Game Gab - Nightly Post-Game Analysis
Come here after the games for analysis and insights from CHN Staff members.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Union 4, Clarkson 0 - Saturday, March 2, 2013
Union has had a relatively inconsistent season, with coach Rick Bennett trying to find the right strings and combinations to put the Dutchmen in position to duplicate last year's success. It's rarely come easy. But Union wrapped up the regular season in style, sweeping St. Lawrence and Clarkson and looking good doing it. In the process, it earns a bye for the first round of the ECAC playoffs, and is right on the NCAA Tournament bubble. It should play a solid TUC in the quarterfinals, so if Union wins that series, the NCAAs are looking pretty good now. But it's still dicey. Kevin Sullivan had just one goal all season entering the game, but scored twice on Saturday. "The lines are starting to gel a little bit, and he's a by-product of that," Bennett said. "He's going to the net and he's going to those areas that are tough.
"It was a long year," Bennett added. "The adversity, dealing with expectations. I am really proud of how they fought through all this this year." No. 1 goalie Troy Grosenick was injured in the third period Friday against Dartmouth and was unable to play Saturday. Colin Stevens came in and made 24 saves for the shutout Saturday.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Quinnipiac 2, Clarkson 1 - Saturday, February 16, 2013
After all the hullabaloo of rising to No. 1 in the ultimately irrelevant polls, Quinnipiac was unable to re-focus, which led to a loss to St. Lawrence on Friday. Not willing to get complacent, coach Rand Pecknold shook up the lines Saturday, and it helped the Bobcats recover for an important bounceback win. The team actually clinched the ECAC regular-season title Friday because of Yale's loss, but was presented the trophy Saturday after the win.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Rensselaer 6, Clarkson 2 - Saturday, February 9, 2013
Two points separate third from eighth in the ECAC right now, but with a sweep in the North Country, RPI is on the top end of that, tied for third. That's six straight league wins, with the only blemish in there, a non-league loss to Union in Albany. With Jason Kasdorf back in net, it feels like anything is possible for RPI right now. ... Friday, RPI cooled off a hot St. Lawrence when CJ Lee scored in overtime. Clarkson had also been playing well before the Engineers came to town. Ryan Haggerty scored twice as RPI scored three goals in the first and second period to take a 6-0 before cruising in the third. ... "We had good purpose to what we wanted to do," RPI coach Seth Appert said. "We had a good will to not be cute in the neutral zone, get pucks deep and cycle. But I also think we were fortunate. I don't think it was as lopsided as the score. ... The second period, we had a power play to start. If they kill that, they get momentum and all of a sudden they get a goal, it's 3-1 in their building. And I thought we did a good job on that power play coming out with urgency and getting a goal right away."
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Clarkson 6, Cornell 3 - Saturday, February 2, 2013
Cornell has lost five in a row for the first time since 1999. This freefall is inexplicable because it's a talented team, on paper, which went to the NCAA Regional final last year, and returned most of its key parts. In addition, it got off to a strong start. On top of that, it's tough to recall a Mike Schafer-coached team that has truly underachieved. In his 17 years on the job, that has basically never happened. It's a head scratcher. I mean, there are clearly guys not playing well, including goalie Andy Iles lately, and the team does miss Cole Bardreau, who was lost for the season during a strong weekend in which he returned from the World Juniors. But this doesn't begin to answer WHY this is happening. Cornell now sits in 11th place in the ECAC.
Similar to Dartmouth -- though worse -- the team's fortunes seemed to change on a dime after losing a championship game of a holiday tournament. Not just did they lose that game, they blew a 3-0 lead to a Maine team that was struggling. From there, Cornell is 1-8.
Clarkson, meanwhile, is 2-1-2 in the last five and showing signs of progress. It scored 10 goals on the weekend, and is getting them from all different sources.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Dartmouth 5, Clarkson 1 - Saturday, January 26, 2013
A sorely-needed bounceback win for Dartmouth, which gave up a third-period lead to St. Lawrence on Friday. Dartmouth has put itself on the NCAA bubble, where it has been so many times before, only to fall off of it. The Big Green were in great shape at New Year's, but have gone 3-5 since then. They have their work cut out for them now, and play at Union and RPI next weekend. It might be time for the Big Green to stick with junior Cab Morris in goal.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
St. Lawrence 3, Clarkson 3 - Saturday, January 19, 2013
These two teams may not be battling for anything more than North Country pride this season, but it's still as heated, and exciting a rivalry as there is in college hockey. An overflow crowd packed into Cheel Arena, saw the home team fall behind 3-0, only to storm back to tie in the third period, in perhaps its best outing of the season. "I thought we had a lot of scoring chances in the course of the game," Clarkson coach Casey Jones said. "Down 3-0, the team stayed the course real well. We were pushing for the win, so it stings a little bit not to get it, but coming back from a 3-0 deficit, we'll buy that. ... We're going to use it as a stepping stone -- we wanted to use the environment here to propel us. ... We stuck to our game plan for large portions of the third period, where in the past, when we fell behind, we didn't. So that was huge to our growth as a team."
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Yale 3, Clarkson 1 - Saturday, January 12, 2013
Yale stayed hot, with a sweep in the North Country. Jeff Malcolm stopped 32 of 33 shots and three different teammates scored as the Bulldogs inched to ninth in the Pairwise. Malcolm, who had double-digit saves in two periods, combined with a great Yale defensive effort to keep the Knights off the scoreboard for the first 57 minutes of the contest. The Elis blanked Clarkson on all five advantages and moved into a third-place tie with Union at 11 points. “Our guys are pretty excited about it . It’s always a hard place to come and take two games. We needed them and got them,” said Yale coach Keith Allain ’80. “I thought we played well at both ends, and our special teams were very good. That’s what you need to play on the road.”
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Mass.-Lowell 6, Clarkson 2 - Saturday, January 5, 2013
After beating St. Lawrence in back to back games last month, Clarkson has struggled with three straight losses now, to Mercyhurst and this weekend's sweep at the hands of Lowell. Clarkson was victimized by two third-period goals in a 2-1 loss Friday, but in this game, the Knights were blitzed right out of the gate, starting with an early shorthanded goal by Lowell's Chad Ruhwedel. Scott Wilson added one, and Riley Wetmore added two, as Lowell pulled two games above .500, as it slowly but surely picks up its play after a slow start.
"They had a good crowd tonight -- whenever able to put two or three on the board (early) it helps a lot," Lowell coach Norm Bazin said. "It's a huge spark. Bad enough you're penalty killing, but when you can add momentum your way, it's big. ... The whole 'D' corps played well. We broke out the puck much better than we did (Friday) and I thought it helped our game.
"We're trying to find our compete level. They out-competed us to every puck in the first period. ... Their puck presence was better, and we got what we deserved. ... When we had opportunities to score, or to make little plays to exit the zone, we didn't execute."
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Clarkson 3, St. Lawrence 1 - Saturday, December 8, 2012
After a good start, St. Lawrence has fallen on hard times a bit, with three straight losses and a 2-6-2 mark in the last 10. Both losses this week were to rival Clarkson, this one coming in what was a non-league game played at Lake Placid. A crowd of 5,000, many making their way through the Adirondacks from the North Country, attended the game. It was a bunch of freshmen who stood out for Clarkson. Simon Bessette had a goal and an assist, while classmate Jeff DiNallo scored the game winner. And freshman goaltender Greg Lewis was sharp again, making 25 stops.
"Both teams laid it out there. It was a great rivalry game," Clarkson coach Casey Jones said. "(Lewis) initially was trying to get settled into the position. ... He's been in a groove, he's confident, and it's impressive as a freshman. He's nice and composed back there."
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Clarkson 7, Princeton 2 - Saturday, November 17, 2012
Clarkson hearkened back to the olden days with the offensive explosion in this one, as it rebounded off Friday's home loss to Quinnipiac. Jarrett Burton, who never had more than two goals his first two seasons in Potsdam, scored his sixth of the year, on the power play, as Clarkson built an early lead and never looked back.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Clarkson 3, Canisius 3 - Saturday, November 3, 2012
A young Clarkson team is still hurting for its first win, but can perhaps build on the extra attacker goal it got to earn the tie Saturday. Clarkson got the goal with just 29 seconds remaining in regulation -- and 25 seconds after Canisius had taken the lead. “We really showed a lot of good qualities today,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “A tie always creates mixed feelings but we just need to take the positives from today.”
Brown 4, Clarkson 3 - Saturday, March 9, 2013
Brown gets the two-game sweep, and will advance to face an opponent to be determined in the ECAC quarterfinals. “It’s a really good feeling,” said Brown coach Brendan Whittet. “We worked hard to get home ice and to host Clarkson. Clarkson put up a heck of a good fight tonight, that’s for sure. When they were down and out, they came back and played really hard.” Facing the end of their season and trailing, 4-1, entering the final period, the Golden Knights mounted a furious comeback attempt, outshooting Brown, 17-3, during the last 20 minutes. Jarrett Burton scored a pair of power-play goals, including a five-on-three with 3:19 left in regulation, that brought his team back to within a goal, 4-3. Following Burton’s goal, Clarkson still had 1:37 remaining on a power play. However, the Bears were able to kill the advantage, thanks in part to two huge saves by senior Anthony Borelli. “The third period was not how we play,” said Whittet. “We went into a little bit of a prevent mode, which is never a good thing. You are trying to end a team’s year; they came out really hard and they took it to us for the third period.”
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