Preview: ECAC First Round @ Clarkson
Can RPI get its 3rd win over Clarkson to advance to the ECAC quarters?
One of the best rivalries in eastern college hockey, RPI and Clarkson, will be renewed this Friday night at Cheel Arena in the ECAC Hockey playoffs. The Engineers swept the season series and also won at Cheel in the 5-12 game two years ago, but this will by no means be easy. Not only is Clarkson a very talented team, but the trip to Potsdam is a tough one and the building figures to be raucous. They seem to be finding their footing at the right time with 4 wins in a row prior to Saturday’s loss at Cornell. RPI is peaking too with a record of 5-2-1 in their last 8 and will certainly make things tough on Clarkson. Let’s break down the two rosters and the matchup:
Clarkson
Record: 15-16-3 (8th in ECAC)
Head Coach: JF Houle (2nd Year)
Clarkson lost a bunch of guys and elected to lean heavily into the CHL rather than the portal to replace them. The results were a bit disappointing despite those players producing, as they fell from 2nd to 8th in the league. Their underlying metrics are still good though, which is why this has been a confusing year. Ethan Langenegger put up a save percentage of .914% last year while getting the lion’s share of play, but Shane Soderwall has only given them a .900% this year.
Secondly, while they are talented, they lack experience. 9 of their 12 available forwards last weekend are underclassmen and 6 of the 7 defensemen are as well. With wins over Penn State and North Dakota but some bad losses to go with it, it’s fair to say this has been a confusing year for the Knights. With a good offseason, I expect Clarkson to be one of those teams picked to jump back into the top 4 next year. I think RPI could be constructed similarly next year with the talented recruiting class they have lined up.
Players to Watch:
Ryan Bottrill (Sr, Forward): 34-9-27-36
Owen Van Steensel (Fr, Forward): 34-12-13-25
Tristan Sarsland (Sr, Defense) 34-6-10-16
Shane Soderwall (Jr, Goalie) 31-2.68-.900%
RPI
Record: 11-22-1 (9th in ECAC)
Head Coach: Eric Lang (1st Year)
RPI’s lineup has completely stabilized over the last few weeks, including the insertion of Landen Hilditch for Trevor Russell, who seems to be hurt. The Rullers line with the two grads has really gelled, and Sitar centering the two freshman is probably RPI’s most talented line. Thomas Klassek just won his 2nd straight (!) ECAC defenseman of the week and has a real case for the all-rookie team. And how can you not mention Nate Krawchuk, the reigning ECAC goaltender of the week with one of the hottest hands in college hockey right now. The freshman is giving RPI a chance to win every night right now and is not a guy anyone wants to face. We know the book on this group by now: stay out of the box, be opportunistic, and get good goaltending. It’s working brilliantly right now.
Players to Watch:
Luciano Wilson (Gr, Forward) 33-8-14-22
Thomas Klassek (Fr, Defenseman) 33-3-15-18
Filip Sitar (So, Forward) 34-8-9-17
Nate Krawchuk (Fr, Goalie) 23-2.85-.908%
Assessing the Matchup
Team Statistics:
As I alluded to earlier, Clarkson has a talented team and struggled to get the results they wanted all year. On the other hand, RPI has the better goaltender, is more disciplined, and frankly has a coach with an incredibly amount of postseason success. This is much more evenly matched than it was 2 years ago when RPI won at Cheel in the playoffs. Clarkson is slightly more skilled, but RPI is red hot with a lot of self-belief right now.
Season Matchup:
RPI swept the season series despite Clarkson out chancing them in those games. It’s not easy to beat a team for a 3rd time and I reckon Clarkson is motivated to change the narrative around the series.
Keys to the Game:
Play your game
RPI is 5-2-1 in the last 8 and 2-0 against Clarkson. Lang said on his radio spot this week that the team plays a playoff style already and isn’t searching for how to defend harder. The emphasis will be to stick to their tight checking style on Friday.
Get pucks to the net
Simply getting pucks towards the goaltender and getting bounces and deflections worked brilliantly against Yale. RPI needs to test Soderwall and keep the puck in deep.
Be the more urgent team
I spoke before about Clarkson being motivated to prevent a sweep, plus they will be on their home ice. RPI will need to be completely locked in and play intelligently to win the effort battle.