Interview with Women's Hockey Coach, Rick Seeley

Clarkson Women’s Head Hockey Coach Rick Seeley was kind enough to give us some time after the team’s impressive victory over RPI. Coach Seeley, in his third year of coaching at Clarkson recently coached his 100th career win. He sets us straight on the Knights NCAA eligibility, and chats with us about the current status and future of the Golden Knights as they enter the homestretch of their third season at the Division I level.

Clarkson Hockey Fans (CHF): Nobody has any clue about what’s going on with the PWR and the team’s eligibility, Can you break it down for us, what’s the official word?

Coach Seeley: The Women’s Team should be eligible for NCAA play this year. There’s a misunderstanding about what was necessary at the time, of what needed to be filed by the school during the probationary process, and that didn’t get filed on time, so we were declared ineligible. We actually had to appeal to get a year back. The NCAA saw that there was no bad intention on our part, and saw that we were making every effort to make a successful effort at a D-I program, and so we got that year back.

CHF: When did the team actually find out about this, and how did they take it?

Coach Seeley: They actually found out about it the day the PWR came out, we had to get them together and tell them. The leadership of the team stood up and basically said, listen “we haven’t even won a conference playoff game yet, lets focus on that.”

CHF: You were coaching at D-III Manhattanville before coming to Clarkson, what’s the biggest difference between the D-I and D-III game?

Coach Seeley: Just head to head? Clearly, the skill level and the speed. I think to be successful at any level, women’s, men’s, NHL, Division III, takes just a commitment level, work ethic, attention to detail. I think the key is at any level is to find great people, good leaders, people who will work.

CHF: Where do you think this team needs to improve right now?

Coach Seeley: Generally, we need to score more goals. That wasn’t indicative today, but when we’re in tight ECAC contests, that’s where it really shows our inexperience. We have a strong defensive team, and that’s the core to take care of first, but now we have to do one of two things, either teach the current players how to be more productive, and that’s playing better away from the puck, or bringing in more offensively talented players and that’s getting easier each year with recruiting.

CHF: Is that something that looking at? Recruiting a big goal scorer? It looks like you’ve got a real balanced sheet right now, everyone is chipping in right now, but you don’t have that standout player putting in 35 goals in a year.

Coach Seeley: Yeah, we don’t have that in any class, but like you said we have enough chipping in, Ashley Shaidle scores pretty regularly, Brooke Beazer; Of the freshman: Marie-Jo Gaudet, Mich (Micheleen) Devine have the potential to become those goal-a-game type players. We’re still talking to a couple of recruits for next year that could definitely be those types. But like I said, each year we have more success with more blue chip kids interested. With each year our recruiting class has gotten stronger.

CHF: With no seniors scheduled to leave the team, what’s the recruiting situation looking like right now?

Coach Seeley: Every player on this team deserves to be on this team, they all work hard. Obviously they’re at different levels of skill. No one will be pushed out of this program. We don’t want to bring in anymore than four, we’d be happy with three. But there’s enough spots on the team where we can improve ourselves, we don’t want to bring in people with equal ability of a fourth liner, we want to bring someone in that’s going to press the top lines down a bit. Some people lose a bit of ice time, but they’re the ones not getting a lot of ice time now.

CHF: Are you looking in the direction of a forward? Defenseman?

Coach Seeley: We’ve signed one defenseman who we think is big time, Carlee Eusepi out of Toronto (Toronto Junior Aeros, 2-12-14, 28 GP). We're speaking to a forward from Quebec, great hands, great offensive tools, and we’re talking to one of the top forwards in Canada out of Ottawa.

CHF: Who’s been the biggest surprise on the team so far this season?

Coach Seeley: Our development has been pretty steady, one person who has exceeded is Jessica Cloutier, she came here and it’s was a big challenge for her, there were lots of questions, but she’s done everything it takes to be a solid hockey player.

CHF: RPI is a team in very similar situation to what you were in three years ago. Do you think that your progression into D-1 has been the model for other new teams to follow? Do you welcome the comparisons and complements?

Coach Seeley: I think so. Our first year people said we did it the right way, we didn’t jump right into a conference, we did one third Divison III games, two thirds against Division I teams, against the lower half of Divison I just to get our feet wet. I think they’re pretty much on the same track as we were, we’ll see where we end up. I don’t think there’s been many teams have succeeded as quickly as we have. That’s a testament to the players as well.

Obviously I’m proud, but I’m more proud like a parent would be, because I’ve seen the development of these kids. They came in as freshman with no upperclassmen to look to, there’s no guidance outside of the coaches, and they made this program evolve into what it is and the leadership on this team is far and away the best I’ve ever been associated with, men’s or women’s. I think that’s the key.

I’m pretty tough starting, I think that’s why I’ve had success in both places, I don’t really let anything go, and I think that’s hard initially for them, but they’re juniors now, and now that’s the norm for them.


CHF: What are the options for your players after their years at Clarkson are over? Are there any potential Olympic candidates in this group?

Coach Seeley: Every year our recruiting class gets a little stronger, so there’s more potential for that. There is not a lot of options for women. There are the national programs, the U-22 programs, which are the feeder programs for them, and a few pro leagues, very limited in Europe. So the difference between men and women a lot of the time, is when they’re going away to a university, they’re not thinking hockey necessarily after, when most men are still dreaming about that. I think that’s why you get a lot more of the stronger women players going to the Ivy schools because all they’re focused on is their education. But we’ll have some that have the potential, we already have some that are talking to national programs.

CHF: How do you prepare your team’s penalty kill unit, considering you don’t give up any penalties?

Coach Seeley: Well basically, in our conference anyway, there’s DVD exchange, so we get to scout every teams power play, spending some time in each practice learning the other teams tendencies. That’s another compliment to the players, they play hard, and they play a way a lot of times that evokes penalties. I think we were three-for-three on the power play, which is unusual, but nice.

CHF: Is it true you consider each game a loss, unless you score more than the other team shoots?

Coach Seeley: Well our team really does pride itself on defensive play. I think our watermark is the ten shot mark. We dominated Brown 28-6, but we lost that one. We showed everything we had there, we play pretty good defense, but we don’t score a lot. But yeah, that’s happened a couple of times (scoring more than their opponent shoots.)

CHF: Tim Horton’s or Dunkin’ Donuts?

Coach Seeley: I’ve never eaten at either, but I’d go with Tim Horton’s. Do you know what Tim Horton’s last words were? “There’s always tomorrow.” And then he died in a car crash the next day.

CHF: What’s your favorite hockey cliché?

Coach Seeley: I’d probably go with one shift at a time.

Clarkson heads to the Tri-State Area

The Men's Hockey Team continues their road trip with a visit to Connecticut and New Jersey to take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats and the Princeton Tigers. The Knights have played five of their last six games on the road and have dropped all five of them. To get back in the thick of the ECAC race, Clarkson needs to take four points this weekend.

Friday night Clarkson will play Quinnipiac at the Northford Ice Pavilion, a rink that has been quoted as being "a dump," and "not a D-1 arena." Fortunately for the Q, they have begun construction on a new ice rink which should be state of the art. The photos of construction can be seen here. However until then Clarkson will be forced to play at Northford.

Quinnipiac is lead by junior defenseman Reid Cashman who in 27 games has 3 goals and 28 assists, which is good enough to lead the ECAC in assists by seven. Cashman is tied for second in the league in points. Quinnipiac's leading goal scorer is freshman David Marshall with 18. Quinnipiac is really looking forward to the development of this freshman class as they look to climb up the ECAC standings. In net Bud Fisher has logged 75% of the teams minutes posting a 2.60 GAA and a .899 save percentage. He has a 11-10-0 record. Quinnipiac is one of four D-1 teams without a tie.

On Saturday, Clarkson heads to Princeton to take on a Tigers team which has a game tomorrow in Pittsburgh against Robert Morris. Princeton had this week off and is coming off an impressive sweep two weeks ago against the league leaders Colgate and Cornell. The Tigers are lead by junior forward Grant Goeckner-Zoeller who in 20 games has tallied 10 goals and 6 assists. Junior netminder Eric Leroux has posted a 4-8-0 record in 12 starts with 2 shutouts. Leroux has a .923 save percentage and a 2.39 GAA. Clarkson has not lost to Princeton since November 14, 1998. A streak spanning 10 games.

SLU Weekend (Part III) - Clarkson at St. Lawrence

Ron and I could not be at Appleton Arena for the third meeting between Clarkson and SLU due to an alumni function. However we were able to catch the game over the air waves and can piece together a recap from that.

This was a must win game for SLU. Plain and simple. SLU had a three game losing streak in conference play, a two game losing streak to Clarkson and had seen their national standings take hit after hit, with Wisconsin and UVM losing games. This was their game, in their barn, and SLU played as a team that desperately needed to win. With this mindset, they almost did not earn the W. Clarkson outplayed SLU for the first 20 minutes, but a less than stellar 2nd and 3rd period did the Knights in, resulting in a 5-4 defeat.

SLU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first on a TJ Trevelyan shorthanded goal. Which was answered on the same power play by Chris D'Alvise. Clarkson then found it's legs and pushed ahead to a 3-1 lead on goals from sophomores Shawn Weller and Nick Dodge. However SLU made it 3-2 late in the first on a Brock McBride goal that capped off a very different first period than the night before.

As soon as the offensive barrage appeared in the first, it melted away in the second. It was Trevelyan again at the 10:40 mark of the period providing the lone scoring in the 2nd and knotting the game at 3. Clarkson's second period woes continued as the Knights received a long 5 on 3 powerplay and could only manage one shot on goal.

Adam Hogg and John Zelier made it 4-3 and 5-3 respectively in the third. Clarkson pulled goaltender Kyle McNulty at the 57:07 mark to try and eek out 2 late goals. This almost came to fruition as David Cayer tallied his tenth goal of the season with 35 seconds left in regulation. Clarkson had a great opportunity to tie the game but as in the previous night with David Leggio, SLU netminder Justin Pesony made a ridiculous save and preserved the 5-4 victory for the Saints.

In my opinion SLU needed to win this game and they did. If they had been swept by Clarkson the tailspin effect could have ruined this season. The loss hurts Clarkson but not in such a manner that a three game sweep would have done in SLU. SLU took a good win away with them and should be a team to watch in the ECACHL playoffs.

SLU Weekend (Part II) - Clarkson v. RPI Women's Game

Welcome to the big leagues. In between SLU games we had the opportunity to witness the Clarkson Women’s Hockey team in their first ever encounter with rival RPI. After briefly falling behind, they buried RPI Saturday afternoon at Cheel Arena with a dominating performance in front of a small, raucous crowd, winning 7-1.

RPI got on the board first, creating a pile in front of the net and slipping their first and only shot of the period by junior net-minder Kira Hurley. Clarkson immediately responded, generating several opportunities in front of the net, one of which appeared to bounce off a skate and into the vacated side of the net evening the score at one a piece.

In the second, Clarkson gave up an early penalty, but then went on a tear, scoring four unanswered goals, two on very strong power plays to put the Knights up 5-1.

Clarkson quickly cashed in on another power-play goal midway through the third when Meghan Park scored her first goal of the season, then immediately followed it up with her second to make the score 7-1. Clarkson coasted the rest of the way, with RPI generating a few opportunities but not putting the puck in the net during the third period.

Brooke Beazer and Ashley Shaidle also tallied two goals for Clarkson, which moved their record up to 18-7-1. Clarkson also went 3 for 3 on the Power Play. Clarkson has not given up more than one goal in nine consecutive games.

Ron Ayers’ Unsung Heroine: Amanda Dittmer – Her outstanding stop of a penalty kill clearing attempt in the second, directly lead to a goal just seconds later, putting the nail in the coffin.

Brett Gobe’s Unsung Heroine: Stephanie Hansen – Called on to relieve starter Kira Hurley in the 2nd, she stopped all six shots she faced including a couple of Hasek like sprawls in the third period to preserve Clarkson’s six goal margin.

SLU Weekend (Part I)

After a six hour trip from Boston for me, and a three hour trip from Rochester for Gobe, we converged on Cheel Arena for the first of a home and home series against the hated Saints of St. Lawrence and were rewarded with a 3-2 victory in front of the 3rd largest crowd in Cheel Arena History*

Clarkson went down early when Mike Zbringer scored on the Power Play to make the score 1-0. Mike Grenzy evened it up later in the first when he stole the puck and rifled in a slap shot to make it 1-1. Clarkson opened the second with a timely first career goal from Jon Marshall who banged in a rebound created by a rocket from Chris Brekelmans to make it 2-1. In the third, T.J. Trevelyan tallied another PPG to even the game at 2-all. Shea Guthrie then scored the eventual game winner in the 3rd, leading to perhaps the scariest ten minutes ever for Clarkson fans. St. Lawrence applied constant pressure, jamming the net and creating chances in front of Clarkson netminder David Leggio, who made several stellar saves to preserve the victory.

From a fans perspective this was one of the most enjoyable and nerve-wracking games to watch that we can remember. The final ten minutes of the game were almost exclusively played in the Clarkson end of the zone, leading to one of the more exciting finishes in recent memory. David Leggio stood on his head for the home crowd, and he was rewarded with a well-deserved #1 star.

The student section was packed and loud. The sea of gold looked good and the chants started were clear and humourous. A fan who was arriving late and listening on the radio said the price is wrong cheer was crystal clear over the radio. Finally for the first time in a while, we can remember Cheel starting to feel like a very intimidating place to play. The home ice advantage is a very real part of college hockey. The classic example of this is Cornell's Lynah Rink. Cornell has the record to prove that to be true. Clarkson's record at home (9-2-1) is becoming an a testament to the effort and enthusiasm the students are providing. As the team continues to improve look for the record at home to improve, and for Clarkson to be a team that is truly feared at home.

Brett Gobe's Unsung Hero: Adam Bellows had a very solid game on the blue line and on the penalty kill. He was crucial in the second making several nice hits and one outstanding steal behind the net. Adam ended up with a +2 for the night and his hard work was noted.

Ron Ayers' Unsung Hero: Jon Marshall, a Freshman walk-on from my hometown of Victor, NY scored his first collegiate goal in possibly the biggest game of his career. He made himself noticable early on throwing some big checks and getting the crowd into it in the first, and then sent the Cheel crowd into a frenzy in the second.

Interesting Fact: This is Clarkson's first win of the season when scoring less than four goals.

ECAC (HL) Preview

Our first preview of the league brings us arguably the best rivalry in the league and four other match-ups, that while not known for historic rivalry, are very interesting at this juncture of the season. This weekend features the return to the ice of the Harvard Crimson after a 3 week break and the biggest test for the hottest team in the league, the Yale Bulldogs.

Yale / Brown @ Colgate / Cornell
The aforementioned Bulldogs are 4-1-1 in their last 6 and are 6-0-1 in their last 7 league games. Yale is coming off a 4 point weekend at home against Union and RPI. Prompting coach Tim Taylor to say things like this, "That first period was our best offensive period of the year," and "Everyone was playing with confidence and talking to each other on the ice and on the bench." And caused many students on campus to say, "When's the Harvard game?" and "Why isn't Columbia on the schedule?" Columbia or no Columbia, Yale has made a run, which will come to a screeching halt this weekend. This is based on the famed postulate, “All good things must come to and end, and most good things end at Lynah rink." I don't know who said it first but they were later taunted in unison from sections A-N at Lynah after giving up three in the first period.

But before the good turns bad at Lynah, the Eli’s must go into Starr rink and take on the league's top team, the Colgate Raiders. Colgate is like the Road Runner. The more time you come up with an elaborate plan to beat them, the more pissed off you are when you leave the ice in defeat. After losing at Princeton, the Raiders have ripped off three wins in a row, and have not lost a league game at home this year, 5-0-1. Colgate swept Clarkson and St. Lawrence this past weekend, in games where they were out shot 43-27 by Clarkson, including a 22-6 NHL '95 style third period, and a game where they surrendered two separate one goal leads, only to win 50 seconds into overtime against SLU. Head coach Don Vaughn was noted to say after the win Saturday night, "I thought we were a little sluggish in the first, but then we played some of our best hockey in the last two periods. It started with our legs, our wingers started winning face offs, and we started working the boards." He then yelled "Meep meep" and then ran off into the desert leaving the reporter holding an empty bottle of earthquake pills.

Remember October? When Cornell wasn't as good as they were last year? Yeah, that team left. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. When this team put a stinker up against Princeton last weekend something clicked, and kept clicking all over the previous #1 team in the conference and #3 in the PWR. Then continued on against a Clarkson team that gave it everything it had, and still came up two goals short. Prompting head coach Mike Schafer to say this, “They’re probably one of the better offensive teams we’ve played this year. It was a good battle back win for us.” Which is a nice way of saying, "We can hold fast skating offensive-minded teams to two goals. I pity all who travel to the land of gorges. Muwahaha, Ahahahaha!" He then ate a smurf.

Brown.... is a fine institution, with a very bad hockey team this year. After being out shot 78 - 50 this weekend against RPI and Union, head coach Roger Grillo was seen talking to the lacrosse coach to see if he could get some pointers. After realizing that this was dead end he returned to his office and called Yann Danis and hung up when it went to voice mail. He then called back immediately and left a voice mail asking Yann if he wasn't busy maybe he could swing by, you know, catch up on old times, but only if he had the time. He then hung up and stared out the window. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked.

Gobe’s Predictions:
Colgate 3 - Yale 2
Colgate 6 - Brown 1
Cornell 6 - Brown 0
Cornell 4 - Yale 1

Ron’s Predictions:
Colgate 3 - Yale 1
Colgate 3 - Brown 2
Cornell 3 - Brown 0
Cornell 5 - Yale 3

RPI / Union @ Harvard / Dartmouth
RPI is injured. They are so injured that even their injuries have injuries. Last Monday senior defenseman Alexander Valentin’s knee injury went down with a case of walking pneumonia. While not available for comment, the knee injury was limited to a strict liquid diet and hoped to get back to game shape by the weekend. Even with all these setbacks RPI has managed to hang tough in the league and heads into New England looking to get in the hunt for a first round playoff bye. "It defines what kind of team you are," said RPI head coach Dan Frigden. "The first thing you have to do is accept it as reality, which I think we've done, and adjusted fairly well. It's not an excuse, it's a bigger challenge to each player. In the end, you hope that it makes you a better team." He then sprained his tongue and is expected to be out 4-6 weeks.

RPI squares off Friday against Harvard. Harvard has not played a game of hockey since a 3-2 defeat in Troy at the hands of the very same, and less injured, Engineers. Harvard is looking to make the most of its league games due to their unbalanced schedule which leaves them less wiggle room to catch the league leaders. The Crimson have to also deal with their participation in the Boston University invitational which adds two Tuesday games into a very difficult schedule. Head coach Ted Donato was unavailable for comment this week but he was overheard calling in to “Car Talk” asking the best way to remove rust from a ‘74 Chevy Nova.

The league's two biggest enigmas square off Friday night in Hanover as Union takes on Dartmouth. Dartmouth is coming off three non-conference games in which they lost a heartbreaker to UNH, beat a surprisingly solid Sacred Heart team, and lost to an equally solid Holy Cross team. Dartmouth really can’t get out of their own way this year. Which is why this is the perfect time to play Union, a team that is struggling to find its identity. It’s a game only Dr. Phil could love.

Gobe’s Predictions:
Harvard 2 – RPI 1
Harvard 4 – Union 1
Dartmouth 3 – Union 3
RPI 4 – Dartmouth 2

Ron’s Predictions:
RPI 5 – Harvard 2
Harvard 3 - Union 2
Union 3 - Dartmouth 2
Dartmouth 4 - Rensselaer 3

Clarkson / SLU
Every sport has its classic rivalry game. The NFL has the Bears and Packers. The NHL has the Wings and Avalanche. The NBA has Ron Artest and Piston Fans. Every one of these rivalries is different and sentimental to those who are close to the cities they take place in. College rivals are different. They spread across state lines, even international lines and affect not only the current students of the schools participating, but the parents of these students and the alumni of these colleges which are spread throughout the nation and world. There are no words that can describe the electric atmosphere at the faceoff of a Clarkson, St. Lawrence game in Appleton Arena, or to describe a game winning overtime goal in Cheel. These are moments that can only be summed up in live experiences that I hope all of our readers get to have once in their life. Clarkson, SLU cannot be summed up in one blog entry, nor can be summed up in one million blog entries, for this is an event that can only be truly enjoyed live or told, in person, by those who were there to experience first hand. There is a sports cliché that states, “You can throw out the records when these two meet.” In this case this is true. Both teams could be 0-29-0 right now, but you better believe the intensity on the ice would be that of two teams playing for the NCAA Championship. That in a sense is the Clarkson, SLU rivalry, two schools, 10 miles, 4 points, and everything at stake.

Gobe’s Predictions: Clarkson 4 – SLU 3; Clarkson 2 – SLU 1
Ron’s Predictions: Clarkson 4 – SLU 1; SLU 1 – Clarkson 0

Women Right Where They Want To Be

Many fans were shocked yesterday when the Women’s Pairwise Rankings were released by USCHO. (For those of you that aren’t familiar with the Pairwise Rankings, it’s a system that mimics the selection process for the NCAA tournament.) They weren’t shocked because Clarkson was ranked #7 but because Clarkson is ineligible for NCAA play, and thus deemed "of no consequence.”

Any NCAA team that makes the jump from Division-III to Division-I has a two year probationary period. Ideally, this is to prevent teams from scooping up transfers from other schools and to make sure they meet eligibility requirements. It probably will protect an upcoming college sport like Women’s Ice Hockey better than most. Clarkson, is in its second year of this process and is ineligible for NCAA play, but can still compete in the ECACHL tournament. They'll be eligible in the 2006-2007 season.

It’s important to remember that, even though the rules seem unfair, especially when a team like Clarkson has obviously started from scratch, not with transfers, that the players and coaches knew about this right from the start. They’re not bitter; we are, because we weren’t paying attention. Their focus has been on becoming a better team, and on winning the ECACHL championship, and they’ve got a great chance to capture their first.

As for being “of no consequence” in the Pairwise Rankings, what the hell is that supposed to mean? If teams and fans want to feel that way, they should go ahead and do so. Just because this team’s ranking doesn’t count in the Pairwise, doesn’t mean the games against them don’t. EVERY team currently on the bubble has a stake in Clarkson’s performance as this season comes down to the wire, and it is likely Clarkson could crush the hopes and dreams of several teams, directly or indirectly through their play in these final games.

Lets face it, the rule is in place, and we’ve always gone along with it, because we didn’t want anyone stealing our players, and secondly, no one expected a team like this to come along. I cannot remember a team in Division-I sports leaping so high in their first few years. But just because they can’t win the NCAA Championship, doesn’t mean they can’t win it all.

If I were Lindsay Williams right now, and I wasn’t a finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, I’d be in the locker room channeling a little Jake Taylor: “Well then I guess there’s only thing left to do.” What’s that? “Win the whole FUCKING thing."

Edit: Clarified the probationary period information.

Hobey Who?

File this one under a bitter small school in an small conference complaining. There's plenty of us, and I can already see the guys over at Lets Go DU! and Western College Hockey (both whom have kindly linked to us,) saying to themselves: "Goddammit, not this shit again." But, I can't take Vote for Hobey seriously.

What could be a great way to get the fans involved in selecting the winner of the most prestigious award in college hockey is a farce, or at best a way for tech schools to test their web scripting technique. I always wanted to think the best of Vote for Hobey, a real chance for that fan’s voice to be heard; sadly, now it’s just an exercise in trying to beat a system that encourages ballot stuffing and computer jury-rigging. Sure it's just 1 of 59 votes that determines the finalist for the Hobey Baker award, but do you want to tell #11 that a bunch of overzealous fans or dorm room geeks, like us, took away his chance to be finalist?

When Wisconsin and RPI can qualify their entire teams, plus RPI also sneaks in their mascot Puckman, it's all gone down hill. At this point the people at VFH spend more time deleting votes than they do counting them, so unless you have a massive fan base who is willing to press submit all day long, or have l33t skillz, you're out of luck. Yes, I know Clarkson fans almost single-handedly rigged the first VFH, almost leading to a Todd White, Dan Murphy, JF Houle sweep, but that's beside the point, even then the process was just as flawed and irrelevant as it is today. In the end, VFH has just become nothing more than an extravagant site counter or popularity contest, instead of a way of promoting players that you may never have heard of for their accomplishments.

Anyhow, since this really seems to be a throw away vote at this point, I’m going to have to go with Matt Auffrey as my choice for the Hobey Baker Award this year. He is having a solid season for the Junior-A Kitchener Rangers with 31 points in 35 games. He’s already got 95 votes, and if we play our cards right and vote every day like the system encourages us, he could be the OHL’s first ever Hobey Baker Award winner.

Recruit Update

Tim Marks - F - In 28 games for the CJHL's Nepean Raiders Tim has 16 goals 10 assists for 26 points. Tim has 4 powerplay goals and 2 shorthanded goals. His last game was Saturday where he notched a hat trick against North Bay. Tim has 68 penalty minutes on the year. His next game is today against the Ottawa Jr. Senators.

Jeremiah Crowe - D - In 5 games with OPJHL's Markham Waxers Jeremiah has had 2 goals and 0 assists. Both goals have come on the powerplay. Previous to playing in Markham, Jeremiah played 40 games with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres and ran a line of 12 goals 10 assists and 16 penalty minutes. 5 goals were scored on the powerplay. Markhams next game is Friday against Newmarket.

Matt Smith - G - Matt has played 33 games for the Mississauga Chargers in the OPJHL and has racked up 1915:27 minutes and posted a 13-15-4 record. He has a 3.98 GAA and a .901 save percentage.

Brandon Merkowsky - F - Is a transfer from the Air Force Academy and is not eligible to play this year.

The Gold Sea

"No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die."


The Clarkson Athletic department has called for a Sea of Gold at Cheel Arena this weekend as the Golden Knights face off against arch-rival St. Lawrence. The last time the athletic department put on one of these unicolored events was in 2001-2002 for the home SLU game when it was deemed a "whiteout" was in effect. This was met with mixed results as shown from this photo:
Granted the majority of the student section is wearing white, but the level of this whiteout could be compared to gym socks that missed the clorox cycle. There are free gold shirts being handed out to students. But with limited supply of free schwag one might expect our Sea of Gold to leave a greenish stain on our Golden Knights. How can you prevent this tarnishing? Simple. Plan ahead. Show up with a yellow/gold shirt and leave the free stuff to someone less prepared. The time for sacrifice is here. And honestly, are you really going to need that t-shirt in 5 years? Are you going to frame it? No. Also with a free shirt you are constrained to whatever the shirt says. With your own shirt you are free to express your love for SLU in any way possible. The time has come to band together as fans and get behind our Golden Knights who use a Green Knight for a logo and have been wearing black uniforms lately. Nevertheless we will remain true to the Green and Gold and hopefully it will be another Golden evening in the North Country.

Seely gets his 100th

Rick Seeley got his 100th win as a coach on Saturday, when the Women's Team defeated Cornell 3-0. The Women are now 17-7-1, and have moved into a tie for first place in the ECACHL after Colgate upset St. Lawrence on the same night. Seeley previously coached at Manhattanville in Division III where he racked up 54 wins.

The Women's stingy defense is starting to get some notice after 25 games this season. The team ranks second in the country in scoring defense, and third in the country on the penalty kill. That is, when they're on the penalty kill. The team is tops in the country in terms of taking the least number of penalty minutes, a meager 6.8 per game.

Kira Hurley stopped all seven of Cornell's shots on Saturday, and got the win, but not the shutout. Stephanie Hansen played the final 10:53 of the game, in which Clarkson did not allow a single opportunity on net.

More on the PWR

I had the opportunity to watch #2 Boston College skate over #5 Vermont on Friday Night. BC was all over Vermont right from the start, and just dominated pretty much all but the last 5-10 minutes of the game. This did not appear to be the same UVM squad that shutout the Knights during the Holiday Tournament.

SLU had a horrible weekend PWR wise. Vermont was swept by BC, Wisconsin was swept by Denver, and then SLU themselves got swept by the pair of Colgate and Cornell. It looks like they've dropped to the bubble in terms of the PWR entering this weeks play.

While it's a little too early to be scoreboard watching, I wonder how much PWR comes into play in terms of a coach motivating his players as opposed to league standing. I'm sure they'll tell you they don't pay attention to this stuff, but I'm sure they do. A Clarkson sweep this weekend could be a blow to any chance of a SLU at-large bid.

Bring on SLU!

It's the weekend we've all be waiting for, that's right our red headed step children are coming in from Canton and needless to say there's a little blood in the water with both teams having less than stellar weekends at Cornell and Colgate.

SLU lived up to it's #3 PWR ranking by laying an egg at Lynah and losing in OT to Colgate. Clarkson upheld its dropping from the national polls with two solid efforts but not finding the net in two 4-2 losses. SLU currently sits in 3rd in the ECAC while Clarkson looms in 9th. Both teams have 10 games remaining on the regular season schedule and are looking to make some moves with a 4 point weekend.

SLU is lead by senior forward TJ Trevelyan who has 9 goals and 18 assists in 24 games. Clarkson is lead by sophomore Nick Dodge with 12 goals and 18 assists in 24 games. SLU will most likely start sophomore netminder Justin Pesony who sports a .844 save percentage and a 2.89 goals against average in 22 games this year. Pesony has started 21 of those games and has posted 1 shutout. Clarkson will most likely start sophomore David Leggio on Friday and junior Kyle McNulty on Saturday. Leggio has started 11 games and has posted a .891 save percentage and a 3.07 goals against average. McNulty sports a .909 save percentage and a 2.90 goals against average in 13 starts on the season.