We've noticed on the list before how different fan's perspectives can influence impressions of a game. A couple of examples regarding Bri's report on Clarkson-SLU (with no offense intended towards Bri - I am certainly not innocent when charged with partisanship!) Did Clarkson's goalie (Currie) really "stand on his head" in the second period? The local paper (Watertown) also played that up as a key to the game. I wasn't nearly so impressed. I can't recall any time that I thought "Wow- what a save". Unfortunately, most of the best Saint opportunities went whistling by the net wide or high - not even a decent "post" among them! The saves Currie did have were numerous, but mostly all fairly routine. SLU's Spagnoletti had a few more difficult chances, but also had two goals go in from pucks which were lying in the crease and might easily have been covered. On Saints running into Currie: I saw the Allain play much differently. Allain was clearly hauled down by a Clarkson defender as he broke towards the net (a gentle tug at Allain's neck). That was the initial penalty (and well-deserved) and what sent Allain crashing down into Currie. Now Allain might have been overly aggressive in getting off Currie (the paper said Currie was cut on the play), because Currie certainly took off after him (producing penalty #2). BTW, SLU scored just 18 seconds later on the 5 on 3. The later penalty Bri mentioned for hitting the goalie was actually a key point in the game - however wasn't due to crashing the net. It was you standard "goalie behind the net playing the puck". I understand that goalies get extra protection in such situations (i.e. they can't be checked like normal folks). What exactly is the rule on such things? Anyway, this all occurred with about 8 minutes to go in the third period and the subsequent power play produced Clarkson's first shot on goal for the period. SLU had been overwhelming them up to that point - very similar to SLU's third period against RPI earlier in the year. Things still looked promising after the penalty was killed when SLU's Tom Perry got the puck all alone in the high slot with a great scoring chance, but fanned on the big slap shot attempt when the puck bounced and quickly Clarkson had a 2-on-1 going the other way which they converted superbly for the clinching goal. Finally, on dropping the puck. Clarkson's Conroy was thrown out of the face-off circle almost every time he was in it - jawing at the linesman on each occasion. I'm not sure if he was complaining about slow drops, or if he just kept insisting on doing whatever the linesman was objecting to. Why do people get thrown out of faceoffs? Unfortunately, I forgot to set my VCR to tape the game - it would be fun to go back and check some of the plays to see to what extent impressions were influenced by the emotions of watching an exciting game. There'll probably be a replay on sometime soon - unless WCKN has already shut down for finals. Anyway, it was a tough pair of losses for the young Saints and a good boost for Clarkson which finished 1993 with a 6-0 record against SLU. I wouldn't be surprised if they meet again early in 1994 (Lake Placid would be fun...) Robin Lock [log in to unmask]