Mike notes:
>Why worry about the polls? Would you rather finish first in the
>polls or win the national championship?
 
Good point. At this juncture, polls mean nothing but if we
(or any other highly ranked team) don't win the conference
tournament, then the rankings mean everything since only 12 teams
make it to the NC17 tournament. Granted, I realize #3 or #4 likely
won't make a difference but if it were #12 or #13 it might.
 
About the conspiracy thing, it's ridiculous. Even though I'm an
ECAC fan, I do think that the CCHA and WCHA as a whole are stronger
than ECAC and Hockey East. In other words, the worst teams have a
better chance of beating the best ones (ex. UIC 3-1 over Lake St.).
 
I wasn't bemoaning the fact that Clarkson was ranked #4 but rather the
inconsistency of the writers. If they thought Clarkson had a weak
schedule, they knew that a long time ago. How can a win against a
good team drop you down? If the points you made are worthy of merit
and the writers used that to rank CU #4 this time, how was that diff
erent from last time when we were #3. I still think that if you can
be outshot 55-19 against the #4 team in the country and still win,
you can't be that bad.
 
HOWEVER, I've noticed a disturbing trend on Clarkson's part,
PENALTIES. They have done a good job killing penalties this season,
perhaps that's due to the killing units extensive ice time. If
Clarkson is going to have any sucess in the tournament and wants
to get past the Final Fou..excuse me, Quaint Quartet, it WILL
ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO CUT DOWN ON THE NUMBER OF PENALTIES IT TAKES.
Case in point, Clarkson took 19 penalties (14 shorthanded situations)
in its opener against BC. They spent LITERALLY HALF THE GAME
SHORTHANDED (29 minutes and change). BC spent about 9 minutes
total on a 5-on-3 power play (but didnt score). This is WAY TOO
MUCH! Coach Mark Morris will have to discipline his team a little
better if it expects to keep up its current sucess. Clarkson lost
two players, captain Scott Thomas and (I believe) defenseman Guy
Sanderson, due to their receiving fighting penalties in the
UNH game (This was Thomas' second ejection of the season, with the
other coming for "molesting the referee" [exact words]).
 
Bri Farenell
Clarkson '95
TEMPORARY ADDRESS: [log in to unmask]
 
PS-Despite the tremendous shot disadvantage, Clarkson led UNH, 5-1
at one point in the 3rd. One thing about the Knights, they make
their opportunities count. A little thing to remember, Mike,
all teams are given their share of luck during the course of
a game/season. The good teams take advantage of it while the
not-so-good teams don't. Clarkson played poorly but took advantage
of its few opportunities. UNH played well but didn't cash in on its
many chances. That's why Clarkson won the game.