PREVIEW OF ECAC QUARTERFINAL MATCHUP:
 
CLARKSON GOLDEN KNIGHTS VS ST LAWRENCE SKATING SAINTS
SITE: Cheel Arena, Potsdam NY
TIMES: Friday night at 7:30, Saturday night at 7, Sunday night at 7 (if nec.)
FORMAT: Best of 3, no overtime in Games 1 or 2
 
CLARKSON'S RECORD: 16-9-5 overall       12-6-4 in ECAC, Tied 3rd place
ST LAWRENCE'S RECORD: 17-10-3 overall   12-8-2 in ECAC, 6th place
SERIES HISTORY IN ECAC PLAYOFFS: Clarkson leads 6-4
EARLIER MEETINGS THIS YEAR: Clarkson won 6-0 in Canton and 4-1 in Potsdam.
 
CLARKSON
Clarkson has surged since going 0-1-1 at #1 Maine. Since then Tech
has gone 10-1-1. They have been clicking on all cylinders. Hugo
Belanger has rebounded from his midseason slump to surpass 200 pts
for his career while Marko Tuomainen scored at least 1 goal in the
last 13 regular season games. The offense has been well-balanced and
consistent of late. The defense may need to shore up a bit for the
playoff run but did play well at times down the stretch. With the
exception of the finale at Brown, senior goalie Chris Rogles has been
on fire and was a stabilizing factor in the Knights stretch run. Clarkson
still needs to learn how to play 60 minutes of hockey, which it did
against RPI in February, if it wants to win the ECAC title. If it does
play 60 minutes, it can beat literally anybody.
 
ST LAWRENCE
St Lawrence has played well since a disastrous January. In February,
the Saints lost only 1 game, to RPI. Although they blow an 8-3 3rd period
lead to Yale in their home finale to tie the Bulldogs at 8. This cost
the Saints 5th place and may have let the air out of their balloon as
they lost their next game at Brown. SLU could come into the game with
momentum as they played quite well in the season ending win over league
champion Harvard. SLU has a very solid first line of Burke Murphy,
Greg Carvel and Lee Albert. Their 2nd and 3rd lines are playing better
than in January, when the Saints lost twice to Clarkson. Gerard Verbeek
and Spencer Meany are playing well. The big hole in the Saints lineup
is their defense. They are just not very deep at the blueline. That
fact has often left goalies Paul Spagnoletti and Brady Giroux to the
proverbial wolves. Despite that, Giroux has remained one of the ECAC's
goaltending leaders; he is probably the best goalie behind one of the
worst defenses with the possible exception of UVM's Christian Soucy.
Giroux is the Saints great equalizer and will probably keep them in the
series.
 
THOUGHTS
(yes, I do have coherent thoughts once in a while)
Clarkson should win this series. They are playing the best hockey
down the stretch of any ECAC team. They are also tons better in Potsdam,
having only lost 4 home games in the last 3 seasons. However, they should
not take SLU lightly (the Saints inflicted 1 of those 4 losses). If
Giroux gets hot and the 2nd and 3rd lines continue clicking for SLU,
they could pull off the upset. Clarkson needs to score first and rattle
Giroux (although not scoring first didn't hurt CU in their last 4 games
when they went 3-0-1). SLU needs to get an early lead and take the crowd
out of the game.
 
PREDICTION
SLU will play well but Clarkson is too deep.
 
TONIGHT: Clarkson 5  SLU 3      (1 empty net goal)
TOMMOROW: Clarkson 6  SLU 2
 
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BRI FARENELL      [log in to unmask]      CLARKSON '95
AHL and ECAC contact for rec.sport.hockey       Support USA Hockey
Adirondack Red Wings, Calder Cup Champs: '81  '86  '89  '92
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