November
8, 2007
Clarkson's
Marks Man Takes On Bigger Role
By
Joe Gladziszewski
When Clarkson forward Shawn Weller opted to
sign a professional contract with the Ottawa Senators last
spring, just weeks after helping the Golden Knights back
to the NCAA Tournament and back to the top of ECAC Hockey
with a team-high 19 goals and 40 points, it was clear that
his contributions and style of play would be missed in Potsdam.
ECAC
Hockey Notebook
Tim
Marks recorded his first career hat trick in a win
over Dartmouth last Saturday and was named ECAC Hockey
Player of the Week.
But the Golden Knights' coaching staff saw
an opportunity for someone to step in and pick up the slack
for Weller's departure, and turned to a freshman who played
in 37 games last year and produced only six points in a
fourth-line role. And while Tim Marks' point production
was vastly different from Weller, he did bring attributes
that made Weller a highly regarded college player.
Specifically, the 6-foot-3, 217-pound frame
of Marks compares favorably with Weller's physical stature
(6-1, 200). Clarkson's coaches challenged Marks to get better
over the summer, specifically improving his skating and
fitness, and he responded by coming back to campus ready
to make a difference after working out with former Clarkson
stars Craig Conroy and Chris Clark.
"The big thing for him to get this opportunity
depended on how he conditioned himself. Tim made a commitment
and came back in great shape and fit in great in that spot,
and they're similar players," Clarkson coach George
Roll said.
No longer stuck on the fourth line, Marks
has slotted in on the left wing of a line with Steve Zalewski
and Matt Beca, where Shawn Weller played last year. He's
responded with five goals and six points already this season,
including a hat trick in last Saturday's win over Dartmouth.
The Golden Knights are off to a 3-0-0 in ECAC
Hockey with wins at home against three teams expected to
finish in the upper half of the league standings (St. Lawrence,
Harvard, Dartmouth) and now Clarkson needs to find a way
to carry that success on the road with games at Quinnipiac
and Princeton. They'll look to lessons learned in a late-October
trip to Lake Superior State, where they played well but
only managed a split as defensive breakdowns and penalties
plagued the Knights in the second game.
Clarkson was bolstered by the return of stalwart
defenseman Phil Paquet last weekend, who paired with Grant
Clitsome and didn't miss beat after missing the first six
games of the season due to injury. Paquet had two assists
and a plus-2 rating on the weekend.
"He was awesome, and has such a presence.
Those guys are great together and it gives us a pretty good
pair of defensemen that we can put out against the other
team's top line," Roll said.
SEEN AND HEARD IN ECAC HOCKEY
Balancing Anger and Swagger:
No losses in six games is usually viewed as a success, and
it is at Rensselaer, where the Engineers are 4-0-2 in their
last six after two ties last weekend against Yale and Brown.
The six-game unbeaten streak is only bettered by Miami's
8-0-0 start. The first night saw RPI salvage a point when
Jake Morissette scored in the final minute against Yale.
The second night saw RPI take a 2-0 lead and miss on a few
odd-man rushes and hit some posts late in the second period,
and Brown turned the game around in the third period and
eventually tied it in the last minute.
"We played too well to tie on Saturday,
and I give credit to Brown for playing a great third period
and coming back to tie the game," Rensselaer coach
Seth Appert said. "We didn't take advantage of our
opportunities and they got some life with their first goal
and tied it at the end."
RPI was good in the close games last year,
compiling a 9-3 record in games decided by one goal. They
also had eight ties. So what do those ties mean for this
weekend's games at Harvard and Dartmouth?
"There are two ways to look at it,"
Appert said. "You don't want to be happy with the ties
and you want some anger and some edge to your game, but
you also want to carry a swagger that we're playing well
and right now it's tough to beat us. That's something that
we're trying to develop and we took another step forward
against Yale, but against Brown we took a step back."
Great Weekend Getaway
Clarkson at Princeton
(Saturday, 4:30 p.m.)
If you were asked before the season
to pick a game between two nationally-ranked teams
on Nov. 10, you'd probably have selected St. Lawrence-Quinnipiac
or even Dartmouth-Rensselaer. But the Princeton Tigers
are off to an undefeated start and welcome first-place
Clarkson to Baker Rink, where Princeton has defeated
the Golden Knights in each of Clarkson's last two
visits.
While You're There: Get to town
early and check out one of the longest-standing rivalries
in college football as Yale visits Princeton for a
1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday. After the game, head to
the hockey game at Baker Rink ... and make time to
stop at Hoagie Haven sometime during the weekend.
Stick
Salute
Former Cornell
standout Matt Moulson scored a goal in his first NHL
game last week for the Los Angeles Kings. He played
two games last weekend before being sent down to Manchester
of the American Hockey League, but wasn't there long
as the Kings recalled Moulson to The Show again on
Wednesday.
Bench
Minor
Four different
goalies have started games for St. Lawrence out of
eight games played so far this year. If you have four
starting goalies, you actually have none.
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM
OF THE BAG
• Sunday's Colgate-Yale game at Ingalls
Rink will be televised on ESPNU, beginning at 4 p.m. The
Raiders have scored just four goals in their last five games.
The Bulldogs have a win and two ties in their last three
outings, and goalie Billy Blase has allowed just four goals
in just under 210 minutes.
• Six different players accounted for
Harvard's seven goals last weekend in a 2-1 loss to Clarkson
and 6-1 win over St. Lawrence, and Kyle Richter stopped
62 of the 65 shots he faced.
• Union outshot Brown 35-18 and Yale
37-23 in two games last weekend, earning a tie both nights.
Goalie Justin Mrazek was yanked in the first minute of the
second period against Brown after allowing two goals on
six shots.
• Quinnipiac's Ben Nelson, Bryan Leitch,
and David Marshall each have three goals on the season to
lead their team in that category. Brandon Wong has yet to
score in six games this season, after tallying 27 times
last season to rank among the nation's leaders.
• Brown standout seniors Jeff Prough
and Sean Hurley could reach noteworthy milestones this weekend,
as each could play in his 100th career game. Prough, a forward,
has 99 career games played and 85 career points. Hurley,
a defenseman, has played in 98 games so far and has 61 points.
• Dartmouth goalie Mike
Devine summed up the Big Green's weekend split at St.
Lawrence (a 2-1 win) and Clarkson (a 4-3 loss) as follows:
“Friday night, we played a whole 60 minutes,”
Devine said. “Saturday, we took some shifts off and
only played about 50 minutes of our type of hockey, myself
included. Unfortunately, during those 10 minutes we took
off, they scored three goals and that won the game for them.”
• The numbers don't tell the whole story
for Cornell goalie Ben Scrivens, who has allowed six goals
in his two games. Four of those six goals were scored while
the opposing team was on the power play and a fifth one
came on a penalty shot (by Quinnipiac's Mike Atkinson).
Scrivens and goaltending mate Troy Davenport have combined
for a .865 save percentage through the Big Red's three games.
• Clarkson's Roll has 80 career wins
as the head of the Golden Knights and 199 wins overall as
a collegiate head coach. His next victory will be the 200th
of his career.
• After Saturday's game against Clarkson,
Princeton will host a dedication ceremony for the lobbies
at the east end of Hobey Baker Rink. The weekend event will
be Princeton's second of three Saturday afternoon games
in the span of four weeks. After playing Colgate in the
afternoon last week and this week's game against Clarkson,
the Tigers and Quinnipiac will play on Nov. 24 at 3:30 p.m.
in a game televised on NESN.
A variety of sources were utilized in
the compilation of this report. Joe Gladziszewski can be
reached at gladdy@insidecollegehockey.com.
