A promising weekend turned out to be just as good. We saw 3 teams that
we expected to bethere and one with a couple of upsets in mind.
 
A few thoughts on each game......
 
Vermont-Harvard:
The Cats came ready to play, but so did the Crimson. The thing I noticed
the most was the UVM's defense just let Harvard set up. Granted, this
didn't happen often, but when it did, Harvard capitalized. They got
some good, quality shots on goal and kept Tim Thomas on his toes. I
think Thomas let in a few that he shouldn't have. UVM, however, came
right back each time Harvard went in front. The problem was that they
couldn't get the go-ahead goal when they needed to. Tripp Tracy was
a brick wall in the third period. He stoned the Cats offense when
they were ready to get the tying goal. The key to this one was Harvard
taking the crowd out of the game (yes, there were that many UVM fans
there!). Credit Harvard in that they had nothing to lose and they
showed their victory over SLU wasn't a fluke.
 
Clarkson-Cornell:
There was a lot of red on the ice - Cornell and the blood from the
Golden Knight players. This was *all* Cornell. Clarkson didn't set up
much offense and the bigger Cornell team got them into a boards game.
I don't know how many shots Clarkson had, but when they had them, they
were weak for the most part. Any good, quality shot on Jason Elliot
was stopped. Clarkson could have easily made the game closer, but their
chances were stoned by Elliot. My three stars were the Cornell defense,
Jason Elliot, and the Cornell defense.
 
Consolation - Vermont-Clarkson:
Another lackluster effort by Clarkson. Vermont's three goals were all
power play goals and all by Perrin & St. Louis. As the game went on,
though, Clarkson showed some life. They had plenty of good chances in
the offensive zone, but Thomas came up big. Clarkson's only goal of
the weekend was a blast by Chris deRuiter that just beat Thomas on
the glove side. Clarkson took control of the game with about 5 minutes
left. They had a power play and then just pulled Dan Murphy in the last
minute. I believe they tallied 38 shots in the entire game - most of
them late in the second period and in the third. Vermont seemed to grab
the 3-0 lead and sit on it. Probably not a bad plan seeing the way
Clarkson played in the first half of the game. This is where Vermont
took advantage of the penalties and Tim Thomas showed why he's one of
the best goalies in the country.
 
Championship - Cornell-Harvard:
Another inspired effort by Harvard. A team with virtually no well-known
players decided to make their mark early. Jason Elliot gave Tommy Holmes
a short rebound in the crease and Holmes put it in the net. It took
Clarkson 60 minutes against Cornell to get nothing. It took Harvard
36 seconds to score. Things didn't bode well for the Big Red when they
took a penalty about 30 seconds later. However, they did calm down and
remember how they played Friday night. From here on, you can place my
comments on the Clarkson-Cornell game. Cornell shut Harvard down for the
most part. Harvard had some good chances, but guess who was there. This
was a relatively fast game, though. The last two minutes were there
before I knew it. Ronn Tomassoni pulled Tripp Tracy with 1:00 left.
Harvard started applying the pressure, but never really got a good
shot on Elliot. The horn sounded and the ice was littered with gloves,
helmets, & sticks - all from the Cornell bench.
 
Other random thoughts.....
 
* Clarkson fails to show up for the semi-finals for the third straight
year. Granted, 2 of those years, they lost to a relatively
evenly-matched team, but they're starting to give me the imppression
that they forgot how they played in the regular season.
 
* I was very impressed with the number of UVM fans. I now have a mild
impression of what it's like in Gutterson. I was even more impressed
with the number of UVM fans that showed up on Saturday afternoon!
 
* The battle of the bands was a close one between Cornell & Clarkson,
but the Cornell fans were *BY FAR* the most entertaining, the most
spirited, and the most creative group of fans there. I'll have to
initiate myself sometime and go to a game at Lynah.
 
* Harvard had nothing to lose and they just came out and had fun. We
almost had another Cinderella show up at the dance. They have no reason
to hang their heads.
 
Congrats to Cornell, as they were easily the best of the 4 teams in
Lake Placid.
 
I'll see everyone in Albany!
 
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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