Little quiet on the list tonight. Anything special going on? I am a little bemused at the poster who labelled Kelly Askew as a goon in r response to his hits agains Eric Perrin of Vermont. I can testify that Kelly's cross check at Houston Fieldhouse was nasty. In fact I thought Perrin was dead, although he did a Lazarus imitation in coming back for the third period. I didn't witness Saturday's alledged altercation, but I can comment on Askew overall. Kelly Askew plays with emotion. He readily admitted he blew it against Vermont, not only committing a grievous act but effectively denying his team any chance at a come-back in the third period. Askew simply lost his head and took out his anger directly on the scorer, instead of channeling it into his own play. And it is also not the first time that Askew has lost control--last year Askew committed a vicious high stick to a, I believe, an SLU player at center ice. Askew was extremely fortunate to escape from that malfeasance without a game DQ. But it is a major of leap of logic to conclude Askew's a goon. A goon is generally understood as a player who relies on his fist and ugly demeanor to compensate for his lack of skills in hockey. Anyone who knows the ECAC knows Kelly Askew has skills. He is the fastest skater on a still-fast RPI Engineer team, faster even than afterburning forward Brian Richardson. In fact, I am willing to wager that Kelly Askew is the fastest skater in the entire ECAC. It would be a great treat to see Askew go 1 on 1 against Steve Martins in a speed skating contest. Askew also happens to be the ECAC's top defensive forward, two years running. And Askew is a truly complete hockey player who lacks only one element, as any RPI fan laments, a shot. Askew has shown some improvement this year, but overall, he's not the greatest finisher. Askew plays the game with emotion. Sometimes he seems like the only Engineer ou out on the ice who cares about the outcome, who is willing to pump up his game to get the W. RPI tends to rely too much on the speed of its skating and the quality of its scoring plays. Too often RPI's play seems more like a figure skating exhibition than an hockey contest. And when the artistry can't put the puck in the net, too often the team goes into a funk, waiting for a bolt of lightning to somehow energize the team, instead of digging down to come up with the extra effort to drag themselves back into a contest. That's where Askew comes in. He plays defense (the entire second half of last season when RPI was short on blueliners), he goes down-ice on breakaways, he takes the opposing team's main man and neutralizes him, he takes a penalty. In short he tries to make something happen. Actually, maybe Engineer fans should consider the comment a left-hand co compliment. I would never rate the Engineers as one of the more physical teams, and I certainly wouldn't label them as the bad boys of the ECAC. Wow, imagine that--opponents coming into the Fieldhouse to brawl with the "dirty" Engineers-- is this a dream? ************************************************************ Brian Morris Home Ice, Please? [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] Shut-out from the Beanpot. Thanks BU.