There will be two first-place ECAC teams playing in Bright Center this weekend, but for the first time in four years, neither will be Harvard.
Clarkson hits town tonight (WHRB, 7:30 p.m.) and defending ECAC champion St. Lawrence will stop in Saturday as Harvard (4-7-1 overall, 4-5-1 ECAC) tries to knock off the two league leaders and finally give Coach Bill Cleary his school record-breaking win.
"Clarkson and St. Lawrence are two good teams," junior Mike Vukonich said. "If we win these two games, we're right back in it."
Clarkson (11-3-1, 5-3-1) is ranked sixth in the nation, and dumped both Hockey East leader Northeastern and Western Michigan in a holiday tournament in Syracuse. St. Lawrence (5-8-2, 5-3-1) is coming off losses to Bowling Green and Minnesota in the Dexter Shoe Classic held in Orono, Me., last week. The Saints struggled in the early ECAC season, but have won four of their last five league contests.
Harvard may be sixth in the league, but it still boasts the ECAC's top two scorers in Vukonich (8 goals, 13 assists for 21 points in league action) and Captain C.J. Young (8-11--19). And the Crimson, which has been on the road for most of the season, has only lost one game--its 4-3 home opener with Army--in Bright Center in the last two years.
But, according to Vukonich, Harvard needs to play better defensive hockey if it wants to come away with a weekend sweep.
"[The problems] start in our own zone," Vukonich said. "We need to play better defense from the forwards all the way back."
Clarkson lost its big gun when Jarmo Kekalainen traded his final season of college hockey for a contract with the Bruins last summer. Mike Casselman is the new leading scorer for the Golden Knights, who rank second to RPI in team offense.
The Saints, meanwhile, return most of their offensive firepower, including Captains Andy Pritchard (12-11--23) and Joe Day (8-14--22).
Goal of the Week: Welcome to Create-A-Goal, hosted by junior Ted Donato.
When Pete Ciavaglia scored just five seconds into the second period of the second Minnesota game, none of the statisticians were paying attention.
Desperate for a goal description, the gullible stat crew turned to Donato, who was more than happy to oblige--even though his back was to the ice when the puck went in.
Donato patiently explained that Ciavaglia had sent the faceoff to junior John Weisbrod, who passed it back as Ciavaglia broke through the defense and sent the puck past the Harvard Hockey Statistics (4-7-1 overall, 4-5-1 ECAC)
Scoring Player G Gl A Pts Pen P M Mike Vukonich 11 10 13 23 3 6 C.J. Young 12 8 11 19 10 26 John Weisbrod 11 6 10 16 5 18 Pete Ciavaglia 12 7 6 13 3 6 Ted Drury 10 5 7 12 5 10 John Murphy 12 3 9 12 6 12 Tim Burke 12 2 4 6 4 8 Tod Hartje 12 3 3 6 4 11 Jim Coady 12 0 5 5 0 0 Ted Donato 4 2 2 4 4 16 Kevan Melrose 12 1 3 4 28 60 Scott Barringer 6 0 3 3 6 12 Steve Flomenhoft 9 1 2 3 7 14 Matt Mallgrave 10 2 1 3 6 12 Scott McCormack 12 0 3 3 8 14 Kevin Sneddon 12 0 2 2 4 8 Chuckie Hughes 4 0 1 1 1 2 Brian McCormack 12 1 0 1 8 16 Craig Miskovich 4 0 1 1 1 2 Rich DeFreitas 12 0 0 0 4 8 Brian Popiel 12 0 0 0 6 12 Aron Allen 1 0 0 0 3 14 Totals 12 51 86 137 128
Goaltending Player G W-L-T Min Svs Pct< Tab>GAA Allain Roy 7 2-5-0 419 206 .888 3 .72 Chuckie Hughes 4 2-1-1 245 112 .875 Seconds later, the Donato version had becomethe official one--the goal appeared on the statsheets and in the Twin Cities' press exactly as hehad described. Ciavaglia--who should know--says the goal wasunassisted. But Weisbrod certainly wasn'tcomplaining. Players of the Week: Offense: Guess who?Hint: He scored two unassisted goals againstMinnesota. And his first name's Mike. Defense: What Harvard needed in Minneapolis wasa few more Kevan Melroses--the Gophers arebasically a skating team, but took advantage ofstrong checking in the corners as well. As goalie Allain Roy said, Minnesota "totallyoutchecked" most of the Harvard team. Except, thatis, for Melrose--who quickly became a focus of fanabuse after crashing Gopher Captain Pete Hankinsoninto the boards on his first shift. Missing in Action: Maybe Donato's havingtoo much fun in the press box. The latest word isthat he's staying there at least until after exambreak. Donato's broken collarbone, expected tokeep him out for four to eight weeks, is nowpredicted to be a 10-week sideliner. Donato should make it back just in time forHarvard's first game without Melrose, whoseeligibility runs out after the Brown game nextSaturday. Expect senior forward Tod Hartje to moveback to defense when Melrose leaves and Donatoreturns, forcing Cleary to start playingmix-and-match with his lines once again. Borrowed Magic: What's the key toVukonich's overnight transformation togoal-scoring wonder? Here's one suggestion: astick borrowed from Donato, a 60-plus point-scorerlast season. Donato's been on the sidelines since November,but his sticks remain in the pile with the rest ofthe team--and are frequently borrowed by Vukonich,who surged to the top of the team scoring listjust two weeks after Donato's departure. Also getting in on the action is sophomoredefender Kevin Sneddon, who helped himself to aDonato stick for a few games earlier this season. Sneddon's stats? Two points with the borrowedstick, none without. Little Fun in Finland: Sophomore goalieChuckie Hughes and freshman forward Ted Drury havebeen in Helsinki playing in the World JuniorChampionships since mid-December, but the holidayshaven't been happy ones. It seems the U.S. team has lost all but one ofits tournament games and is in danger of droppinginto the 'B' pool (the second level ofinternational play), which means no invite to thechampionships next year. Drury and Hughes, meanwhile, return to theStates today, but won't be back in time fortonight's game
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