Little quiet on the list tonight.  Anything special going on?
 
I am a little bemused at the poster who labelled Kelly Askew as a goon in r
response to his hits agains Eric Perrin of Vermont.  I can testify that Kelly's
cross check at Houston Fieldhouse was nasty.  In fact I thought Perrin was dead,
although he did a Lazarus imitation in coming back for the third period.  I
didn't witness Saturday's alledged altercation, but I can comment on Askew
overall.
 
Kelly Askew plays with emotion.  He readily admitted he blew it against Vermont,
not only committing a grievous act but effectively denying his team any chance
at a come-back in the third period.  Askew simply lost his head and took out his
anger directly on the scorer, instead of channeling it into his own play.  And
it is also not the first time that Askew has lost control--last year Askew
committed a vicious high stick to a, I believe, an SLU player at center ice.
Askew was extremely fortunate to escape from that malfeasance without a game DQ.
 
But it is a major of leap of logic to conclude Askew's a goon.  A goon is
generally understood as a player who relies on his fist and ugly demeanor to
compensate for his lack of skills in hockey.  Anyone who knows the ECAC knows
Kelly Askew has skills.  He is the fastest skater on a still-fast RPI Engineer
team, faster even than afterburning forward Brian Richardson.  In fact, I am
willing to wager that Kelly Askew is the fastest skater in the entire ECAC.  It
would be a great treat to see Askew go 1 on 1 against Steve Martins in a speed
skating contest.  Askew also happens to be the ECAC's top defensive forward, two
years running.  And Askew is a truly complete hockey player who lacks only one
element, as any RPI fan laments, a shot.  Askew has shown some improvement this
year, but overall, he's not the greatest finisher.
 
Askew plays the game with emotion.  Sometimes he seems like the only Engineer ou
out on the ice who cares about the outcome, who is willing to pump up his game
to get the W.  RPI tends to rely too much on the speed of its skating and the
quality of its scoring plays.  Too often RPI's play seems more like a figure
skating exhibition than an hockey contest.  And when the artistry can't put the
puck in the net, too often the team goes into a funk, waiting for a bolt of
lightning to somehow energize the team, instead of digging down to come up with
the extra effort to drag themselves back into a contest.  That's where Askew
comes in.  He plays defense (the entire second half of last season when RPI was
short on blueliners), he goes down-ice on breakaways, he takes the opposing
team's main man and neutralizes him, he takes a penalty.  In short he tries to
make something happen.
 
Actually, maybe Engineer fans should consider the comment a left-hand co
compliment.  I would never rate the Engineers as one of the more physical teams,
and I certainly wouldn't label them as the bad boys of the ECAC.  Wow, imagine
that--opponents coming into the Fieldhouse to brawl with the "dirty" Engineers--
is this a dream?
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Brian Morris             Home Ice, Please?
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[log in to unmask]        Shut-out from the Beanpot.  Thanks BU.