More than Hockey

Interesting video interview from NHL.com with ECAC Hockey Director of Officials Paul Stewart:

Part one


Part two

This Weekend's TV Games

*see previous disclaimer, based on what's available via Time Warner cable in north country*

FRIDAY
7 p.m. FS Atlantic, Niagara at Maine
8 p.m. FS Pacific, Minnesota State at Minnesota
8:30 p.m. NHL Network, Wisconsin at North Dakota
9:30 p.m. FS Central, Colorado College at Denver

SATURDAY
8:30 p.m. FS Central, Minnesota vs. Minnesota State

SUNDAY
7 p.m. ESPNU, Denver at Colorado College

Clarkson Notes

*photo courtesy of clarksonathletics.com*

The last time Fred Parker coached a game in Cheel Arena marked the end of what was probably the worst season in the history of the Clarkson University men's hockey program.
Parker will return to the building Saturday night as the coach of Clarkson's opponent, Carleton (Ontario) University for an exhibition game at 7 p.m.
He joined Clarkson's coaching staff as an assistant prior to the 2002-03 season with the goal of helping the program recruit the Central Ontario Junior Hockey League. He had been a longtime junior coach when hired by former Clarkson coach Mark Morris.
But three games into that season Morris was fired after a well-known incident in practice with former Clarkson player Zach Schwan.
Less than a month into a new job, and still making a daily commute from Ottawa, Ontario, Parker suddenly found himself thrust into a head coaching position, trying to keep a season together and recruit players, not even knowing if he himself would return.
Parker has now built Carleton into a power in Canadian college hockey as his program was ranked No. 8 in a recent national poll.
"He came into a very difficult situation and did an outstanding job," Clarkson athletic director Steve Yianoukos said. "He had excellent communication skills with the players. It was a tough year for everybody involved and he helped stabilize it. He was very-well liked when he was here."
*KARPOWICH HONORED AGAIN*
For the second straight week Clarkson freshman goalie Paul Karpowich was named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week. Karpowich was sharp against top-ranked Colorado College last weekend, allowing just three goals in 130 minutes.
*D'ALVISE BECOMES TOP FACE-OFF MAN*
After going 172-196 (.467) on faceoffs last season, senior Chris D'Alvise has gotten off to a strong start in that category this year.
Through three games, D'Alvise leads the team with a 55-31 record (.639) and got the better of Colorado College's top player, Chad Rau, in Saturday's contest. Rau went 21-10 on Friday, while D'Alvise sat out a one-game suspension. In Saturday's game he was just 19-17.
"He was good, but I figured him out in the third period though," D'Alvise said.
*ODDS AND ENDS*
Because Saturday's game does not count expect to see some players who have not played yet this season, including freshman goalie Richie LaVeau, who played at Lake Placid's Northwood Prep School last season. He was a teammate of current freshmen Julien Cayer and Jake Morley and had a .919 save percentage and 2.30 goals-against average while helping the team to a 33-7-2 season.

Yet another tie

Saturday's second game against top-ranked Colorado College ended in another tie, this time a 2-2 score.

Clarkson showed that is has the ability to play with any team in the country as it appeared the Golden Knights controlled the play late in the game, outshooting Colorado College 21-11 in the final period and overtime.
The game was marred by penalties, which is mentioned in the article.

Stats of interest:
After going 30-50 on faceoffs Friday night, Clarkson was 45-39 Saturday, largely due to the return of Chris D'Alvise from his one-game suspension. D'Alvise went 19-12 and freshman Corey Tamblyn was 9-4. Tim Marks was 9-7. After going 21-12 on Friday, CC's Chad Rau was 19-17 Saturday.
D'Alvise and Tyrell Mason led Clarkson with six shots. Adam Bellows and Matt Beca each had four. Rau, who could be a Hobey Baker Award finalist, led the Tigers with 9.

Extra quotes:
CC coach Scott Owens on the possibility of more games against Clarkson in the future, despite the cross-country trip: "I like the Clarkson program. I have a lot of respect for the tradition. It's a long trip for both of us, but I would like to continue it."
Clarkson comments on the wide-open style of play seen Saturday against a WCHA foe, as contrasted to the style often seen in ECAC Hockey games:
Coach George Roll, "That's the style we want to play. I thought we were very good in transition. Both teams were very similar in their intensity."
Chris D'Alvise, "It's better for myself, personally. We are more of a physical team and they are more crafty. It's easier for me to wheel and deal."
Scott Freeman on the weekend, "I think we're happy with our effort for the whole weekend, coming back for a tie is a good feeling."
D'Alvise on watching Friday's game while sitting out the one-game for a spearing penalty, "Yesterday was tough watching, but I had to pay the price for a stupid action."
Tyrell Mason on freshman goalie Paul Karpowich, who was the equal of CC All-American Richard Bachman, "He looks really confident in the net. He looks solid and he's not shaky."

Clarkson ties No. 1

Friday's home opener at Cheel Arena ended in a 1-1 tie with top-ranked Colorado College.
Clarkson was outshot 34-23 but played even with the Tigers throughout the game. Neither team appeared to have more good scoring chances than the other.
Few assorted notes:
Colorado College improved to 33-for-33 on penalty kills this season.
Missing top faceoff man Chris D'Alvise to a one-game suspension, the Golden Knights struggled at the circle and went 30-50. Two players did well in the circle, however. Freshman Louke Oakley went 6-1 and junior Matt Beca was 5-2. Colorado College's Chad Rau was 21-10.
Colorado College's Brian Connelly had seven shots on goal to lead all players and Rau and Mike Testwuide each had five. Mark Borowiecki and Nick Tremblay each lead Clarkson with 3 shots.

Leftover quotes:
Colorado College coach Scott Owens:
"I thought (Clarkson's) young guys played well. I expected their freshmen might need more seasoning, but they played well."

Clarkson coach George Roll:
"We don't want to be satisfied with a tie."

Clarkson goalie Paul Karpowich on his home debut:
"I think I was more relaxed (than last week). I knew what to expect. Tonight (the fans) were on my side."

Clarkson forward Brandon DeFazio on playing CC on standard ice (85 feet wide) as opposed to CC's World Arena (100 feet wide) where Clarkson was outscored 11-3 in two games last year:
"It's a huge difference, especially for our team. Their game is speed and with a big surface that plays to all their benefits."

Clarkson sophomore Lauri Tuohimaa on his start (3 goals) and how he feels compared to last year:
"I can't complain. To be honest today I only had one shot and that went in, so it's been a lot of luck. ... I feel much more confident on the ice and I'm a little more experienced. Last year I didn't know what to expect."

College Hockey on TV

Here is a listing of games on TV this weekend (note...this is based on what's offered on Time Warner Cable digital in the north country, but most of these are 'national' stations anyone with cable or satellite receives).

FRIDAY
NOT college hockey but Time Warner 26 is showing two Clarkson alums going head-to-head at 7:30 p.m. ... Binghamton Senators (Shawn Weller) at Syracuse Crunch (Grant Clitsome).
ESPNU 7:30 Vermont at Boston College
Fox College Sports Central 8 p.m. Minnesota at Wisconsin
Fox College Sports Atlantic 9:30 p.m. Ohio State at Denver

SUNDAY
ESPNU 7:30 New Hampshire at SLU

Weekly Notes

We will begin running a weekly Clarkson hockey notes column at watertowndailytimes.com the week ECAC Hockey play begins.
Until that point I will post a few items noteworthy here. These are in no particular order of importance, just some random thoughts:
* Chris D'Alvise had an excellent weekend, at least if you disregard the last three seconds of Saturday's 4-3 loss at Niagara. By now everyone knows he had the three assists and one goal in the 6-4 win over RIT on Friday. But he also looks like the clear leader to replace Nick Dodge in being Clarkson's top faceoff player. Overall for the weekend D'Alvise was 36-19 on faceoffs, a .654 win percentage. No one else on the team had a .500 or better percentage so that could come into play in Friday's home opener, which D'Alvise will sit out.
* Julien Cayer had an impressive debut. He missed Friday's game with an injury, but he scored a goal in his first college game Saturday, went 5-5 on faceoffs and he led the team in shots with seven.
* In one statistical oddity, Clarkson had almost identical shooting nights last weekend. Against RIT the shots by period were 7-11-7 and against Niagara 8-11-8. Even the shots Clarkson allowed were similar, just reversed. Against RIT it was 10-12-17 and against Niagara it was 17-12-11. Even more odd, the two periods Clarkson allowed 17 shots it gave up just one goal in each.
* Colorado College will be the first No. 1 team to play the Clarkson men at Cheel Arena. They are not the first No. 1 team to play against a Clarkson team in Cheel Arena, however. The SLU women's team was No. 1 when it lost to Clarkson in the 2005-06 season.
* Tigers coach Scott Owens was the only coach I've ever seen who enters the rink from the Zamboni door when Clarkson hosted the Tigers for two games in the 2003-04 season. It makes sense given that coaches were dress shoes and the ice is slippery at that stage. I recall he comes in from the zamboni door and walks along the boards to the rink.
* Colorado College has five NHL draft choices on its squad: forward Chad Rau (Toronto), forward Bill Sweatt (Chicago), forward Scott McCulloch (Chicago), defenseman Kris Fredheim (Vancouver) and goalie Richard Bachman (Dallas).
* Finally....Colorado College has some interesting special teams stats after four games...With all the offensive talent the Tigers have, they are just 4-for-29 on the power play this season. But CC has killed all 28 penalties so far this season.

A Rough Night

Clarkson dropped Saturday's game 4-3 to Niagara. One positive is it was later learned that Phil Paquet was not disqualified for Friday's home opener against Colorado College.
There were penalties given to him and to Chris D'Alvise with just three seconds remaining in the game and when I spoke with coach George Roll after the game he had thought both players had been given game disqualifications.
D'Alvise, who had an excellent weekend up to that point, will miss Friday's game.
For Saturday's box click here.

Stat of the Night

Clarkson won its season opener, beating the Rochester Institute of Technology 6-4 on Friday night, coming back from a 2-0 deficit after one period. Clarkson scored four goals in the second period to build a 4-3 lead heading into the third period.

The win means Clarkson now has a 50-game unbeaten streak when it leads a contest after two periods (46-0-4). Clarkson was 14-0-1 last year when it led after two, 18-0-2 the year before and 12-0-1 the season before that.

The last time Clarkson lost a game when it had a lead after two periods was March 5, 2005, in the second game of a best-of-three ECAC Hockey League first-round series at Union. Clarkson led 1-0 heading into the third period of that game and went on to lose 2-1 in overtime. Clarkson won game three in overtime, after leading at the end of two periods, to start the current streak.

Leftovers

Our men's season preview ran today.

Here are some additional things said that I didn't have room for in the article:

I talked to Phil Paquet about his improvement in taking less penalties. He had 63 penalties minutes last year after picking up numbers in the 100's his first two years. He missed some time with an injury last year, but did show improvement in getting less 'majors' than in the past. Here was what he said when I asked him if any one person had helped him in that area:
"George (Roll) really helped me with that. He was patient with me, especially my freshman year. I had a lot of penalties that were emotionally tough. Sometimes at practice we'd practice stuff and he'd tell me, "Don't go in there too aggressive". Sometimes he'd be talking about a penalty I had the day before, or maybe on a Monday come back to the rink and go over video."

I also asked Paquet if he thinks some penalties may be given based on a reputation built up from the first two years:
"I think by now it could be reputation, they kind of know you. It's your own risk if you go in the corner with me. But I don't feel in college hockey, in general, you can really intimidate players. I can't drop my gloves. My intention is never to be an intimidating factor. I am, through my play, but it's not my intention."

As for Mason, I asked him what type of leader he would be and if he had any good role models to learn from:
"I just want to try and lead by example. I don't put a lot of faith in people who say one thing and do another. I want to earn the respect from my teammates by working hard each day and trying to better myself on and off the ice. Nick Dodge and Chris Brekelmans were each very different types of captains. Nick was by example and Breks wasn't afraid to put you in your place. I want to try and pull the best out of my teammates and ultimately get the most out of our team. There will be times to step up and say something and other times to go out and get the job done on the ice to try and make a statement that way."

I also asked Mason about what makes Clarkson's defensive unit so successful:
"I think our coaches have done a great job bringing in guys who are willing to learn and have good character. Specifically on defense the traits that have made us so successful are our size and our speed. Our team is filled with D who have great skating ability and I think it has a lot to do with our system play."

Additional game on TV

Clarkson will have one of its road games shown on SNY, the channel that covers the New York Mets.
RPI is going to televise five of its home games this year on an Albany Time Warner channel. But the game against Clarkson, on Feb. 27, will also be carried on SNY.
Clarkson also has a home game against SLU on Jan. 11 which will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind...

Most Division I men's college hockey teams started their season last weekend, or played an exhibition game.
Clarkson has yet to play and opens this weekend with nonconference games at RIT and Niagara.
The Golden Knights were ranked No. 11, nationally, in the first USA Today poll, but slipped to No. 13 last week and now have moved down to No. 14, all without even playing yet.

Reunions

Several former Clarkson players and coaches will be returning to Potsdam this season.
The Golden Knights have an exhibition game on Nov. 1 at Cheel Arena against Canadian school Carleton University, which is coached by former interim-Clarkson coach Fred Parker. Former Clarkson assistant Casey Jones will also be back with his new team, Cornell.
SUNY Potsdam will also face a trio of teams led by former Clarkson players or coaches this season.
The Bears open the season with home games on Oct. 24-25 against Adrian, which is led by former Clarkson assistant Ron Fogarty.
Two former players also bring teams to play at SUNY Potsdam this year. Phil Roy, now the coach at Neumann, plays against the Bears on Jan. 8 and Brasher Falls native Chris Bernard, now coaching Western New England, has a pair of games at SUNY Potsdam on Jan. 16-17.

Cheel Arena Upgrades

The home opener against Colorado College is still a few weeks away, but some small changes have been made at Cheel Arena.
The display case of Clarkson NHL jerseys has been moved from the lobby to inside the arena, near the concession stand.
Clarkson also has installed two movie screens in opposite corners of the rink which will show the same footage from the B2 network, which broadcasts games over the internet.

Welcome

Hello...my name is Cap Carey and I am a sportswriter for the Watertown Daily Times. I cover the Clarkson University men's hockey team and have done so since the 1996-97 season.
This blog is intended to supplement items that run in my newspaper watertowndailytimes.com.
Be sure to check that site the days after home games for game stories and also, once ECAC Hockey play begins, every Thursday there will be a Clarkson Notes column. The first one should run the Thursday prior to the opening week of ECAC Hockey competition.
We also cover road games, but usually do not travel with the team until the postseason. But I do call coach George Roll on his cell phone after every away game to get comments for the story.
You may email me with questions/comments at ccarey@wdt.net.