Mightnight Madness is one of the few nights I go to the arena without my notebook and go simply to enjoy the surroundings. It was a nice evening, as always, to be back in the Alfond. I have some negative comments with regards to how it was run, but let's talk about some of the postives. Alfie Michaud did not participate as Maine (smartly) awaits NCAA Clearinghouse approval for him. Hopefully this is just a formality and not acutally a problem. The goaltenders did look ok though, Bryan Masotta (transfer from RPI) seemed to lead the way followed by Ed Waszcuk (spelling is wrong I know). Masotta hasn't been mentioned by many people as figuring in, but he looked pretty good to me. Masotta didn't do well at RPI but he complained the coaching staff didn't let him play his style. Standbrook might be able to work with him and if Michaud pans out Masotta might be a solid backup. I don't know if anyone else saw this during the scrimage but David Cullen and Chris Roeder (not Raeder as I've spelt it before) stood out as the playmakers on the blue line. Cullen played for the blue team during the scrimage and several times led the rush down the ice, and seemed to take charge on the ice. Cullen really developed down the stretch last year and with big shoes to fill on the blueline, he'd be a welcome addition. Roeder led the team out of the locker room, and he is very quick for his size. He showed in the brief scrimage that he's game ready and can mix it up down low. He'll impress. As far as forwards, Reg Cardinal was impressive to me. As far as new guys, it's hard to rate them with only seeing 10 minutes of scrimage, but Ben Guite and the Stewart kid both looked good. In fact none of the frosh seemed to make any glaring mistakes. Pasquell (sp?) levelled a couple of Bears with some good hits. Other returnees that impressed: Vitorino (wearing new number 11), Shermerhorn and Wansborough. We'll learn more next week, Saturday Oct. 12 is the Blue/White game, hope to see more. Attendence was 2,101 last night. Who is in charge of the program? In past years there was a "spirit competition" in which dorms and greeks competed to see who was loudest. Not only did this bring lots of rowdy students, but it made the last half hour before the team took the ice loud. That did not take place, and it was sorely missed. I'm glad as many people turned out as they did, but there wasn't much for noise until the last minute before they came out and not much after that. That was disappointing, but I'm glad 2,101 people showed up and hopefully that is a good sign for the season. A fun night for me, but the program could have been put together better. Anyone else there? Let's hear some thoughts. --- Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask] Editor, US College Hockey Online USCHO: http://www.uscollegehockey.com