Clarkson took it to Lowell last night and shutout the Hawks by the
score of 5 to 0. It wasn't a good night for Riverhawk fans as Lowell
drop its second game in a row and foruth of their last five. What
follows is a partial game recap due that surely gives the gist of
the play but basically leaves out a futile third period in which
Lowell was unable to get one past Clarkson stand-out goaltender
Murphy. My Clarkson roster isn't handy (as well as my
spell-checker), so please forgive the lack of Clarkson references.
 
The night started out ominously as the Lowell announcer screwed up
two names in the Riverhawk's starting line-up. He announced Shannon
Basaraba as Babaraba and Scott Fankhouser as Frankhouser. Then,
Debbie Detramont, our alumni vocalist, proceeded to mess up the
words of our national anthem. Debbie, its "twilight's last
gleaming.", not "starlight's last .."
 
Well, its really beginning to irk me how the Lowell defensive corps
continues to be so inadequate. Maybe its me and maybe coach
Whitehead wants Lowell's backliners to take ubsurd chances all the
time ... but I feel the primary concern during transtion play should
be to play defense first, then try to thwart the oppositions forward
motion. Lowell defensemen who take big chances trying to keep the
puck in the zone are constantly lending futile efforts which result
in odd man rushes. Last nights first score was the perfect example
of this ... as my least favorite and seriously irksome Lowell
defenseman Anthony Cappelletti once again did this same thing. He
caught a clearing attempt at the blue-line and quickly turned the
Clarkson rush into a possible Lowell scoring chance. Most of the
Clarkson crew were outside of the zone in anticipation. However,
Anthony failed to maintain control, turning the puck over to
Clarkson's Gates who fed White up ice and put Clarkson on a 3-on-1
break. White fed Clark in the slot nicely, and he buried the puck up
high to Fankhouser's glove side.  Clarkson's Game-winner and the
first period's only goal was scored at 4:25.
 
Cappelletti did draw a penalty at 6:21 as Clarkson's Reed must have
mistaken him for an offensive threat in the slot on a Lowell rush,
but Lowell didn't do much with the power-play. Matching penalties at
12:50 presented some 4-on-4 play but Clarkson got the best of that.
Another Lowell power-play at 16:01 was even less productive. At
least the first had Lowell setting up in the zone a little bit, even
though the couldn't get a good scoring chance. This second
oppurtunity saw Clarkson constantly breaking up passes ... or Lowell
just turning it over. Clarkson went on the power-play at 18:38 and
worked the puck well in the Lowell zone, but Fankhouser stopped a
good threat by White. Nicholishen got called for roughing up White
during this threat and Lowell was two-men down for the last :43 of
the first. Lowell defended well however, keeping Clarkson to long
shots at best.
 
Fankhouser played well throughout the game but was instrumental in
Lowell only being down 1-0 after one. The shots in the first were
Clarkson 12, Lowell 6.
 
First period summary
Clarkson Goal      4:25  Clark (White, Gates)
Clarkson penalty   6:21  Reed (Interference)
Clarkson penalty  12:50  Clark (Slashing)
Lowell   penalty    "    Nicholishen (Cross-checking)
Clarkson penalty  16:01  Clark (Tripping)
Lowell   penalty  18:38  Bertram (Hooking)
Lowell   penalty  19:17  Nicholishen (Roughing)
 
The second period saw Clarkson continue to dominate the play with
good fore-checking and strong puck control. A Lowell giveaway set up
Clarkson's White on a 1-on-1 and he made a real nice move to put him
in alone on Fankhouser. He deked him hard, Scott made the split to
the left and White dropped it lifted it over his outstreched pad at
5:13.
 
At 5:31, Lowell went on a power-play and it looked like they might
have a chance to score, but  Murphy stood tall. Matching penalties
at 6:07 didn't affect play. Lowell's Leblanc got clled at 8:03 and
Clarkson's White once again put it home, scoring at 8:58.
 
Lowell tried to open it up (some more), and did get a few solid
chances on Murphy .. but they couldn't score. Lowell even had a
two-man power-play on CLarkson penalties at 10:20 and 10:51. Play
was even throughout the period, but Clarkson put the game away with
two goals in the last :20 of the period. One of which was courtesy
of Lowell's defenseman Chris Libett, who looked helpless standing in
the crease all alone with a puck at his feet (only an inch or two
from the goal-line). He tried a few times to clear it away, however
one of his failed attempts actually put the puck in the net.
Granted, its hard to shoot a puck that is under you, and the anxiety
of being alone with a puck so close to the goal-line would get to
most players. But, it was really pathetic and indicative of the
night in general.
 
I have no notes from the third period. It was several minutes before
Clarkson's late scores in the second that I had put my notebook away
and concentrated more on my lovely company. ;) As Adam Wodon would
say, "Take a friend to the game this week." I took a pretty Welsh
lass who had never seen an ice hockey game. She loved it! I was
surprised to discover that she couldn't see how terribly
disappointed I was at Lowell's play. I must have hid it well. I
always go into such a pout when Lowell loses. The sweet company must
have been my relief. ;)
 
In the third, Murphy continued to be solid. His biggest threat was
when Lowell freshman Storozuk broke in alone on a short-handed
break. This only saw the puck and Storozuk go sliding past the left
post as he failed to get off a good shot.
 
There was some chippy play and a brief outburst when Neil Donovan
went diving for a loose puck in front of Murphy. Well, the puck was
actually tied up before Neil went into his dive ... and the sliding
Donovan upended Murphy who was on his knees at the time. Murphy
turned and pounced on Donovan who was in the net at this point. I
think he trhough a few shots at Neil but didn't get called as some
incidental matching penalties as well as one that put Lowell on the
power-play ... strangely enough.
 
Lowell hopes to break this losing streak at two when the host St.
Lawrence tonight. Clarkson plays at New Hampshire. Hopefully, the
Riverhawks will get a shot at testing Clint Owen of the Saints. I
had a brief conversation with Clint up in Dartmouth and he seems
like a pretty good kid. Maybe a Fillion and Owen match-up might
incite some commiseration amongst these two "team-rule-offending"
netminders. I do however suspect that Lindsay will get the nod in
these non-league game for Lowell.
 
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