has heated up, I've been finding my allegiances to BU strained. At last year's NC$$ final I cheered hard for BU; at this year's Beanpot my support was lukewarm at best. Part of this is natural, I suppose. HOCKEY-L has team supporters who range from The Calm and Distinguished, such as Mike Machnik (the Walter Cronkite of College Hockey) to The Loudmouthed Cheerleaders, such as JohnH and Tony Biscardi (who may refer to himself as The Former Ogre but is really The Most Outrageous Flirt in the Universe). This year I've made a conscious effort move towards the latter category and be less respectable (no worry in my case) and a lot more vocal. It just a'int easy trying to lead cheers against BU one weekend and then be FOR them two weeks later in The Beanpot. Another aspect, though, has to do with visitor's fans and how they are treated. When you're dealing with classy BU fans like Tony, Adam, the 'Squatch (perhaps the first time he's been called classy :-) ), and all the rest the BU fans from the list, it's easy to maintain an attraction to the Terriers. But when you're in the visitor's section and some peachfuzzed twit runs down from his section, gets in your face and hollers "Scoreboard!" (My response to him is not fit for this list) and another tears down the UML signs that had been put up in the visitors section and throws them at us (he was eventually tossed out), then it gives a more emotional edge to the rivalry. BU fans need not apologize for the louts; all schools have them. I'm just saying that they make it harder to maintain "polygamy". (Let me make clear that I don't believe in going into another school's rink and sitting in the home section and being obnoxious. I've always sat in the visitor's section and then felt free to make noise. I apparently annoyed some UNH fans a while back at the Whittemore Center but I made no apologies; if you buy a season's ticket in the visitors section, expect a few cheers for the bad guys.) I was PROUD to hear that the UML cheers were so loud on Sunday that it disrupted the Lowell radio broadcast. A Lowell fan said that we were pissing him off because everytime something good happened for Lowell we were so loud you couldn't hear Ellis and Scoggins. :-) We're no BU in that respect, but Lowell fandom has come a long way in a short time. Clearly the most amusing moment came when a row of BU's less-than-finest came down from the band's section to taunt us after a BU goal. In defense some UML fans began chanting "Merrimack! Merrimack! Merrimack!" (in light of their upset of BU two days earlier). There wasn't an immediate retort then or when the chant was repeated later, but eventually that BU section came back with "Black Bears! Black Bears!" since we are (0-1-1) against Maine this season. At first, I thought they *had* to be chanting something else, but I couldn't muster any other possibilities. If so, the irony of a section of BU fans chanting "Black Bears!" was enough to crack me up big time. ***************************************************** ,-******-, * Dave Hendrickson "Robo" [log in to unmask] * *' ## '* * A Hockey Polygamist and Get-A-Lifer * *## ___##___ ##* * GO BROONS!!! Go Red Wings!! Go Canucks! * * ##| ___ \## * * GO UMASS-LOWELL!!! Go BU!! Go Maine! Go Michigan. * * | |___) | * * --------------------------------------------------* *######| ___ <######* * Although I can't remember ever having an original * * | |___) | * * thought, and am certainly parroting someone who * * ##|________/## * * actually has a brain, these opinions are mine, * *## ## ##* * not Hewlett-Packard's. * *, ## ,* ***************************************************** '-*******-' HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.