Clarkson / Harvard Thoughts

I was fortunate enough with a large contigent of Alumni in the Boston area to get to see the Knights live at Bright Hockey Center in Cambridge as they defeated Harvard, and also chat with some of the players and coaches after the game.

At the end of the first period, a few miscues cost the Knights as things felt like they suddenly got sloppy. Passes were getting picked off, or were bouncing off of sticks despite how accurate they were, and Harvard ended up putting two goals in to take a 2-1 lead on the Knights. Once Clarkson got into the second though you could tell some changes had been made, and they were clicking on all cylinders. The passing became more crisp, opportunities were being generated, and the Knights always seemed to have a man in front of the net, or preparing to skate into the slot for a scoring attempt, They made Harvard pay for every mistake.

After the game the team joined the Alumni for a few minutes, and I had suggested to the team that they skate 4 on 5 for a longer portion of the game. Maybe not literally, but whatever those guys were doing on the ice short-handed that night, totally messed with Harvard. Nick Dodge had a beautiful short-handed goal, and immediately after the faceoff, grabbed the puck again and tried to put another in less then ten seconds later. Harvard's PP unit was fairly disoirented on each PP, and it felt like they were on the kill, not the Knights. The team really put it together in the last 30 minutes and definitely left a lot of Clarkson fans happy.

While I did not get a chance to head up to Hanover for the Dartmouth game is seemed like more of the same. A lot of reliance on special teams as the Big Green had 18 power play opportunities (many of which ended up getting reduced.) Clarkson put in three goals on half as many PP attempts themselves. Clarkson scored a shortie, a 4x4, and a 5x3... in the first 12 minutes of the game, and Clarkson was outshot 24 to 37 by the Big Green. There's no doubt the coaches will try to curb the penalties taken, but it's been a few years since I've felt this comfortable hearing that the PK unit is coming out.

A couple of other notes:

• Clarkson leads the country in scoring offense with a 4.88 goals per game mark.
  
• They're also 14th in defense.
  
• Power Play is 7th in the country, converting 23.5% of the time.
  
• First away weekend sweep in four years.
  
• Best start since 1991-1992 season.
  
• You know things are going your way when shots from your own blue line go in.