Unvarnished Truth Site: Eric Abrams Article #2.
The Second Issue of What's New in the CCHA.
By Eric Abrams

         Welcome to the Second Issue of What's New in the CCHA!  This issue will
         have more 'real' information, like stats, and recent results.  I will also
         continue bashing the CCHA refs.

         First of all, here are some stats.

         CCHA Standings as of 1/28/98: (team name, CONFERENCE record, Conference
         points)
         1. University of Michigan, 14-4-1, 29 points
         2. Michigan State, 13-3-2, 28 points
         3. Miani University, 17-5-2, 26 points
         4. Northern Michigan, 11-7-3, 25 points
         5. Ohio State, 11-9-0, 22 points
         6. Lake Superior, 8-8-4, 20 points
         7. Notre Dame, 8-8-3, 19 points
         8. Ferris State, 7-8-3, 17 points
         9. Alaska Fairbanks, 6-16-1, 13 points
         10. Western Michigan, 4-14-1, 9 points
         11. Bowling Green, 2-14-2, 6 points

         CCHA Scoring Leaders as of 1/28/98:
         1. Terry Marchant, LSSU, 13 goals, 17 assists, 30 points
         2. Hugo Boisvert, OSU, 12 G, 18 A, 30 points
         3. Bill Muckalt, MICH, 15 G, 13 A, 28 points
         4. Bobby Hayes, MICH, 13 G, 14 A, 27 points
         5. Mike York, MSU, 13 G, 12 A, 25 points

         The CCHA race is really close this year.  There are 3 teams within 5 points
         of 1st place, and there are only 3 points seperating 4th place from 2nd
         place.  The scoring seems to be down this year, but from what I understand,
         scoring is down all around the country.

         Here are some awards that I think SHOULD be awarded (Note however that my
         opinion doesn't count for very much)

         Player of the week: Trevor Prior, Miami.  Prior made a very large amount of
         great   saves against Michigan this past weekend.  If he hadn't been so
         outstanding, I don't think Miami would've won 2.

         Most likely to score 2 hat tricks in as many games next weekend: Bill Muckalt,
         Michigan.  Muckalt has been in a little bit of a scoring slump,
         but I think that he's due for a big game pretty soon.

         Worst Referee: Hmm.  Tough call.  All the CCHA refs (except Kronenberg)
         suck.   Read on to find out about this week's featured Ref, Matt Shegos.

         Matt Shegos is one of 2 refs in the CCHA with the name Shegos (the other
         one is his brother Mark).  At one point, Matt was the more respected (and
         better ref) of the two of them.  Well, times have changed.  Mark hasn't
         gotten any better, but Matt has fallen to his level.  Here's a recent example

         Michigan vs. AK-Fairbanks, Jan. 17, 1998.
         Michigan scored a questionable goal.  Shegos, who was right on the goal
         line, where he was supposed to be, furiously pointed at the net (the sign
         that a goal had been scored).  However, the goal judge didn't turn on his
         lamp.  As Shegos was pointing, Ian Perkins (the Alaska goalie) deftly
         pulled the puck out of his net.  This confused Shegos enough so as to go
         confer with his linesmen.  He apparently didn't get a good enough decision
         from them, so he went back and asked Perkins.  Perkins, of course, had just
         pulled the puck from the net, and vehemently denied doing so.  Shegos then
         decided to consult with the Alaska captain.  The Alaska captain apparently
         (from my vantage point in the second row right on the goal line) didn't
         know, so Shegos FINALLY decided to ask the goal judge.  After this final
         consultation, he finally admitted that he was right to begin with, and
         ruled it a goal.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm glad that he consulted with
         the goal judge, BUT he should have done that FIRST, not LAST.  The last
         person you should ask should be the goalie who was scored on, NOT the
         first.  Why couldn't Shegos have had the guts to just go with his original
         call?

         Ok, I'll conclude this article with some more information about myself.  My
         name is still Eric, my e-mail address is eric@quickdesign.com.  I run a Michigan
         Hockey Webpage at http://www.quickdesign.com/hockey/.  Have a nice day, and GO
         BLUE!
         -----------
         Eric Abrams
         eric@quickdesign.com
         Affordable Web Design and Hosting
         http://www.quickdesign.com

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