Clarkson excessive penalties

Perhaps one of the experts on this board can tell me if my perception is correct: Is Clarkson pretty consistently one of the most penalized teams in the ECAC and in the nation? The reason I ask is because it seems to me that lack of discipline is becoming a long-term trademark for Clarkson.

Although I know the fans were taunting some of the Clarkson players, many of them showed remarkable lack of restraint. They were classless all weekend. Examples?
1) The dancing and yelling by Traylen in Sunday’s game as described in another thread
2) The Applebee's incident (though I understand the events are under debate)
3) The disgusting purposeful spitting on the penalty box glass by Matt Curley and others while they gestured to the crowd
4) Latulippe's bashing of his stick on the ice when he didn't like the call during Saturday’s game
5) Not to mention the abundance of cheap shots taken throughout all three games.

The point I am trying to make is, shouldn't the ECAC be taking some kind of lead on pressuring Clarkson to clean up it's act? There seems to be a culture problem there that is not correcting itself. If the coaches don’t expect more from their players then I believe the league needs to put pressure on Clarkson’s administration.

I have watched every other team this year (and for decades), and Clarkson seems to consistently stand out in this way, and it seems to be getting worse.

Please respond. I am interested in your perceptions. Perhaps I am getting too old to watch this game.

I'm no expert, but let me say what USCHO's archives tell me:

- Clarkson had the third-most penalty minutes in the ECAC this season, behind Vermont and Dartmouth.
- Matt Nickerson alone accounted for over 20% of Clarkson's overall penalty minutes this season.
- Clarkson led the ECAC (conference only) in penalty minutes the previous two seasons. However, in the 2000-2001 season, they had the second least penalty minutes--quite a striking difference.

Unfortunately, USCHO doesn't give me more info than that.

As the saying goes (I think Rick Reilly did a whole SI column last fall),

My team is agressive and hard-hitting.
Your team takes cheap shots.

My guy's big and takes advantage of his size, within the rules.
Your guy's a goon.

Etcetera.

If you were looking for a pattern, you'd have to go back more than a couple years. One or two players could make a difference. A lot of people thought Doug Murray was a goon two years ago. (Imagine if Greg Hornby skated the first line and had more shifts.) Then there's just plain randomness that doesn't settle out unless you look over a longer period. But if you go back more than a couple years, there's a different coach and philosophy.

Yale's goalie got tossed out of game one of the playoffs for spearing someone. that doens't make Tim Taylor's program dirty.

Nickerson may have led the East in penalties this year, but it was our guy, not Nickerson, who got tossed out of game one. Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time to show him a lesson. Maybe it wasn't after all. Maybe it didn't affect the outcome either way. It's another thing to ponder for the next seven months.

We've got a bunch of 6-foot-3 players coming in next year. I don't think the other team thinks it's so our defenders can see over our forechecking forwards. In fact, if it's true that a lot of big guys are coming, and if they make the team and see ice time, I'm sure we'll get a reputation as a dirtier team than this year regardless of the PIM.

we also have a "midget" coming in next year compared to most of the other guys but he's been labelled, for better or for worse, the next Ryan Vesce. Who knows how tall he is without skates...

[Q]billhoward Wrote:
We've got a bunch of 6-foot-3 players coming in next year. I don't think the other team thinks it's so our defenders can see over our forechecking forwards. In fact, if it's true that a lot of big guys are coming, and if they make the team and see ice time, I'm sure we'll get a reputation as a dirtier team than this year regardless of the PIM.
[/Q]


so ... you're saying bigger = clutching and grabbing ... right?

[Q]ben03 Wrote:

[q]billhoward Wrote:
We've got a bunch of 6-foot-3 players coming in next year. I don't think the other team thinks it's so our defenders can see over our forechecking forwards. In fact, if it's true that a lot of big guys are coming, and if they make the team and see ice time, I'm sure we'll get a reputation as a dirtier team than this year regardless of the PIM. [/q]



so ... you're saying bigger = clutching and grabbing ... right?
[/Q]

He said reputation. It's a matter of perception.

you left out my smilies ... i know what he was saying