The Clippers will try to sew up their first state championship since 1989 when the series resumes tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m., but if the Saints even matters, the series will be decided next Thursday at a time to be determined.

Despite Thursday night's lopsided outcome, both coaches, Cumberland's Mark Andreozzi and Anderson, agreed that the series was far from done, and they had good reason.

The last time a team dropped an 8-2 decision in the opener of the Division II finals was Coventry High in 1996, but the Knotty Oakers came back to claim the series from Smithfield High by posting a 10-3 win and a 3-2 overtime victory in the next two games.

And if there's a coach who knows something about responding from ugly Game 1 losses, it's Andreozzi. His Clippers were 7-2 losers to two-time defending state champ Smithfield in the opener of last weekend's semifinal-round series, but they bravely battled back to win the next two games and punch their ticket to PC.

"This is a series, not a one-game thing," noted Andreozzi. "We lost 7-2 in the first game to Smithfield and came back and won two straight, so that can easily happen again. We need to come back on Saturday afternoon with the same intensity, the same drive, and the same skating, and repeat what we did today.

"(St. Raphael's) a good team and they're here for a reason. They played us hard tonight and we're expecting the same kind of game from them on Saturday."

While the Clippers, the second seed in the tournament, improved their record to 16-3-1, the sixth-seeded Saints, who have enjoyed a Cinderella run through the playoffs, slipped back to the .500 mark at 11-11 after displaying their worst performance of the postseason.

"Cumberland wanted it more," admitted Anderson. "We were lazy and we didn't play hockey tonight and they flat out beat us. But no excuses. It's a best-of-three series, and we'll battle back and get them on Saturday. Hopefully, we'll show up and want to play hockey because we didn't play (hockey) tonight."

Pora certainly came to play on Thursday night and had a say in six of his team's goals with a pair of scores and four assists. Cox ended up with a hat trick and a pair of helpers, and two other members of the team's senior class, right wing Nicholas Hasse (two goals, assist) and center Kyle McLaughlin (three assists), also made the stat sheet early and often.

The Clippers held a 2-1 lead after a period of play that saw both teams combine for just 12 shots on net (eight by the Clippers), but in the middle period, Cumberland made its presence felt by scoring five times and outshooting SRA by an 18-5 count.

Cox made it a 3-1 game by flipping in the rebound of an up-close shot by Pora, and in the final 6:15 of the period, the Clippers put the game out of reach by scoring four times. Three of those goals came off rebounds off short shots from 5-10 feet in front of the net that SRA sophomore goalie Joe Mello Jr. had very little time to stop.

"We skated and we attacked on the forecheck," said Andreozzi. "In the Smithfield series, we laid back a lot until the third period of the third game. When we stand around, we get caught flatfooted, but when we attack, we move our feet and make things happen. We took some good shots at the net and we attacked the net and jumped on the rebounds. There were a few shots that probably shouldn't have went in that did. We got lucky on a couple, but we'll take them."

"Joe can't stop everything," said Anderson. "I know he had a tough night, but he faced 36 shots and I thought he did a super job. You don't want to pull him (from the game), so I left it up to him and he wanted to stay in the game."

The Clippers drew first blood at 9:21 of the first period on just their fourth shot of the game, as Haase scored off a slap shot that deflected off Mello's stick and over his left shoulder. Fifty-one seconds later, Matt Jones doubled his squad's lead, but 36 seconds later, the Saints got on the board on just their second shot of the night, as Drew Given tucked in a pass from Andrew Bettencourt, the Division 2's leader in goals scored.

After Cox opened the second period with his first goal, Pora netted the winners' next two goals with a power-play tally at 8:45 and the other at 11:09. Cox and Haase then tacked on the next two goals in the final 2:18 of play to allow the Clippers to skate into the break with a comfortable 7-1 command.

The Saints' other score came off the stick of Matt Tougas, who flipped in the rebound of a shot by Ethan Cooper 2:51 into the final period, but the Clippers got that goal back with 5 1/2 minutes to play in the contest on Cox's third score of the night.

"We came to play," said Andreozzi. "I don't know if that's a carryover from the way we played in the third period of the Smithfield (semifinal-round) series, but I'm hoping it continues on Saturday."

Somewhat lost in the glow of the Clippers' lopsided victory was the superb defensive efforts of goaltender Ed Norberg and their group of defensemen, led by seniors Eric Meunier and John Partington and junior Mike Darlington. They did a fine job backchecking and making life difficult for Bettencourt and the Saints' other chief scoring threats.

"Defensively, I thought we played very well," said Andreozzi, "but we need to do it again on Saturday."