HARVARD 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 --- 4 CLARKSON 1 - 2 - 0 - 0 --- 3 Last year my heart went out to the Harvard Crimson when they lost their NCAA semifinal game to Lake Superior State. I thought they should have won, and that they lost on an illegal "pick" play which was allowed by the officials. Well, Coach Tomassoni learned a lesson from it, and Clarkson suffered as a result. Tomassoni took a leaf out of Jeff Jackson's book in order to tie Clarkson on a late third period power play goal while defenseman Adam Bartell was tied up at the blue line. It was very similar to the Lake Superior goal against Tomassoni last year. The play was clearly a set one, coming as it did right after a Harvard time-out. Bartell and coach Morris argued vehemently, and were rewarded only with another penalty (Bartell stayed in the box through the rest of the game including OT; I don't know whether he got a ten minute misconduct or he was just in Coach Morris' doghouse after losing his cool with the ref). Kelly and Noeth were the refs, BTW. Fortunately for Clarkson they were able to kill off the penalty. However, with less than 30 seconds left in OT Harvard won the game (Cohagen, I think) when Clarkson got cought with winger Marko Tuomainen as the last man back on defense as the Golden Knights were missing several blueliners; Marko seemed to be standing around a bit confused (he may have been shaken up since he had just been knocked hard to the ice at the other end of the rink). In any case, the more teams get away with this interference the more coaches will try it, and college hockey will only be worse for it in my opinion. In addition to the absence of the band (XMAS break) forcing us to be subjected to the likes of the Village People and the Beach Boys (surf music fits right in at a January hockey game in Potsdam - not!) over the PA, we were without a working scoreboard throughout the game. The backup scoreboard at the end of the rink gave the game time, but penalty info was unavailable except when announced over the PA, which I couldn't always decipher. I have to give Harvard their due. They played like their season rested on this game, with great hustle and discipline. Steve Martins was his usual Hobeyesque self, and Halfnight was tough all night. Clarkson had a depleted lineup, with defensemen Matt Pagnutti (who was also out last night) and Phil Lacavlier and forward Todd White (still suffering from the elbowing by Humber last night) absent. To make matters worse, Ricci was injured in the second period, then Bartell's absence in the OT left the defense corps severely depleted. I don't know if Brian Mueller was trying too hard to take up all the slack himself, but he had an uncharacteristically poor game, IMHO. He took a couple of penalties, lost a few pucks over the blue line while at the point in the offensive zone, and was one of the culprits on Harvard's second goal. On the bright side for Clarkson, freshman netminder Dan Murphy had a very good night, facing more than 40 Harvard shots. The young players had good games and gained valuable experience from this one. Halfnight opened the scoring on a PP blast from the point. Seitz tied it for Clarkson later in the first period. In the second Clarkson took a two goal lead on tallies by Palmer and Tuomainen, but from then on they let Harvard take the play to them, and seemed to just be trying to hang on. That seldom works against such a talented opponent. After the game was tied Clarkson came alive and had some opportunities; they actually had the better of the play in the OT until it all fell apart in the last minute. It wasn't among the best played games I've seen, but it certainly was yet another very exciting, nail-biting, Harvard-Clarkson battle. Thanks, -Glenn