A Tune Up

The Golden Knights face off against McGill tomorrow night. (Or Western Ontario depending which schedule you look at.) Regardless of foe, the game is an exhibition and Clarkson will look to improve their play from the last exhibition which ended in a less than stellar loss to the USA Under 18 team. The differences between Clarkson now and Clarkson then are numerous. First and foremost the Knights current commitment to defense has lead the Knights on a seven game winning streak. In those the seven games the team has surrendered nine goals while scoring twenty seven. In the six games before the USA exhibition the team had scored twenty eight goals but gave up fifteen. The game against the Under 18 team really exposed some serious flaws on defense which have been corrected.

Starting in net in October was Matt Smith, a freshman goalie who had yet to see live action. Smith had a bad first period and never saw the ice again. Smith left the University and was replaced by Tim Potter, a goaltender from the Oswego OPJHL team. This would not be a bad time to see what Potter can do, but the question lies with George Roll on to how much tinkering is needed with a team that is playing it's best hockey?

This question will dictate the line combinations this weekend. With things clicking along, do you risk breaking up chemistry and change lines or do you let things continue on course and come out with what we have seen for the past two months? Personally I would not expect any changes, but I'm not a hockey coach. Despite that fact I do know that two of the biggest games loom large on the schedule in the following weekend as Colgate and Cornell come into town, and that taking four points with the team that we have grown accustom to seeing would be a major statement and make a serious impact in Clarkson's first round bye and league title hopes.

A quick glance at McGill's schedule shows they have faced two ECAC schools in Yale and Princeton back in October. McGill lost to Princeton 3-2 in OT and defeated Yale 3-1.