recap (comments follow)
period 1
P 2:09 RPI Brad Tapper (slashing)
P 16:02 Clrk Drakensjo (tripping)
G 18:01 Clrk (0-1) Clark(Cole) shg
P 19:52 RPI Gardiner (hitting from behind)
period 2
P 1:28 RPI Murphy (major-hitting from behind + game misconduct)
G 3:39 Clrk (0-2) Saper(Cole,Maidment) ppg
G 6:36 RPI (1-2) Healey(Garver)
G 11:35 RPI (2-2) Gardiner (Battaglia,Brownlee)
G 12:29 RPI (3-2) St. Hillaire(Garver, Healey)
P 18:04 RPI Pothier (holding)
P 20:00 RPI bench minor
period 3
P 2:32 RPI bench minor
P 6:11 Clrk Gates (tripping)
P 12:40 Clrk Reid (hooking)
P 12:54 RPI Riva (tripping)
G 13:34 RPI (4-2) Brownlee (Healey, St. Hillaire) (4x4)
P 13:53 Clrk Huskins (high stick)
G 14:28 RPI (5-2) Pothier (St. Hillaire,Aldous) ppg
G 18:46 RPI (6-2) Shepherd (Riva) eng
saves
1 2 3 total
Prekaski(R) 15 11 16 42
Murphy(C) 4 2 5 11
Houston Field House came alive last night as the Engineers hosted
the Golden Knights in a key ECAC contest. Coming into the game,
Clarkson was in 2nd place in the ECAC with 20 points with RPI
in a tie for 4th place with Cornell at 17 points. Although not
as crowded as the earlier Big Red Freakout (4300 vs. 5200), the crowd
was loud and psyched as they always are for Clarkson games.
And as usual, the Clarkson contingent was numerous and boisterous.
Adding to the excitement was a measure of revenge. Fresh in the
Engineers mind was the 11-0 humilation suffered at the hands of
Clarkson several months ago in Potsdam as well as some unflattering
comments made by Clarkson coach Mark Morris to the press after the game.
Despite all the campus hoop-la leading up to the game, the Engineers
came out really flat in the first period. If not for some acrobatics
by RPI goalie Scott Prekaski, Clarkson could have finished the first up
by 5 goals. As it was, RPI gave up a short handed goal when Patrick Brownlee
was stripped of the puck coming out of his own zone by Eric Cole. Cole and
Chris Clark broke in 2 on 1 and Clark beat Prekaski to give Clarkson a 1-0
lead.
Clarkson completely dominated the lacklustre Engineers, outshooting them 16-4.
The second period started out even worse when Mark Murphy was given a
major hitting from behind penalty (+ game misconduct) at 1:28. Although
this penalty took place right in front of me (and the quality of Murphy's
referee skills is quite questionable), I did not see the penalty and cannot
comment on whether it was justifiable or not. Although no-one realized it
at the
time, this penalty may have been one of the best things that happened all
night. The Knights went up 2-0 when Eric Cole centered a pass onto the stick
of a breaking Matt Saper who had the whole net to shoot for (power play goal).
The Engineers got on the board just as the major penalty to Murphy ended.
Matt Garver grabbed the puck in his own end and hit Eric Healey up ice
just as Healey came over the boards to join the play. Healey skated in alone
on Dan Murphy and the Field House exploded as Healey scored making it
2-1 Clarkson. Healey's goal woke up the team and the crowd and you could
feel the momentum change and the air became charged with excitement.
At 11:35, Pete Gardiner richocheted the tying goal in off the post on
assists from Doug Battaglia and Pat Brownlee.
This is where the earlier major penalty came into play. Earlier this season,
RPI's first line consisted of Healey, Garver and St. Hillaire. When St.
Hillaire
injured his hand, coach Dan Fridgen had to mix up the lines moving Mark Murphy
to the Healey, Garver line and then moving Pete Gardiner up to put some size
on that line. When St. Hillaire came back, he was placed on a different line.
With Murphy's expulsion, Fridgen was forced to juggle the offensive lines
again
and he moved St. Hillaire back to the 1st line with Healey and Garver. The
matchup
clicked almost immediatley and at 12:39, RPI took the lead on a goal from
St. Hillaire with assists from Garver and Healey. For the rest of the game,
this line led the way and set Clarkson back on their heals trying to play
catch up.
At this point, the game got a bit ugly. There were some cheap shots taken by
some Clarkson players (probably out of frustration) and some cheap retaliation
shots taken by the Engineers. Referee Murphy chose to ignore some blatant
infractions that incensed both the crowd and RPI coach Dan Fridgen. Fridgen
made some comment to the referees at the close of the 2nd period and
a bench minor was called at 20:00 of the 2nd. The mayhem continued at
the beginning of the 3rd. An RPI player was taken down behind the play
(right in front of me) and the Clarkson player involved laid the stick across
the back of the neck of the prone RPI player. The referee was in place to see
it and the "assistant" referee did see it. The whistle blew for an icing
and the crowd, expecting a penalty (and not getting it)
started booing. The assistant, who should have called the penalty himself,
skated over to Murphy (again right in front of me) and explained what had
happened. Murphy just shook his head and skated away.
At that point, the crowd broke into some unkind chants about Murphy's
parents and sexual proclivities. Fridgen went ballistic and was called for
his second bench minor at 2:32 of the period.
RPI went up 4-2 at 13:34 when Patrick Brownlee tipped an Eric Healey pass
past Dan Murphy while the 2 teams were skating 4 on 4. Defenseman Brian
Pothier upped the score to 5-2 when he beat Murphy over the shoulder
from the face off circle on an RPI power play. The score wound up
with Doug Shepherd scoring an empty netter at 18:46.
A few notes to mention:
This was a BIG game for the Engineers. They had been languishing in
Friday night games and with road-trips to Dartmouth-Vermont next weekend
and Colgate-Cornell the week after, this was a must-win game, both from
a standings point of view and a team confidence point of view. Also, the
support of the home crowd seemed to spark the team as the the team confidence
seemed to spark the crowd.
A pre-game note: The US and Canadian national anthems were sung a-capella
(sp?)
by a school sponsored group at the start of the game. As has been posted
before,
the RPI crowd erupts on RED when "the rocket's RED glare" is sung. Likewise,
the Clarkson crowd reacts to Knight when the line "gave proof through the
night" is sung. One gentleman with a very loud voice on the opposite side
of the Field House (perhaps from Ohio???) chimed in with a VERY LOUD "O"
when the line "Oh say does that star spangled banner...." was sung (much
to the delight of both the RPI and Clarkson crowds).
A post-game note:
At the end of the game, several fights broke out in the far corner of the
Field House
(on the ice). This was in a corner that is not visible from my seat so I
have no details as to who started what or what happened. It could have been
very ugly but both coaches ran out on the ice to separate the teams. As
RPI lined up for the post game handshake, Clarkson coach Mark Morris turned
and
saw part of his team walking off the ice to their locker room. Morris yelled
for his players to get back on the ice. When some of his players did not
respond (it was very loud in the Field House at the time), Morris literally
ran to the Zamboni exit (also the exit to the visitor's locker room)
and yelled for the players to get back on the ice. Still, several players
went into (or were already in) the locker room. Morris proceeded into the
locker room and came out with every last player and the post-game hand-shake
took place without further incident. Nice move coach.. you showed a lot of
class and set a good example for everyone!!
Tonight, RPI faces St. Lawrence as they continue their march to Lake Placid.
Mark Lewin
RPI - class of '69
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.
|
