My annual winter road trip to see my brother at St. Lawrence
and check out a hockey game was this past weekend.  We arrived
too late to catch the 10-1 thumping of Yale on Friday night,
but we did attend Saturday afternoon's match with Princeton.
 
This was a classic situation where a good team lets a less
skilled team hang around and gain confidence as the game
goes on...ultimately leading to a loss.
 
Princeton's close checking style (which some have argued
is clutch and grab :-)) clearly frustrated SLU.  And the
pesky Tigers were able to capitalize on some SLU defensive
lapses to enter the third period tied 2-2.
 
Here's where the game got a little chippy and an interesting
rules question comes up.  Sometime in the third period (sorry
I don't have a boxscore in front of me) the following scenario
occurred:
 
1.  Princeton and SLU are called for coincidental minors.
    Teams skate 4x4 (not counting the goalies).
 
2.  After a whistle in the SLU end, and with :56 seconds left in
    the coincidental minors,  a SLU player clearly cross
    checks Princeton's assistant captain Jonathan Kelley from behind.
    After a few words, Kelley retaliates by viciously spearing the
    SLU player in the crotch.  The SLU player receives a 2 minute
    minor for hitting from behind while Kelly receives a 5 minute
    major for spearing and a game DQ.  The DQ was well deserved, IMHO
    as there is no room for this kind of behavior.  Anyway, now the
    teams are skating 3X3.
 
3.  With about 5 seconds remaining in original coincidental minors,
    a SLU player gets caught flat footed and is forced to hook down
    a Princeton player along the far boards in the SLU zone.
 
The question is how should this be handled?  If I remember correctly,
from a discussion on this list last fall, teams are not allowed to skate
with less than 3 skaters.  Clearly then, 3x2 is not right.  My recollection
of that discussion was that if a team was called for 3 penalties
(i.e. down to 2 skaters) a forfeit was to be declared.  Well, a forefeit
wasn't declared. The start of the last two minute minor was delayed
until the remaining 5 seconds of the coincidentals had been played.
Therefore the teams skated 3x3.  Perhaps the mitigating circumstance here
is the coincidental minors.  Rules gurus?
 
In any case Princeton scores on a scramble in front of the net
on the ensuing faceoff in the SLU zone to go ahead 3-2.  What
should have been 4 minutes of 5X4 for St. Lawrence had been reduced to
approximately 2 minutes.  SLU does score a ppg during the remainder of the
major to tie 3-3 on a beautiful shot by SLU's Derek Ladocuer(sp?) who
caught James Konte not protecting the short side. However, Princeton's
tenacious neutral zone checking leads to another SLU turnover and while
Clint Owen made the original save, he couldn't control the rebound and
a Princeton player had a wide open net to score the winning goal with
about 4 minutes remaining in the game.
 
Some random observations from this neutral observer (I'm a Cornell
fan, so my interest in this game was mostly neutral, although
I was rooting for SLU to lose :-)):
 
SLU's Burke Murphy: A classic goal hanger, especially on the PP
(probably his responsibility on the PP).  He rarely went into
the corner's to scrap for the puck.  Instead he'd always try to
find the open ice for "his" shot.  Occasionally this lead Princeton
to easily take control in the corners.
 
SLU's Paul DiFrancesco and Derek Ladoceur: Good speed, excellent
passing.
 
SLU's Joel Prpic: I've seen him twice now, (last year vs. Cornell
and this year).  He is HUGE, and plays center.  He towers over
nearly everyone else on the ice.  Unfortunately, he's been
a waste of space each time I've seen him.
 
SLU:  This is a good team that got caught playing a bad game.
Will do some damage in the ECAC this year.  Have to be one
of the favorites to win it all.
 
Princeton's Jonathan Kelley and Casson Masters:  The guys
have the talent...too bad the rest of the team isn't there
yet.
 
Princeton's Syl Apps (related to the former NHLer?):  A
classic overachiever.  He makes up for lack of talent with
hustle and determination...every team needs a guy like this.
 
Princeton's ____ Smith (sorry can't remember his first name, #25):
A solid, stay at home, defenseman.  Plays the body and the puck
equally well and makes solid decisions in his own end.
 
Princeton:  These guys must be learning something from their
NHL neighbors the NJ Devils.  Their game is to pounce on mistakes
in the nuetral zone by the other team.  The defense is suspect and
the whole team needs to spend a couple of weeks on passing drills.
I can't recall the last time I've seen so many bad passes.  OK, I can:
the last two years' Cornell teams.  That said, I wouldn't want to meet
Princeton in a one game playoff.  Their style will clearly frustrate
some of the faster teams.
 
ECAC: Vermont has the inside track to 1st place barring upsets because
they play teams from the lower half of the standings the next two weekends.
The place to be the last weekend of the season will be the North
Country (Clarkson and St. Lawrence) as Cornell and Colgate make
the dreaded road trip.  These will in effect be playoff games as only
4 points currently separates these teams with home ice for the playoffs
on the line.
 
That's all for now.
 
Eric Hoffman
Cornell '88
SUNY-Albany '95 and ??
 
Let's GO RED!!!!
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.