> But I think Clarkson was bitterly stung
> by criticism of their performance last week,  and they know that the weekend
> will not be a success unless they go to Cinci.
 
I wouldn't quite go that far. Maybe the players think that (which is
fine), but in my mind, they showed a lot of people that they belong
in the tournament. To me, the weekend won't be a success if they
don't show up tonight against BU.
 
Yes, they were probably stung by assessments of their (lack of)
performance last week. I think there was more pressure on them in
Lake Placid than there was last night. They seemed to have the
attitude  that they had nothing to lose. Think about it - Clarkson
was matched up against one of the toughest, more physical CCHA
teams, they have rarely fared well in the NCAAs in recent years, and
they were coming off a weekend where they were supposed to do
well, yet crashed & burned. Why not have that frame of mind?
 
The first two periods were not good for Clarkson. They made some
huge mistakes on defense, allowing 3 point-blank shots on Dan Murphy,
and didn't look like they would even make it a close game. But, the
story was Murphy. The first group of saves he made kinda gave Clarkson
a wake-up call. The Albany Times Union told of one of Murphy's
point blank saves that led to a Clarkson rush, which led to JF Houle's
quick wrister that scored the game's first goal. This set the tide.
Murphy kept WMU out of the net, and Clarkson blew it open in the third
period.
 
Clarkson can NOT play that way against BU tonight. Those defensive
mistakes will lead to Clarkson heading back to Potsdam for the
spring.
 
Andy
 
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+                                                                     +
+  Andy Weise           Let's Go Tech!                                +
+  SUNY Potsdam '93                     [log in to unmask]       +
+  Union College '95    Let's Go U!                                   +
+                                                                     +
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