Hockey poll Jan. 29 - UNH No. 1

[jtwcornell91]

[quote Give My Regards][quote Trotsky]
As the fog rolls in to envelop what remains of my memory, I seem to recall this, too.  Was this the same year Tech got utterly screwed and had to play Wisconsin (sweeping them) and then Lake State (upsetting them in a best-of-three) and then had to immediately pick up and get out to the semis where, exhausted, they lost to BU?  That was '91.
[/quote]

I doubt very much that Clarkson was highly ranked (e.g. top five) in the polls in '91, though they obviously had a very good team that year.  As for the Knights being "utterly screwed" -- meaning they wound up seeded fourth out of six in the East and didn't get what would have been a first-round bye (12-team tourney) back then -- the only reason that could be given for them deserving a higher seed was that Clarkson won the regular-season and tournament championship that year.  Unfortunately, that wasn't part of the selection criteria then, but it did become part of the criteria shortly after that.  As I recall, this resulted a few years later in BU winning the HE regular-season championship (actually tying for it but being considered the champs due to tiebreakers) and their tournament and getting the coveted bye, despite an RPI rating and other selection criteria that ordinarily would have pegged them as the #11 or so team.  Soon after that, the reward for winning the regular-season and tourney championships magically disappeared from the selection criteria.[/quote]

Actually, the "Clarkson Rule" was bandied about in 1995, when Clarkson won the RS, but didn't come up because they lost to Princeton in the semis, and was ultimately not in effect that year.  It came into being for real in 1997 and got BU that bye you mention above.  IIRC it only went away in 2002 (along with the "Colorado College rule" guanranteeing the regular season champ a bid) when the MAAC's auto-bid meant there were five relevant conferences and only four byes.

[French Rage]

[quote jtwcornell91][quote Rich S]

Right before facing that powerhouse Vermont in the ECAC first round. :-)

Yep, just like the results when Cornell faced "that powerhouse" in their first action in the ECAC's in 2004.

Difference is that Clarkson fans admit that the 2001 series "happened."  :-|[/quote]

I'm with you on the silliness of applying "it never happened" to that playoff series, but 9-beating-2 in a 12-team playoff wasn't quite as unprecedented as 10-beating-1 in a 10-team playoff.  Especially when Tech had never lost a playoff game in Cheel, let alone a series.
[/quote]

Just the points I was going to make.  Also, the Clarkson we faced wasn't a season removed from having most of their season cancalled, and we didn't lose to them again at home a couple years later.

[Rich S]

Nope, it wasn't 91 for sure.

But the Wisco series you referred to was memorable for other reasons.  It was the last varsity hockey played in Clarkson/Walker Arena and capped an undefeated home season (one tie) for Tech.

It also enraged Coach Sauer so much that in the parking lot next to the Wisco bus, he uttered the notable words to the effect of 'This f'in place should be torched.  They should not be allowed to play here, etc.'

His tirade lasted a bit longer before a media member informed him that a new arena was under construction for use the following season.

Seems he had no awareness about that, which is understandable.  But it did make for a funny conclusion to his rant.  I recall his being needled about that series years later on ESPN.  Sauer was not amused.

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote Rich S]Sauer was not amused.[/quote]
Sauer has always struck me as being kind of...well...sour.  I recall one year during a holiday tournament when he was bitching that Wisconsin was going to play in the Rose Bowl and therefore the hockey team wasn't getting enough attention during the holidays.

[Liz '05]

[quote Rich S]
But the Wisco series you referred to was memorable for other reasons.  It was the last varsity hockey played in Clarkson/Walker Arena and capped an undefeated home season (one tie) for Tech.

It also enraged Coach Sauer so much that in the parking lot next to the Wisco bus, he uttered the notable words to the effect of 'This f'in place should be torched.  They should not be allowed to play here, etc.'
[/quote]

I've heard this before, but was never really clear on why he hated the building so much.  Was it particularly quirky?  Was it the fans?  Were the locker rooms a disgrace?  Or was it just that he'd lost and was ticked off?