Clarkson's Crowe relishing ice time

For the first time in his career at Clarkson University, senior defenseman Jeremiah Crowe has been able to suit up for almost every game.

Crowe, a native of Kenmore, played in only 55 games in his first three seasons and missed 58, mostly due to problems with his shoulders.

This season he's played in all but one game, missing the second road game at Minnesota-Duluth due to the flu.

"I think I've had a better start than any other year," said Crowe. "I've been pretty injury-free so far and things have been going well for me. It's snowballed with the shoulders. It's hard to find consistency when it's like that. It's not really something you can control. It makes it a little bit difficult. So far it's been pretty good so I hope it continues."

Clarkson is off to a difficult start with a 3-8 overall record and 0-4 mark in ECAC Hockey games. The Golden Knights play at Dartmouth tonight and at Harvard tomorrow.

After last Saturday's 5-1 home loss to Union, Clarkson spent time in the locker room talking things over. It was there where Crowe's experience benefited.

"He's a quality guy in the locker room," Clarkson coach George Roll said. "From a coach's standpoint, he's all business. He comes to the rink with a great attitude and has always been positive, whether he's been in or out of the lineup.

"He's been a real good team leader and he leads by example. He's not overly vocal. The other night he stepped up and said a few things as a senior, and I certainly know he's well-respected in that locker room."

On the ice Crowe offers Clarkson steady play on the defensive end. He's only scored one goal and one assist.

"I think and try and just take care of my own end," Crowe said. "I try to make good passes and keep things simple and keep my feet moving when I get the puck. I keep my head up and make the first pass available to me."

Said Roll, "The big thing is when he's on his game, you don't notice him. He's not the type of guy who is going to wow you with speed or make the great offensive rush. But he's going to make smart plays. He's going to move the puck. He's going to be good defensively and play physical and compete. He does a lot of little things well. When you sit back and watch tape and look at the way he's played, he's been very solid for us.

"He's done what we've asked him and played well defensively," Roll added. "He's made a good first pass and kept it simple. He's competed at a very high level. With the lack of depth out there on the blue line, we've really needed him to step up."

Crowe doesn't mind it when you tell him that he is not noticed when he plays well.

"For a defenseman that plays my style, if you can't tell they are out there, things are going pretty smooth," Crowe said.

QUICK STITCH JOB

Clarkson fans had a bit of a scare early in the third period Friday night when sophomore defenseman Mark Borowiecki staggered getting off the ice and then was taken off the bench to the training room.

He collided with Rensselaer's Jerry D'Amigo along the wall about 90 seconds into the third period and as he got up to go back to the bench he fell down, leading some to think he may have had a concussion.

It turns out that D'Amigo accidentally hit Borowiecki from below and he went face first into a door along the ice. He had to get four stitches on his upper lip and came back to the ice about five minutes later.

He said being stitched without Novocain didn't bother him.

"The adrenaline is going, so you don't really feel anything," Borowiecki said. "It hurt more the next day when I went to brush my teeth."

With the four stitches on his face, Borowiecki is unable to shave and has been the target of some teasing by associate head coach Greg Drechsel.

"He yelled at me for not shaving now," Borowiecki said and laughed.

BIG WEEKEND AHEAD

Clarkson will play road games this weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard, and you couldn't find a trio of teams in the entire nation who are more in need of a victory.

Combined, the three teams have gone 0-17-1 in their last 18 games.

Clarkson enters the weekend on a six-game losing streak. Dartmouth is 0-5 and also lost its last three games of last season, and Harvard is 0-3-1 in its last four games.

"It's a key weekend," said Roll. "For us, so much of it at this stage is mental more than it is physical. You can see when we get behind or give up a bad goal, the wind comes out of our sails. I still think we have a good team. I think we've played well, other than the Union game.

"This is an important weekend. You have to start making some strides. We've had some moral victories in terms of the work ethic and the way we've played. But it hasn't translated into wins yet. The big thing as coaches is to keep plugging away, keep motivated, and if we continue to work hard, things will change."

Sportswriter Cap Carey covers Clarkson University men's hockey for the Times. For more coverage, visit the "Knights Tales" blog online at www.watertowndailytimes.com. You may reach him at ccarey@wdt.net.