Clarkson snaps winless streak vs. No. 2 Miami

Clarkson snapped a school-record, 11-game winless streak (0-9-2) with a 4-2 upset of No. 2 Miami (Ohio) in a semifinal game of the Ohio Hockey Classic in Columbus. The Golden Knights will play either Ohio State or Army in the championship game Saturday.

A few trivia items
*Clarkson is 1-0-2 this season against teams ranked either 1 or 2 nationally and 1-9-2 against the rest of the nation.
*Former Clarkson assistant Jason Lammers is on the Buckeyes coaching staff.
*Clarkson has now gone undefeated in 51 games (47-0-4) when it leads after two periods.

Here were the five things to watch with post-game comments

1. Score first..Clarkson has led after the first period of a game just twice this season and has been outscored 21-10 in the opening period so far this season. The last time Clarkson scored the first goal in a game was Nov. 15 at Dartmouth (a 5-1 loss).
Clarkson achieved this early with a goal from Shea Guthrie (see the note below) just 99 seconds into the contest. Two goals in the first four minutes of the third period also gave the Golden Knights a confidence boost.

2. Get the big three going..Clarkson's top line so far this season has been sophomores Scott Freeman, Lauri Tuohimaa and Brandon DeFazio. The big three I'm referring to here are three players Clarkson expected to see among its leading scorers heading into the season - Chris D'Alvise, Matt Beca and Shea Guthrie. D'Alvise had a productive first weekend of the season but has just six goals and one assist so far. Beca has three goals and two assists and Guthrie has one goal and two assists. It's not known, at this time, if they'll be on the same line, but Clarkson will need these three players to return to past scoring levels to snap out of this funk.
At least one of the big three got going tonight as Guthrie scored the first goal of the game and picked up another assist.

3. Win faceoffs.. Clarkson has missed its senior class from last season in many areas, but it especially has missed Nick Dodge in the faceoff circle. As a team, the Golden Knights have won just 48 percent of faceoffs this season, perhaps one reason why the team is struggling to score goals. Chris D'Alvise has excelled with a 56.7 percent win clip, but nobody else on the squad is over 50 percent.
This didn't go very well for Clarkson, which went 23-40 in tonight's game, but it didn't cost the team.

4. Special teams.. This is almost always one of my five keys but in this game it's going to be a real challenge for Clarkson to come out on top. The Golden Knights have gone 2 for 23 on the power play in their last four games and are just 10 of 91 for the season, ranking 50th in the nation at 11 percent. Miami, on the other hand, has killed 93.8 percent of its penalties.
Clarkson's kill has been better than its power play, at 85.4 percent. But Miami has converted on 20.9 percent of its power-play chances. If Miami wins the special teams area today the winless streak could reach 12.
Statistically this was a draw, as each team scored two goals. But given the stats coming into the game, Clarkson matching Miami in this category was really a plus for the Golden Knights.

5. Defense.. Clarkson may be without senior Phil Paquet again today. He has been struggling with a bad ankle since the Colorado College series. The Golden Knights are allowing 30.7 shots per game and Miami, led by Carter Camper (11 goals-15 assists) can put up goals if you give them that many opportunities. Clarkson has used freshmen Paul Karpowich and Richie LaVeau as goalies in the last three games and the duo has had a 90 percent or higher save percentage in two of the last three. Clarkson also has to cut down on the number of close-range shots it allows, a problem it has had in a handful of recent games.
Not seeing the game (heard it on radio) I can't really comment on how the defense played. However, it did sound like Miami had several shots close in and finished with 42 for the game, including 20 in the third period. Karpowich was up to the challenge, stopping 40 of 42 shots.