Opinion

Editorial

Posted on April 12, 2004, at 12:00 a.m.

Fought the good fight

Unless you lived under a rock in South America this past weekend, you know that the University of Maine men’s hockey team fell to Denver in the NCAA Championship game, 1-0. We can all play Monday morning quarterback, but that won’t change the end result.

The Black Bears really are better than Denver’s Pioneers – despite what you read on ESPN’s score key at the end of the game. Coach Tim Whitehead has led this team through some of the toughest moments in the UMaine hockey program’s history. Whether coach or player, student or faculty member, no one should be disappointed in something that few people get the chance to watch happen on a national level, year after year. We applaud the hockey team. Go Black Bears.

Goodbye, local roots

Early this year, Bumstock Director Erin Smith guaranteed, in a press release, a slot in this year’s Bumstock festival for the campus band that won the Sophomore Owls’ Battle of the Bands. But on April 3, when all the votes from the contest had been tallied, Loki, a Portland band with no affiliation with the university, emerged as the winner. What gives?

Well, it’s hard to say. Both Smith and Devon Gaudette, who was in charge of the Battle of the Bands, claim that the error was a result of “slight miscommunication.” (See Battle of the Bands, page 1.)

But the facts just don’t add up. In a festival dedicated to local music, on a year that this UMaine tradition is supposed to be headed back to its roots, someone involved in the band selection process should have been vigilant to notice and correct the error.

The Bumstock Committee should honor its word and add another campus band to the list, or risk doing a grave disservice to the UMaine community.

Campus Currents: Bumstock