Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Re: UNH 2020 Off-Season Thread: That Rinky-Shrinky Thang And Other Lively Banter 
'Watcher, thanks for sharing. Loved this, for so many reasons. I was still in HS when this game was played, and still early into my time as a college hockey fan. This 1978 BU team lost what, one or two games all season long? That solidified BU as my "second team" as long as Jack Parker was coaching them. And as great as Joey Mullen was as a D-1 college player, you can see from the outset that Parker simply decided he was going to blanket Mullen everywhere, and force someone else to beat him (they didn't). And for all of the fawning praise for BC goalie Paul Skidmore - who did play well in this one - it would be BU's Jim Craig who two years later became a household name after the '80 Lake Placid Olympics. I vividly remember going to see these two teams clash in the 1979 Beanpot at the original Garden, and how that place was rocking. And a month or so later, UNH beat Dartmouth there for their first (and only) ECAC title - which IIRC UNH currently denotes on their Hockey East titles banner. Those two seasons, coming right before I headed off for school myself, really solidified my lifelong fascination with the college game.
A few random items of interest:
* The play by play guy (John Carlson) I recognized as the guy who did some of the early Whalers' games, and I think he also did some Patriots and college games before and after those days. Billy Cleary did the color, and there is a brief interview of Ron Mason (then with Bowling Green) looking very '70's. Gotta think his future son-in-law (some guy named Walshy?) was in the house, too;
* Carlson gives Channel 11 a name check at some point, and also mentions how Bobby Miller's younger brother was playing for BU (even then, UNH struggled with legacies?), which had narrowly beaten UNH in the first round of the tourney. One of the guys then tells the tale of Bobby Miller leaving UNH with no guarantee to make the B's, forfeiting eligibility to return to NCAA play, etc.;
* BU brought back most of its team the next season, and didn't even come close to having the same amount of success. Only Dick Lamby - as fantastic as an all-around defenseman as he was - left the team to graduation, other that depth guys here and there. They should have been dominant. But as noted earlier, several of those guys would make up for it on a bigger stage in '80;
* Mark Fidler … wow, where to begin. BU's frosh dynamo, whose older brother Mike was already in the NHL, scored his 29th and 30th goals of the season in this one. The sky seemed to be the limit … but as someone who grew up barely 5 miles away from where he did, and who had an older cousin who went to HS with him at Matignon, the on-ice and off-ice tales even back then pre-Internet and pre-social media were legendary. Unfortunately, the off-ice stuff eventually caught up with him, and while he was a great four year player for BU, he was never as great again as he was in his frosh season.
I know this isn't the BU thread, but this was an interesting read from Fidler's perspective on '78 ...
https://terrierhockey2.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-education-of-mark-fidler.html
'Watcher, thanks for sharing. Loved this, for so many reasons. I was still in HS when this game was played, and still early into my time as a college hockey fan. This 1978 BU team lost what, one or two games all season long? That solidified BU as my "second team" as long as Jack Parker was coaching them. And as great as Joey Mullen was as a D-1 college player, you can see from the outset that Parker simply decided he was going to blanket Mullen everywhere, and force someone else to beat him (they didn't). And for all of the fawning praise for BC goalie Paul Skidmore - who did play well in this one - it would be BU's Jim Craig who two years later became a household name after the '80 Lake Placid Olympics. I vividly remember going to see these two teams clash in the 1979 Beanpot at the original Garden, and how that place was rocking. And a month or so later, UNH beat Dartmouth there for their first (and only) ECAC title - which IIRC UNH currently denotes on their Hockey East titles banner.
Those two seasons, coming right before I headed off for school myself, really solidified my lifelong fascination with the college game.A few random items of interest:
* The play by play guy (John Carlson) I recognized as the guy who did some of the early Whalers' games, and I think he also did some Patriots and college games before and after those days. Billy Cleary did the color, and there is a brief interview of Ron Mason (then with Bowling Green) looking very '70's. Gotta think his future son-in-law (some guy named Walshy?) was in the house, too;
* Carlson gives Channel 11 a name check at some point, and also mentions how Bobby Miller's younger brother was playing for BU (even then, UNH struggled with legacies?), which had narrowly beaten UNH in the first round of the tourney. One of the guys then tells the tale of Bobby Miller leaving UNH with no guarantee to make the B's, forfeiting eligibility to return to NCAA play, etc.;
* BU brought back most of its team the next season, and didn't even come close to having the same amount of success. Only Dick Lamby - as fantastic as an all-around defenseman as he was - left the team to graduation, other that depth guys here and there. They should have been dominant. But as noted earlier, several of those guys would make up for it on a bigger stage in '80;
* Mark Fidler … wow, where to begin. BU's frosh dynamo, whose older brother Mike was already in the NHL, scored his 29th and 30th goals of the season in this one. The sky seemed to be the limit … but as someone who grew up barely 5 miles away from where he did, and who had an older cousin who went to HS with him at Matignon, the on-ice and off-ice tales even back then pre-Internet and pre-social media were legendary. Unfortunately, the off-ice stuff eventually caught up with him, and while he was a great four year player for BU, he was never as great again as he was in his frosh season.
I know this isn't the BU thread, but this was an interesting read from Fidler's perspective on '78 ...
https://terrierhockey2.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-education-of-mark-fidler.html
