ryan@fremen.DEC (Mike Ryan) (03/19/85)
WCHA finals: Minnesota 6, Minnesota-Duluth 4 Minnesota-Duluth 6, Minnesota 2 Duluth wins on total goals, 10-8 ECAC semi-finals: Harvard 2, Clarkson 1 RPI 5, Cornell 1 Attendance: 9011 The Harvard-Clarkson game was won when Scott Fusco scored with one minute remaining. All things considered, it was a remarkably dull game. Neither team played aggressively, and there just weren't many scoring threats. The difference was probably Clarkson goalie Jamie Falle's condition - he was racked up earlier in the third period and was obviously hurting the rest of the way (he didn't play in the consolation game). Clarkson just couldn't get the puck past Grant Blair. The most interesting thing about the RPI win was that the ECAC's top scoring line of Oates, Carter, and Jooris didn't get a single point. Five different players scored goals. Says something about RPI's depth, doesn't it? Anyway, the game started slowly (as a matter of fact, it looked like the Harvard-Clarkson game), and the defenses dominated most of the way. RPI gradually gained momentum, and their third goal late in the second period pretty much put Cornell away. RPI coach Mike Addesa said "That was perhaps our poorest game of the season" and rated the performance three and a half on a scale from 1 to 10. He has rather high standards. RPI goalie Darren Puppa, passed over in the All-Star selections despite leading the league and finishing second in the nation in goals-against average, played an excellent game. Hockey East semi-finals: BC 6, Lowell 5 Providence 5, BU 2 Attendance: 6212 The amazing Lowell team led BC until the third period, when a Lowell goal was disallowed and BC's Ken Hodge (son of you-know-who) scored 23 seconds later to tie the game at 4-4. ECAC final round: Consolation: Cornell 5, Clarkson 3 Championship: RPI 3, Harvard 1 Attendance: 9751 In the consolation game, Clarkson missed Jamie Falle. The game was scoreless after 2 periods, then things exploded. The Clarkson coach blew it when he pulled the goalie when he was down by one with still a couple of minutes to go. The championship was a very good game, with both teams skating well and playing aggressively. The goalies were the stars all the way. The Oates-Carter-Jooris line scored RPI's first two goals, the game-winner coming at 15:48 of the third period. A Mike Dark goal 28 seconds later brought the whole team out to the ice and sent the Harvard fans to the exits (they'd seen enough of Puppa to know that a two-goal deficit was insurmountable). Puppa earned the tournament MVP, much like Adam Oates did last year when passed up for player of the year. Harvard's only goal was by (surprise) Scott Fusco, who *is* Harvard's offense. Of the nearly 10,000 spectators, about 5-6,000 were RPI fans alternately chanting POOH-PAH, POOH-PAH and DEE-TROIT, DEE-TROIT. Many plan to be there (Michigan State better not count on a home-ice advantage). Hockey East final round: Consolation: BU 6, Lowell 4 Championship: Providence 2, BC 1 2 OT Attendance: 7239 Lowell led BU early in the third period to close what must have been a very satisfying season for a school which was playing in Division 2 only two years ago and just played their first Division 1 league season. The championship game can be summed up in one name: Chris Terreri. The Providence goalie piled up 65 saves to single-handedly win Providence the first Hockey East league championship. Providence tied the game with one minute left in regulation, after BC had scored early in the third period on a fluke shot which took a funny bounce off Terreri's skate. Apart from that, Terreri turned in what has got to be one of the great goaltending performances in college hockey history. BC's Bruce Gordon did a good job, too, but proved to be merely human in the end. Hockey East All-Stars: First team Second team All-Freshman G Chris Terreri, Prov. Bruce Racine, NU Racine D Jim Averill, NU Scott Shaunessy, BU Shawn Whitham, Prov. Peter Taghantti, Pr. Paul Ames, Lowell Paul Cavalline, Prov. F Tim Army, Prov. Doug Brown, BC Ken Hodge, BC John Cullen, BU Bob Sweeney, BC Jon Morris, Lowell Rod Isbister, NU Scott Darlow, BC Steve Leach, UNH/ Clark Donatelli, BC Player of the Year - Terreri Coach of the Year - Len Ceglarski, BC Freshman of the Year - Hodge Academic Player of the Year - Kevin Mann, Maine The Playoff Match-ups: #4 (West) Lake Superior at #1 (East) RPI #3 (West) Minnesota at #2 (East) BC #3 (East) Harvard at #2 (West) Minnesota-Duluth #4 (East) Providence at #1 (West) Michigan State I had originally thought that the tournament champions would automatically get home-ice; obviously that's not true. Only regular-season records were considered in seeding the teams; the tournament champions were automatically seeded. It's amusing to see that the ECAC teams received higher seeds than the Hockey East entries after being forced all season to listen to the Hockey East promoting itself as THE Eastern hockey league. It's also interesting to see how thoroughly the ECAC outdrew the Hockey East (easily beating the 8500 mark which was considered necessary to stay in the Garden). Hockey East may claim that they would draw more in the Garden, but there are a couple of points to consider. One is that Harvard drew many more to the championship game this year than BU did last year (and judging from what I saw, overall attendance was higher than last year). Also, BC, BU, and Lowell are a lot closer to Providence than RPI, Cornell, and Clarkson are to Boston. So, this coming weekend we'll see how much the East has improved since last year. I'm confident of RPI's ability to play with anyone, but I'm concerned about the depth of both Harvard and Providence. Both were heavily dependant on a league-leading scorer (Fusco, Army) and an outstanding goalie (Blair, Tereri), and will be vulnerable if their top scorers are stopped. It's interesting to note that Harvard only lost one game in the first half of the season (to RPI, of course), but had problems the second time around when teams were keying on Fusco. Fusco is not in the best of shape; he's been taking a lot of abuse this season, and in particular has been having back problems. The series will probably be riding primarily on Blair's shoulders. I think he's capable of a Tereri-like performance, but I doubt he can keep it up for a two-game series. I've seen both Providence and Michigan State on TV, and I think Providence is capable of surprising them. If Tereri can play half as well as he did this weekend, it'll be close and the total-goals format should keep Providence in contention. I was most impressed by Michigan State's defense when I saw them, so I wouldn't be surprised if the series were decided by something like 3-2. I haven't seen the other Western teams play, so I'll withhold judgement on them. BC, however, had better get their act together. Since the Beanpot they've lost to Northeastern, Harvard, Maine, and Providence (twice) and are not playing up to their potential. They did face Minnesota during the regular season (the only rematch in these quarter-finals) and I believe they won at least one of the pair, so they're certainly capable of winning the series, especially since they're at home. DEE-TROIT! DEE-TROIT! DEE-TROIT! DEE-TROIT! DEE-TROIT! Let's Go RED!!!!