>Down 7-2, and Clarkson pulled their goalie?
>
>I realize this is The Big Dance, there's no tomorrow, fill in your own
>sportswriter cliche, but this can't be serious?
 
I'm sure Mark Morris knew the risks, but I still think it wasn't
a bad idea. To me, he was proving to his players and the fans
that he wasn't about to give up. The chances that Clarkson would
have come back to tie the score were probably about the same as
Jack Kevorkian being acquitted. The reasons were pretty simple to
me:
 
- it made things a little interesting, especially if the Knights had scored
  1 or 2 goals w/the empty net
 
- any attempts that Maine had to ice the puck towards an empty net
  gave it a better chance of icing than a goal
 
- there was a LOT of time - 6:40 or so left. A couple of quick goals
  and it's 6-4 with, say, 3-4 minutes left
 
The last item is pure speculation and presuming that Maine doesn't
get control of the puck outside of their own zone. One fan in the row
in front of me had the same feelings, but if that was his team pulling
the goalie, I don't think he would have disagreed.
 
Didn't something similar happen a few years ago in the WCHA? I recall
hearing that someone pulled the goalie to start the third period when
losing something like 6-0.
 
Andy Weise
SUNY Potsdam '93
Union College '95
 
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