ryan@fremen.DEC (02/12/85)
Last weekend RPI picked up two more easy wins, 7-2 over Brown and 8-2 over Yale. Even the Boston Globe is taking notice - the usual headline over the article where all the non-Boston games are collected has the general form "RPI Wins Nth Straight" (N now equals 20). Among other top 10 teams, Wisconsin and Clarkson each lost games, and North Dakota lost 2. Clarkson and ND both seem to be fading fast in the stretch. In the close of the Beanpot Tourney Monday night, Northeastern beat BU 4-2 while Harvard took the consolation game from BC, 6-5. The Beanpot tradition of being the graveyard of favorites thus continues: the final Beanpot standings (Northeastern, BU, Harvard, BC) is the exact opposite of the teams' national rankings. Hockey East has announced that the interlocking schedule with the WCHA will continue. The ECAC's playoff contract with Boston Garden runs out this year; although the ECAC has expressed optimism that they will be back at the Garden next year, Hockey East would very much prefer playing in Boston, and if the ECAC fails to draw a good crowd this year it will probably happen. Some of the ECAC teams (Clarkson, St. Lawrence, RPI) would prefer to have the playoffs at Lake Placid, anyway. On to the polls. The poll I have been posting is the WDOM poll (the one the Boston Globe publishes every Tuesday). Last Wednesday the Globe printed the NCAA poll for the first time, and this Tuesday the Globe also published the WMPL poll. So, here are both radio station polls - the differences are interesting. It would be easy to put it down to different opinions on the strengths of the different conferences, but notice that WMPL has RPI and Harvard 3 and 6, while WDOM has them 2 and 10. WMPL puts Duluth and Minnesota 2 and 5, while WDOM has them 3 and 4. Does anyone have an explanation for these apparent inconsistencies? WMPL WDOM 1. Michigan State (10) Michigan State (8) 2. Minnesota-Duluth RPI (2) 3. RPI Minnesota-Duluth 4. BC Minnesota 5. Minnesota BC 6. Harvard BU 7. Lake Superior North Dakota 8. BU Lake Superior 9. North Dakota Wisconsin 10. Wisconsin Providence/Harvard (tie) Well, it's time to look ahead to the playoffs. The college system is even worse than the NHL - of 35 teams eligible for the playoffs, only four won't make it. Those four will be one of Michigan, Miami, and Ferris State in the CCHA, and three of Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, and Vermont in the ECAC. At the upper end, all four conference leaders seem securely ahead, and the major battles seem to be for fourth place (which means home ice in the quarter-finals). In the Hockey East, New Hampshire is trying to move ahead of Northeastern into fourth place, while the ECAC has Cornell, Yale, and Clarkson fighting it out for third and fourth. Mike Ryan
hogue@hsi.UUCP (02/14/85)
A few of the guys I skate regularly with went upto boston for the beanpot. They noted that BC got off the ice, took off only their skates then got on the bus and headed home for a good long pratice! Reminds me of the good ole days at Cornell when they were under the leadership of Ned Harkness. He was called a "good motivator of young men", by those who never had the pleasure of being coached by him, or took an 8 hour bus ride home after a losing evening and proceded to get off the bus and on the ice cause "they didn't skate hard enough". -- "Of course all of this could just be rumor" Jim Hogue ihnp4!hsi!hogue Health Systems International New Haven, CT 06511
newman@bgsuvax.UUCP (Tim Newman) (02/19/85)
BC is not the only team to take a bus ride in their uniforms after a game.
Western Michigan dropped a pair to Ohio State in Columbus this year and the
Broncos were seen departing Columbus in full playing gear (sans skates, I
presume). After their 5-6 hour bus ride back to Kalamazoo, Michigan, Coach
Bill Wilkinson undoubtedly had them skate a few laps....
Tim Newman