Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Pot All-Tournament Team
F Tom Cavanagh, Harvard
F Matt Hendricks, St. Cloud
F Dave Iannazzo, St. Cloud
D Justin Fletcher, St. Cloud
D Stephen Wood, Providence
G Adam Coole, St. Cloud
MVP: Coole
A Balanced Effort
St. Cloud State entered the weekend not exactly lighting the lamp in bunches, but a stingy defense had led it to a No. 10 ranking nationally. Over the two games in Providence, however, the Huskies posted 12 goals and allowed five.
Timely and balanced scoring has been an important aspect of SCSU’s game, with all four lines notching more than 14 points. In addition, defensemen Matt Gens, Justin Fletcher, Tim Conroy and Casey Borer are threats on both sides of the puck, each scoring at least a point in the pair of St. Cloud wins. In all, more than a dozen Huskies registered a point in the two contests.
Between the pipes, junior Adam Coole improved to 9-2-1 after entering Sunday’s game with a 2.28 goals against average.
Around the Rink
When the tournament trophy reached ice level after the final horn sounded, it looked a lot like another type of brewing apparatus. The uncanny resemblance prompted one of the few remaining Providence fans to yell: “Nice teapot!”
When two Dunkin’ Donuts mascots hit the ice for a between periods promotion on Saturday, the giant Coffee Cup and Latte Cup generated the following fan comment heard all the way up in the press box: “Where’s Randall Simon?” — in reference to the former Pittsburgh Pirates player who hit a sausage mascot in Milwaukee with a bat this season. Personally, we would have preferred a battle to the death between the hefty coffee cups … or at least a tag-team effort on a Starbucks mascot. But that’s just us.
Clarkson, winless in its last four games (0-3-1), continues its drought in regular-season tournament action, not having captured any hardware since 1995.
Harvard has now allowed 16 goals in third periods this season while potting only nine in 15 games. The three the Crimson allowed to St. Cloud in Saturday’s final frame marked the second time they’d given up that many this season — the first was in a home loss to Princeton.
The Knights lost defensemen Mike Nagai and Michael Grenzy to injuries early in the first period of their game against Harvard.
Tim Pettit’s goal on Saturday was the 50th tally of his Harvard career. Linemate Tyler Kolarik’s assist on Pettit’s goal was his 100th point.
One final parting shot: Considering the tournament and arena names, we sure did miss the lack of donuts in the media room. Maybe next year …
