I headed out on Saturday afternoon, and popped Alt-mania - by Brown alum and former Rockapella lead singer Sean Altman - into the CD player. No, the theme from Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego is not on the album. Yes, he did write it. I'm not sure how many evenings he spent in Meehan Auditorium during his time in Providence, but hey, it's a good thematic selection for going to see the Bears.

THE RINK This just might be one of my last trips to the Northford Ice Pavilion. If that's the case, I'm not sorry about it. Yes, the snack bar has a lot of cool stuff on it at reasonable prices. Yes, the fans are pretty close to the action, but the press box really wasn't intended as such when it was built, that stupid net is in the fans' view of the ice, and the designs of the Hudson United Bank Center look really good, so I'm sure you can't blame me for being eager to see it open.

In the meantime, let's play some hockey...

GAME 58: BROWN 3, QUINNIPIAC 3

It was Senior Day at the Northford Ice Pavilion, and Kathryn Dallimore, Erin Sweet and Kelly Runyan weren't about to take a loss in their last game, at least, not without a fight. However, the player who would ensure that - at least, that's what it looked like in the first period - was a freshman: goaltender Connie Craig.

Craig made 12 first period saves on the Bears, frustrating the Bears at every turn, particularly Keaton Zucker, who took three of her 10 shots in the first period. The Bears went to the locker room for the first intermission knowing that it wouls take a darn good shot to beat Craig.

The Bears got that shot in the second period, as Zucker slammed home the rebound of an Ashlee Drover shot to make it 1-0 with 5:35 remaining in the middle frame. At that point, it looked as if Brown had finally gotten the score it needed to win, and the 1-0 margin at the end of the second would seem to back that up, but I said to Christina, "You'd better not let them get one. I don't know if Craig will give up another."

During the second intermission, I took the opportunity to check out the game room at Northford, and found that while the Simpsons pinball machine was out of commission the old Ms. Pacman/Galaga combo had been replaced with a nine-game setup that included Donkey Kong. Man, I had forgotten how tough that game was!

The Bobcats, though, proved even tougher, scoring 1:37 into the final frame when Antoinette Maldonado blasted home a rebound from McMeekin to tie things up at one goal apiece. I had wanted to see McMeekin, and I was not disappointed: she is the real deal. She moves well with and without the puck, and is really able to work her way through a defense. She and Craig are two very solid building blocks for the foundation of Quinnipiac's program going forward.

The Bobcats won't be going forward this season, and the Bears will be, so getting two points was a key for Brown, and Zucker made another move to try and get it for them, coming in alone and snapping a shot over Craig's glove to make it 2-1 Bears with 12:29 to play.

Again, though, the Bobcats responded. This time, it was senior Kathryn Dallimore, who cashed in on an assist from Ashley Jaffray to record the final goal of her collegiate career. It would not, however, be the final goal of the game.

With less than eight minutes to play, Riley Olewinski made a move toward the net, but the puck got lost in her skates. However, the puck was found and lifted high into the net by Hayley Moore, who had set up shop just off the post on left wing. Once again, Brown had retaken the lead, but once again, the Bobcats would respond.

With under six minutes left, the puck came to Maldonado in the slot. She faked a shot to Shipe's right, and the sophomore keeper bit, leaving the other half of the net wide open for Maldonado to fire the puck - which she still had - right in to tie this one up at three goals apiece.

Sure enough, both goaltenders held on, and we were headed for overtime. We weren't the only ones, either. Brown SID Christina O'Brien was checking in on Harvard's game with Clarkson using CSTV Gametracker in the press box, and we saw that Harvard and Clarkson were playing an extra five minutes as well.

Thanks in part to a strong defensive effort by Quinnipiac, this one ended in a tie, but the game in Potsdam did not, as the Crimson's Jennifer Raimondi scored with one second left in overtime to beat the Golden Knights and take fourth in the ECACHL. Digit's son, Kevin, literally jumped for joy when he found out the Bears weren't headed for the North Country - at least not yet. Of course, everyone else in the league is now hoping for Yale to knock off St. Lawrence and prevent a trip to Canton for the league championships, which will be hosted by the highest remaining seed. But that's a topic for another time.

In the meantime, I had a brief chat with Digit and some of the Brown parents, accepted a gift of an origami crane from Digit's youngest son, Sean (thanks, Sean, it's taped to the top of my computer), and hopped in the car to head to Milford. Thanks to the overtime, I was slightly late getting to

THE RINK:

I dig Milford Ice Pavilion, to be honest. While it's not much better aesthetically than its cousin in Northford (and yes, they have the same ownership), it's superior in two key areas: the wireless access, which I used to monitor the other scores from the press box during breaks in play; and the location of the press box itself. Rather than being behind the fan seating, Milford's press box is above the glass next to the benches, so you're much closer to the game, and you can even feel it when players are checked into the boards underneath you.

All things considered, it's a good place to check out a game, and even more so for a game like this.

GAME 59: SACRED HEART 5, HOLY CROSS 2

While I was late for the game, and missed the drop of the puck, the score was still 0-0 as I dashed in the door. In fact, I made it just in time In just in time to watch Pioneers senior Bernie Chmiel blast a shot from the point that snuck underneath the crossbar for a power-play goal that made it 1-0 Pioneers.

That was followed by an even-strength tally by Pierre Luc O'Brien. Holy Cross netminder Tony Quesada - Atlantic Hockey's lone representative among the Walter Brown Award semifinalists - appeared to make the save with his right shoulder, but the puck found a way into the net, although I'm not sure whether it went over his shoulder or underneath his arm. My money would be on over the shoulder, but don't hold me to that.

The Crusaders would not be held silent, though, scoring less than thirty seconds later on a wicked wrist shot from the point by Jon Landry. It was a mere 10 seconds into the Holy Cross power play, as Landry circled to his right, found daylight, and unleashed the shot. At the end of the first, the Crusaders found themselves down a goal, but still very much in it.

Holy Cross would even things up in the middle frame, as the Crusaders' James Sixsmith scored 6:40 into the second, or at least, he was given credit for the goal. During a scramble in front of the net, SHU's Todd Spencer went to tuck it into Jason Smith's pad, but wound up finding his five hole instead for a very painful Holy Cross tally. However, it would not be the most painful goal of the night.

Sacred Heart made it 3-2 with one of the strangest goals I've ever seen. I tall started when Scott Marchesi went to dump the puck in high off of the glass along the right-wing side, and Holy Cross keeper Tony Quesada came out of his net to play the puck behind the cage.

Now, when you play in a community rink like the Milford Ice Pavilion, you accept the little quirks of the facility, which may affect the play on occasion. For example, there's a larger than normal gap in the glass in Milford where Sacred Heart's door to enter the ice is.

That gap is probably wide enough to hit a puck through if you were to hit it just right, but that's not what happened here. Instead, Marchesi's dump-in hit that spot, and instead of continuing along the glass behind the net, the puck bounced off at an angle and started sliding towards the net. Quesada either fell down trying to get back around or didn't dive far enough (I was watching the puck, to be honest), and was sprawled out alongside his net as the puck slid along the ice and ended up just inside the left post for Sacred Heart's third goal of the evening.

If you can't believe that, don't feel too bad, because referee Jeff Fulton needed to talk things through with the goal judge before awarding the score.

I happened to be right there on the play myself, as I had made my way down to the other side of the rink from the press box to take some photos, and was standing next to the Sacred Heart band, which was playing at its third game of the day. Speaking of which, it should be noted that as good as the Cornell band is, Sacred Heart's band plays a better version of "Soul Bossa Nova" (a.k.a. the Austin Powers theme). Note to the Big Red Band: those eighth notes should start on the "and" of three. Fantastic work otherwise, though, Cornellians. Meanwhile, I was definitely enjoying the SHU band's repetoire.

In any case, the 3-2 margin in favor of the Pioneers was music to Cornell alum and SHU coach Shaun Hannah's ears, and that score would stand all the way to the second intermission.

The Pioneers would make it 4-2 during the final frame as Peter Giatrelis pounced on the rebound of a Rocco Molinaro shot and fired it into wide open net to give his team a two-goal advantage.

With 2:06 to go, Crusaders coach Paul Pearl called a timeout and pulled Quesada, needing two goals to tie things up.

The only goal that decision yielded, though, was the sixth goal of the year for the Pioneers' Erik Roos, making it 5-2 for Sacred Heart, a score that would stand as time expired. Sacred Heart finished the night tied with the Crusaders for first place in Atlantic Hockey, and holding the tiebraker by virtue of a 3-1 season series win.

I chatted a bit with Hannah after the game, and he told me that he had been talking to someone on the bench and never saw Marchesi's goal, not expecting anything to happen immediately on the dump-in. Well, Shaun, don't worry. After all, as readers of this blog know, Jack Parker has done the exact same thing! Hannah, of course, has a long way to go before he gets to that category, but it's nice to know that things like that can happen to the best of us.

Meanwhile, it's time for me to head home and rest up. The playoffs start next week, and I've got an ambitious schedule once again. See you next weekend!