Page 8
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Erie Panthers trying to
prove last year's playoff
disappointment was a fluke
by John Musser
Collegian Sports Editor
Are the Erie Panthers up to
their old tricks again?
As local hockey fans may
remember, the Panthers won the
East Coast Hockey League
regular season championship
last year, going from doormat at
the start of the season to
powerhouse by its finish. The
Panthers looked like they were
ready to blaze through the
playoffs and claim the
postseason championship as
well.
The story changed in the
playoffs, as Erie was promptly
ousted from the opening round
in just three games in a best of
five series.
Now, the Cats have made the
playoffs again with another
strong regular season
performance, this time as the
runner-up in the ECHL. Erie
skated into postseason play on a
12-game winning streak, and
promptly extended that run to
13 with a win last Friday night
over the Hampton Roads
Admirals in the Civic Center.
For Coach Ron Hansis and his
charges, the lessons of a
disappointing 'B9 series after a
highly successful regular season
were apparently well learned.
Saturday night proved that
the Panthers may still have
something to learn. After
jumping on Hampton Roads
early, Erie raced to a 4-0 lead.
Normally, when the home team
has a four goal lead and a
frenzied crowd supporting them,
it's the kind of lead that is
insurmountable. Good teams
don't let that kind of lead slip
away, just like good teams that
get behind early don't quit.
Well, either the Panthers are
not a good team, or Hampton
Roads is a very good one.
Perhaps it's a little of both.
Hampton Roads slowly ate
away at the deficit and
eventually tied the game in the
third period, sending the game
into overtime. In the extra
period, the Admirals quickly
scored their fifth unanswered
goal to even the best of five
series at one apiece.
The Panthers now have the
unenviable task of trying to win
on the road, a place where their
success has been limited this
year. Unless they win one of the
two games to be played at
Hampton, the Cats will have
topped off two consecutive
successful regular seasons with
equally dismal playoff
performances.
I've been wrong before, but I
think that Hansis is too good of
a coach and has too strong of a
team to let the season end early
again. Lets just say Hansis'
crew is playing with a different
I wonder if the folks at
Sports Illustrated still think that
Gary Payton should be the
NCAA's college player of the
year? The Oregon State star
gave a dismal performance in
his team's first round upset loss
to Ball State. Payton failed to
reach double figures in scoring
and spent most of the game
riding the pine with foul
trouble.
Payton also didn't help his
NBA stock any when he was
quoted early this month after an
Oregon State loss about not
caring about the games
outcome, in which State lost.
Speaking of people who arc
losing stock, Georgetown's
Alonzo Mourning isn't as
impressive as he was in his
rookie year. Mourning has had a
tendency to do more trash
talking in games this year than
anything else, except for those
times when he was
kisses to Villanova center Tom
Greis.
While Mourning has done
little to improve himself on the
court, teammate Dikembe
Mutombo has matured greatly
in his second year. In fact,
Mutombo has caught up to
Mourning and perhaps has even
passed him by.
The 7'3" center moved into
the starting lineup this year and
proved that he could score a few
points as well as rebound and
reject shots. He has also added a
devastating hook shot to his
offensive arsenal which, when
Mutombo perfects it, will make
him nearly unstoppable.
I wasn't surprised that
Loyola Marymount beat
defending national champ
Michigan Sunday, but I was
surprised by the final score.
Nay, I was almost in shock.
LMU pounded the Wolverines,
149-115.
The amount of points sewed
doesn't shock me. The fact that
Loyola beat a team with
Michigan's talent does.
For a team that is dedicating
their tournament to the memory
of a friend, Loyola is certainly
doing Hank Gathers proud.
Speaking of the NCAA
tournament, I can't recall a time
when there have been so many
upsets. And when there are
upsets, the resulting matchups
look a little, well, strange. For
instance: UNLV- Ball State and
Texas-Xavier. Are these a
couple of dream games or what?
Did you realize that yesterday
was the first day of spring? And
the National Hockey League
playoffs are still not underway?
Baseball
team begins
new season
with four
losses
(continued from page 7)
"We’re so far behind other teams
because of the weather conditions
and the lack of indoor facilities."
NOTES: The Lions have a
tough schedule to play. Behrend
plays 12 games against Division
II schools and seven games
versus NAIA teams. In Division
111 contests, the Lions play
against Allegheny College, John
Carroll University, and SUNY-
Fredonia, three very competitive
Division 111 teams.
The Lions also play
Washington and Jefferson
College, Thiel College, and
Grove City College, who all
belong to the Presidents Athletic
Conference. Today, the Lions
play a doubleheader away at Thiel
at 1 pm. Behrend also plays a
doubleheader Saturday against
Mount Union which starts at 1
pm in Ohio.
Thank You!
in the "I Gave at the Office" campaign.
The Collegian Wednesday, March 21,1990
Behrend student
athletes continue to shine
in the classroom as first
semester evaluations were
recently released.
Overall, the 127 student
athletes earned a grade-point
average (gpa) of 2.77 on a
4.0 scale. This average is
higher than the overall college
gpa. Female student-athletes
earned a solid 2.90 gpa for
the fall semester. Forty-nine
percent of all female athletes
earned 3.o's or better.
Of all student-athletes, 38
percent earned 3.0 gpa's or
better. In addition, 16 athletes
were named to the Dean's
List for the first semester. The
Dean's List requires that a
student carry a 3.5 gpa.
The men's side was led by
the soccer team, coached by
Athletic Director Herb
Lauffer. The team placed 43
percent of their players at or
above the 3.0 mark and
carried a team gpa of 2.87.
For the women, 60 percent
of Coach Jan Wilson's
volleyball players earned
3.o's or better while a team
gpa softball average of 3.05
was registered by Coach Brett
The staff of WPSE
thanks all of the
Faculty and Staff
who donated to the station
Sincere thanks
from all of us at
wpse
am 1450
orts bits
Banker's squad.
This past Saturday,
the Behrend Track Club
traveled to compete in Clarion
University's Annual All-
Comers Meet. Six other
collegiate teams also
competed in the event
Top performers for
Behrend included a first place
finish by Steve Cooper in the
high jump and a third place
for Dan Reany in the 100
meter dash with a time of
11.95 seconds. Also, Oiris
Calhoun recorded two strong
performances, capturing
fourth position in both the
1 lOmeter high and 400 meter
intermediate hurdles. His
times in each event were
18.84 and 66 seconds,
respectively.
The Track Club will next
see action cm March 31 when
they travel for a meet at Case
Western University in
Geveland, Ohio.
Persons interested in
participating in trade practices
and meets should contact
Captain Jim McCarthy (club
advisor) at 898-6218 or Mike
Crowley (club president) at
454-7319.