SLU 2, Clarkson 1

Clarkson played much better Sunday in a 2-1 loss to rival SLU. The Golden Knights were frustrated by a few shots that clinged off the post but did appear to outplay SLU in the first two period. SLU had a solid third period, however, and denied Clarkson on the power play twice to hold on for the win.

Here were the keys to the game for Clarkson:

1. Payback. Will Clarkson come out angry after being embarrased last night and play with fire and passion, especially early? Clarkson did play much better. It was not a win, but they were not blown out.

2. Where's the offense? Another game with less than three goals as Clarkson falls to 0-10-3 this year in those situations. Make that 0-11-3.

3. Play ahead. Clarkson has scored the first goal only six times in 19 games this season. Another interesting stat about this season is Clarkson has led in a game only 15.2 percent of the time, but has been trailing 51.4 percent of the time. Last year those numbers were 33 and 26.7 respectively. Again, Clarkson never led in this game, trailed for most of it.


4. Control the puck. Shots against are way up for Clarkson's defense this season and SLU picked up 41 last night, including a 33-7 edge after two periods. After Saturday's game, Clarkson coach George Roll attributed SLU's number of shots to the fact that Clarkson was not able to gain control of the puck and pressure the Saints. Much better job in Sunday's game on this.

5. Goaltending. One positive in last night's game was the play of backup Richie LaVeau after Paul Karpowich was pulled early in the second period. LaVeau stopped 24 of 25 shots and both goalies have save percentages over .900. Whoever plays today, Clarkson will need a big game from its goalie. Solid play from Karpowich Sunday.