PREVIEW OF ECAC SEMIFINAL MATCHUP:      CLARKSON VS RPI
Info:           Friday, 3/19    Lake Placid Olympic Center      5 PM
 
                        CLARKSON                RPI
Records:                18-9-5                  19-9-3
Head coaches:           Mark Morris             Buddy Powers
ECAC finish:            Tied for 3rd            2nd place
ECAC quarterfinals:     Beat SLU, 2-0           Beat Colgate, 2-1
Last year:              Lost in ECAC            Lost in ECAC semis
                        semis, 4-3 to           , 6-5 to SLU in
                        Cornell in 2OT          2 OT
Top goalies:            Chris Rogles            Neil Little
Offense:                4.54 goals per gm       3.99 goals per gm
                        (8th in nation)         (24th in nation)
Defense:                2.96 goals allwd/gm     3.27 goals allwd/gm
                        (3rd in nation)         (8th in nation)
 
Last meeting:           in Potsdam, Clarkson won, 3-1.
Other meeting:          in Troy, RPI won, 4-3.
 
RPI
RPI surprised everyone (including coach Powers) by finishing a strong
second in the ECAC this year. Lead by Xavier Majic, Wayne Clarke and
Kelly Askew pace the Engineers offense. RPI's defense is reportedly
not very solid and often leaves goalie Neil Little to wolves. Little
has clearly been the MVP of the Engineers. He's kept them in many a game
that they may not have deserved to be in. A strong effort by Little
is seen virtually every game.
 
CLARKSON
Clarkson started out a horrible 6-8-4 but have surged down the
stretch going 12-1-1 including a quarterfinal sweep over archrival
St Lawrence. Clarkson has an incredibly deep offense. Sophomore
Marko Tuomainen had a 13 game goal scoring streak snapped in Gm 1
of the semis while Steve Dubinsky and Todd Marchant have also been
solid all season. Freshman Steve Palmer and senior captain Hugo
Belanger have revved it up down the wire. Palmer had about 6 goals
with about half a dozen games left in the regualr season. He has
doubled the goal output in just the last 8 games. Clarkson's defense
has played reasonably well lately but it has been the goaltending
of Chris Rogles which carried the Knights to big wins down the
stretch. He must have a good game for Clarkson to win.
 
PREVIEW
To close to call. Clarkson is probably a more talented team but
there is more to a good team than just talent. Clarkson has
a tendency to play each period in a totally different way:
typically, it's one decent period, one terrible period and
one period where everyone on the Golden Knights plays like
Mario Lemieux. Clarkson has gotten behind in 5 of the last
6 games and still managed to go 5-0-1 but Little will be tough
if he gets off to a good start. However, RPI always plays tough
against the Golden Knights. Majic and a healthy Askew must put pressure
on the Knights' defense and use their speed effectively. Personally,
I think RPI will need to get at least 2-0 lead in the first two periods.
Just a gut feeling. I do expect it to be a low scoring game no matter
who wins.
 
It will be interesting to see what effect the neutral site
will have. Each of the last 4 games have been won by the home
team with last month's 3-1 Clarkson win being the biggest margin
of victory in those 4 games. Clarkson is bringing hundreds of fans
down the Lake Placid but I'm sure there will be a similiarly large
contigent from RPI as well.
   +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    BRI FARENELL    [log in to unmask]   CLARKSON '95
      Adirondack Red Wings, Calder Cup Champs: '81  '86  '89  '92
           Clarkson hockey, ECAC Tournament champs: '66  '91
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               AHL and ECAC contact for rec.sport.hockey
                 Allan Bester for Prime Minister, eh?