The 150th edition of the Route 11 rivalry went to St. Lawrence University by a 3-1 count over Clarkson. Senior John Poapst, converted from defenseman to wing at the end of last year, opened the SLU scoring with a one-timer from the face-off dot that found its way through lots of traffic to the back of the net. The Saints had 5-on-3 advantage at the time of the goal, thanks to Clakson sending too many men onto the ice while killing the original penalty. Poapst got his second goal of the night later in the period as the recipient of a perfectly timed 2-on-1 break pass from Erik Anderson. SLU had the better of play for most of the period, until the last couple of minutes when Clarkson came alive to put lots on lots of pressure - but Saint goalie Eric Heffler managed to hold the fort until the horn sounded. Clarkson continued to enjoy a territorial advantage through the second period as the Saints repeatedly had trouble clearing the zone. At one point a shot from in close went up on Heffler's leg pad and sat there for a moment, before rolling back down. Referee Murphy blew the whistle when he thought the puck had been covered - just before it came loose and a Clarkson player flipped it into the net. The shot was definitely after the whistle, but the whistle was definitely premature. SLU got to a 3-0 lead when Poapst made a great up-ice pass to spring Bob Prier on a breakaway between the two Clarkson defensmen. Prier was hauled down from behind (no call) and a pile of players slid into Clarkson's goalie Shawn Grant. I haven't heard a clear account of how the puck ended up in the net, but the most common version had one of the Clarkson players who was lying in the crease accidentally hit it in. Needless to say it was a big goal as Clarkson still maintained the better pressure. Shortly after the Saints killed a penalty to start the third period, Clarkson finally beat Heffler with a quick shot from the edge of the faceoff circle by Carl Drakensjo. The shot was over Heffler's shoulder, just under the crossbar, and back out of the net so fast it was hard to tell it went in. That goal gave Clarkson some life and kept things interesting for the fans the rest of the way. The Saints had to kill two more penalties as the third period wound down -giving them an incredible 41 straight kills after giving up their only power play goal of the year in their first game at Minnesota. Clarkson had relatively fewer good shots during the last half of the period, although the puck was loose in front of the goal on several occasions - with SLU players managing to poke it out of trouble before a Clarkson player could get a stick on it. Heffler finished with 40 saves and was clearly a main reason the Saints got their first win over Clarkson in three years. NEW and OLD: (1) At least seven SLU players (Brandon Dietrich, Sean Muir, Mike Muir, Ray DiLoro, Charlie Daniels, Vic Natali, and Robin Carruthers) were playing against Clarkson for the first time. (2) Playing against SLU for the first time was Matt Poapst, brother of SLU's John Poapst. (3) The local paper (Watertown Times) made a big deal about the 150th meeting between Clarkson and SLU, including naming all-time teams from both schools. The choices were SLU Clarkson Forward Peter Lappin '88 Eddie Rowe '57 Forward Terry Slater '61 Dave Taylor '77 Forward Burke Murphy '96 Kevin Zappia '79 Defense Arlie Parker '62 Bill Blackwood '78 Defense Dan Laperriere '92 Steve Warr '72 Goalie Bill Sloan '56 Terry Yurkiewicz '66 The accompanying fans' write-in poll would have added Craig Conroy, Todd Marchant, Dave Tretowicz, and Bruce Bullock to Clarkson's first team and Brian McFarlane, Jamie Baker, and Mike Hurlbut to SLU. Robin Lock St. Lawrence University [log in to unmask] HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.