FINAL from Appleton: SLU 3, Clarkson 2 (ECAC Playoffs)

Overtime

Goal Bogosian

Because this is an ECAC tournament, the overtime will last 20 minutes and be sudden death.

Third period notes

We are headed to overtime.

Thins have become a bit of a horse race here late. everyone is flying all over the ice.

Petizian makes a great glove save on a Clarkson shot to keep it 2-2.

Saints fail to score on the pwer play.

SLU goes right back on the power play as Jake Morley is whistled for tripping.

Goal Clarkson - Borowiecki

Carden heads to the box for a elbow to the head.

Derek Keller has made several great defensive plays one-on-one against Clarkson defenders. He is playing very well for the Saints.

Second period impressions

UPDATED GOAL INFO: Alex Curran was credited with the score, while Vermeulen got the assist along with Hughes.

St. Lawrence played a full 20 minutes that period and it showed, getting two power plays and one goal to take a 2-1 lead into the third period. Petizian is playing very well. He made a few great saves when St. Lawrence gave the puck away either in their own zone or in the neutral zone.

The Saints are putting lots of traffic in front of Karpowich, which is leading to a lot of point-blank opportunities. St. Lawrence took advantage of one with a scramble in front that Vermeulen (how good as he been this year?) put away for the go-ahead score.

If St. Lawrence has the gas to go the final 20 minutes, they should come out with the win. Clarkson is having trouble maintaining puck possession and is starting to pick up frustration penalties as a result. So far, the Golden Knights have three penalties, while St. Lawrence took just one this game.

Second period notes

Clarkson fails to score on a power play. They did have some good chances though.

Goal SLU Curran PP.

Penalty Clarkson - Brian Rufenach for tripping.

It's a pretty frantic pace right now as neither team really appears to have an advantage as the second period continues with 13

St. Lawrence almost looked like they were on a PP again with a full 40 seconds in the offensive zone.

Petizian made a few nice saves on a barrage after the Saints gave the puck away in the neutral zone.

Saints fail to score on the power play.

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First period impressions

St. Lawrence dominated much of the first period, but a late onslaught from Clarkson in the Saints' zone has the game tied at 1-1. Clarkson, really, should be ahead. Golden Knights forward Matt Beca tripped on an official's skate giving SLU a 2-on-1 attack in Clarkson's zone. The result was a Bollig score just 40 seconds into the game.

Clarkson didn't give in, nor did it play any less aggressively. The final five minutes of the period was all Clarkson. The Golden Knights fired eight shots at Petizian in the second half of the period, one of which finally got through. Petizian had struggled controlling the rebounds, but it didn't burn him until Brandon DeFazio backhanded a loose rebound in the slot to Petizian's stick side.

Petizian isn't opting to cover up anything. He's trying to keep the flow of the game going, but he had an opportunity to cover before the DeFazio goal. Instead, he slapped the puck away with his stick, and it went right to DeFazio.

St. Lawrence will have 49 seconds left on a power play as Clarkson's Lauri Tuohimaa was whistled for hooking. The Saints haven't had too many good chances during the PP.

Prediction: Petizian will start covering up anything he can in the second period and St. Lawrence is going to get back to the aggressive play it start with this game. When the Saints sat on their heels for a moment, Clarkson took advantage.

First period notes

SLU goes on the PP

Goal Clarkson DeFazio of a loose rebound to Petizian's stick side.

The pace has slowed a little as we near the final few minutes of the first period, but SLU is still controlling just about every aspect of this game.

It's been a pretty clean game despite the high intensity and high emotions.

Clarkson is starting to show some life, definitely not letting SLU run away with anything. Good news, Hughes is back out and didn't miss a shift.

Hughes may of turned an ankle or tweaked a knee. He can barely stand as he heads to the bench.

Midway through the first period and it's still all SLU. Clarkson has taken all of two shots on net so far, while St. Lawrence has bombarded Karpowich with a flurry of shots.

St. Lawrence is all over Clarkson here in the early going, just dominating zone time and possession right now. Karpowich didn't stand a chance on Bollig's goal.

Goal SLU Brandon Bollig after Beca tripped by an official.

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I have the camera today, so I'll be uploading what goals and interesting tidbits I manage to capture in between periods. The students at SLU are on break, so the student section is fairly empy. The rest of the house, however, is packed. Puck drops in about six minutes.

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Continuing with tradition this season, student equipment manager Doug Weaver and trainer Bob Mowry duplicate the pregame puck art from St. Lawrence's win over Harvard last game. Check the image on the right.

Starters

SLU:

Forwards: Mike McKenzie, Travis Vermeulen, Alex Curran

Defense: Jeff Caister, Derek Keller

Goalie: Alex Petizian

Clarkson:

Forwards: Brandon DeFazio, Louke Oakley, Scott Freeman

Defense: Mark Borowiecki, Andrew Himelson

Goalie: Paul Karpowich.

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The quiet hum of the lights inside Appleton Arena is eerie as I have arrived entirely too early for a game that means entirely too much to the two schools vying for added playoff life.

We're a little over two hours away from gametime and nary a player to be found. Fans, however, have already begun trickling into the arena lobby, waiting for the doors to open at 6 p.m. There are no starters to announce yet, so I'm going to enjoy the calm and anticipate the first postseason match-up between Clarkson and St. Lawrence since 2001. Epic is a good word that comes to mind.

Updates will follow as we near the 7 p.m. start.