SCORING
SLU - CU 1st Period
1 - 0 8:11 SLU Albert (Wells, Beattie)
1 - 1 14:27 CU Marchant (Theriault)
2 - 1 16:33 SLU Dent (McGeough)
2nd Period
3 - 1 9:31 SLU M. Lacroix (M. Lappin, E. Lacroix) PP
3 - 2 18:38 CU Thomas (unassited)
4 - 2 19:40 SLU E. Lacroix (LaPerriere, M. Lappin) PP
3rd Period
4 - 3 5:15 CU Thomas (Dubinsky)
Saves 1st 2nd 3rd Total
SLU 10 12 12 34 (Spagnoletti)
Clarkson 12 8 6 26 (Rogles)
I've been waiting to see a post for the game from one of the Clarkson
gang, but they may be locked into finals now so somebody's got to do it.
Clarkson's 29 game home unbeaten streak (since Feb 1990) came to an
end on SLU's first visit to the new Cheel Arena. I'm not sure if all the
Clarkson fans would agree, but even the announcers on Clarkson's TV
broadcast (who are not known for their unbiased nature) agreed that it was
a great hockey game - one said the best he'd ever seen.
Clarkson started the game down three players, Conroy and Henrich out
with injuries and d'Orsonnes gone to tryout for the Canadian Junior team.
SLU took a 2-1 lead out of the first period although each team could have
easily had more. SLU's goalie Paul Spagnoletti played far better than he
has shown so far this season - stopping several great Clarkson scoring
chances. SLU's Lee Albert got the initial goal on a good feed from behind
the net by Canton native Chris Wells. Marchant poked in a rebound to tie
it, then Ted Dent got the next goal to put the Saints ahead to stay.
You've got to feel for Rogles on this one - he stopped the original shot by
Mark McGeough and the puck dropped right by his left skate but he couldn't
find it. You could almost see Dent's eyes get big as he saw the puck
laying there just inches from the goal line.
It seems like Clarkson got the message from past games and avoided
putting SLU on the power play too often. Although the Saints controlled
the puck well on two first period power plays, they didn't score on either.
Not so in the second period as it took Martin Lacroix just 11 seconds into
a power play to give SLU a 3-1 lead (Here's a good trivia, when was the
last time SLU lead Clarkson by two at Clarkson?). SLU had the better of
play for the rest of the period and appeared to go up 4-1 on a blast from
Laperriere with 3 minutes left in the period, but the goal was disallowed
due to a man in the crease. I had a great angle on the goal and certainly
didn't see anybody but Rogles in front of the goal - and couldn't find
anyone between periods who did either. I couldn't wait to get home and
look at the tape. It turned out to be a real big turnaround when less than
a minute later an SLU defenseman half fanned on a cross ice pass in front
of his own goal and Scott Thomas gratefully pounced and whisked the puck
past Spagnoletti. It could have meant a major momentum shift going into
the locker rooms but SLU got another power play with less than a minute
left and Eric Lacroix tipped in Laperriere's slap shot to get the two goal
lead back before the break.
The third period was very tense for Saint fans as Clarkson kept up all
sorts of pressure. Thomas got them within a goal, putting in a rebound
after Spagnoletti made a great save on Dubinsky. I was sure that four
goals wouldn't stand up. Clarkson had numerous chances and either didn't
quite get a stick on the puck with an open net, or just missed a breakaway
pass, hit a couple of posts, or were robbed by Spagnoletti. It's really
the first game I've seen this year that the Saints were carried by their
goaltending. Things got more intense as time wound down. SLU almost got
some breathing room when it looked like Mike Lappin was going in alone on
Rogles and was hauled down from behind. At least SLU would have the extra
man, but SLU's freshman Kapeller made a bonehead play by pounding a
Clarkson player against the boards as the play concluded to draw a penalty
and keep things 4-on-4. After getting back to full strength, SLU's M.
Lacroix took a penalty for roughing a Clarkson player (getting caught
responding to several shots he took to the chin while pinned against the
boards). Matching minors a while later left things 5-on-4 in Clarkson's
favor but led to an interesting situation later on.
Just to see if anyone's read this far here's the question - I believe
the current rule says that no manpower changes for matching minors are
called and one team already has a man advantage. The payers just have to
sit for two minutes. The question is, when do the players get to come back
on the ice - exactly when their two minutes expires or at the next whistle
stopping play? I'm guessing the later for the obvious reason to follow.
Evidently the SLU player (Wells) was told by the person running the penalty
box that he could leave the box after two minutes and jumped out to join
the play with less than a minute to go in the game. Unfortunately, there
were already five Saints on the ice - so oops! another penalty (too many
men) and Clarkson had a 6-on-4 skating advantage (with the goalie pulled).
They managed one good chance and twice a Clarkson player sprawled on the
ice and hooked the puck away when it seemed certain the SLU had control and
was headed for the empty net. Mercifully (for Saint fans collective blood
pressure) the Knights never managed the tying goal - an overtime period
would have been too much stimulation at this point.
Epilogue: Was there really a man in the crease? The tape showed a Saint
being ridden towards the goal by a Clarkson player as the goal was scored.
The front page of the Watertown Times Sports section on Saturday had an
absolutely marvelous shot of this exact instant in the game. I wish that
Hockey-L would allow photo transmissions - its one of the best hockey
photos I've ever seen. The photographer had the perfect angle with the
puck clearly detailed just going past Rogles glove into the net. You can
even see Rogles' eyes following the puck as it beats him. SLU's Spencer
Meany is shown at the doorstep being intimately "embraced" by Clarkson's
Kent Anderson. His stick is definitely in the crease and his body is
leaning over it but its doubtful that his skates are over the line. A final
question: What exactly constitutes being in the crease and does it matter
if your opponent helped to put you there?
A few impressions on a first visit to Cheel:
... The new arena is magnificent.
... The hockey was more fun to watch than in Walker - partly I'm sure
due to the rare Saint victory, but also due to the more open nature
of the game. Although there were a number of tremendous checks
delivered by both teams, there was also some great passing, rushes,
open skating, and not nearly so much bump and grind.
... The band sounded great - much better than in Walker.
... The anti-Lappin barbs were quite evident - I'm sure spurred by
comments on this list. "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", "Batman",
"Jailhouse Rock" along with numerous inflatable bats in the crowd.
... Todd Marchant was very impressive for the Knights - an extremely
fast freshman who seemed to be on the verge of a breakaway all
night. Scott Thomas also looked very good - I can see where he was
missed in Clarkson's loss to Northeastern and close call with RPI.
... The extra space in Cheel (attendance 3615 for 3000 seats) seemed to
allow an larger than usual number of Saint fans to make the trip.
Even a few S-L-U chants managed to get going (followed by the
ubiquitous "T") of course.
... A rumor had it that a pair of $7 tickets were scalped for $75 in
front the Cheel Center before the game - certainly a rare occurrence
in this area.
Robin Lock
St. LAwerence Univ.