Jim from Union did a good job at recapping the Clarkson-Union game.
All I have to add is that Clarkson did a good job at controlling the
game, especially the first two periods.  Clarkson defenseman Ed Heinrich
went into the boards pretty heavily during the game and dislocated his
shoulder.  He'll be out for 4 weeks.  Clarkson dressed two other players
to replace the suspended players for the game.  Rosenheck played foreward
for Thomas and Hopkins (team manager) played defense.  Both players were
dressed for Saturday night's game, but neither saw any ice time.
 
Clarkson 1-1-1-1  4
RPI      0-0-3-0  3
 
Shots on goal
Clarkson: 18 (1 in OT)
RPI: 37 (2 in OT)
 
If you thought that Clarkson was lucky against UNH, you didn't see how
lucky Clarkson was against RPI.  They would have been lucky to get a
tie, let alone a win.
 
I don't have any notes, so I'll give what impressions I have of the game.
Other Clarkson fans will no doubt be able to fill in the details.
 
The game was a very physical, heavy hitting one.  RPI came out strong in
the first period and went after Clarkson; hitting hard, being tenacious at
fore-checking and stopping Clarkson forwards from entering the RPI zone.
It was a struggle all night for Clarkson to clear their own zone and set
up any offensive pressure in the RPI zone.  Clarkson had one extended
offensive foray in the third period when the score was tied.
 
There was a lot of 4-on-4 play and power play time during the game.
Clarkson had 8 power play chances while RPI had 9, scoring on 2 of them
in the third period.  The other RPI goal came during 4-on-4 play.  As
was mentioned in a posting about another game, it seemed that ref Noeth
was calling the holding and interference penalties a bit arbitrarily if
at all.  He did give each team a break by not DQ-ing two players who got
into a scuffle.  It was in the second period when there was a pile-up in
front of the Clarkson net.  Shawn Fotheringham of Clarkson was in
protecting Rogles.  After the whistle, a RPI player was jabbing at him
with his stick.  Fotheringham went after the RPI player, knocking a
linesman away, ripping off the RPI player's helmet and throwing a few
punches when they had been wrestled to the ice.  I was surprised that
Fotheringham didn't even get a 10 min misconduct.  On another note,
Clarkson's Craig Conroy went off of the ice injurred in the second
period.  Conroy was slashed and held while in the RPI zone.  Still
controlling the puck during the delayed call, he was further pummelled
by the RPI player who got four penalties for the price of one.  Conroy
did not return to the ice.
 
Clarkson did miss their physical forwards, Thomas and then Conroy, in
the third period when RPI picked it up and tied the game.  Most of the
RPI chances in the first two periods were ffrom the perimeter and the
blue line.  But their work payed off as they managed to tie the game up
with about 8 minutes to play.  Neither teams had any excellent chances
during the rest of the period as Clarkson did start playing tougher.
With 11 seconds to go, Todd Marchant got a break-away pass from
Tuomainen that he shot into Kennedy who had come out to challenge him.
However, Marchant would have enough luck to get another chance with 1:28
left in OT.  He came into the RPI zone, cutting between the two
defenseman and reaching back for the puck (he was on-sides).  He got the
rolling puck in front of him in time to get off a quick shot that went
through Kennedy's legs.  The RPI team looked stun to see all of their
hard work vanish.  They really did deserve a tie, if not the win.  Most
of the people I sat with knew that and just shook their heads, "That's
the way the puck bounces."
 
RPI did not look like a 1-6 team.  They missed their sharp shooting
forwards though.  The team will improve with experience.
 
I hope that Conroy will be back for the St. Lawrence game.  Clarkson
will be losing the services of freshman Tuomainen while he returns to
Finland for the Junior Worlds games in the up coming month.
 
Mike Zak
Clarkson '87, '91, '92