With the the longest road trip in the program’s 90-year history the Clarkson University Hockey team officially opens the 2011-12 campaign with a journey to the northwest extremity of the North American continent to visit the 49th state in the union.

The Golden Knights, under first-year head coach Casey Jones, and assistant coaches Phil Roy and Andy Jones, will play in the Kendall Classic at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, AK. Clarkson will face off against host Anchorage in first round action and then take on Alaska Fairbanks in second-round play. Going by Eastern Standard Time (EST), the Knights will play both games on Saturday. The first game against the Seawolves will start at 12:07 a.m. with the second game against the Nanooks beginning at 8:00 p.m. St. Cloud State is the other team in the Kendall Classic.

Named this past May as the 11th head coach in Clarkson’s illustrious history, Jones will look to begin the process of returning the program to the success that generated 20 NCAA postseason appearances, five ECAC Hockey Tournament titles, 10 league regular-season championships and 69 winning seasons since 1920 for the Division I team in Potsdam, NY.

In 2010-11, Clarkson posted its best record in three years with a 15-19-2 overall record. The Knights tied for seventh in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 9-12-1 league mark. Twenty lettermen return from last year’s team and with the addition of eight promising recruits, Clarkson has the potential to challenge for one of the top spots in the ECAC this year.

Along with using the disappointments of the previous three years as incentive, the Knights will draw on this year’s ECAC preseason coaches’ poll as motivation. A perennial power in ECAC Hockey since the league’s inception in 1961, Clarkson was picked to finish 11th in the 12-team conference. The Knights, who have five NHL draft picks on this year’s roster, claimed their 10th league regular season title just four years ago and made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and 2008.

The Knights will be led by senior captain Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY) and assistant captains, grad student Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE) and sophomore Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT).

The Green and Gold tuned up for the season with a solid effort in an exhibition contest against the University of Ottawa at Cheel Arena on Sunday. Four different Golden Knights scored goals and Clarkson overcame an early deficit to gain a 4-2 victory.

The Knights trailed 1-0 late in the first and were tied 2-2 after 40 minutes. A pair of goals 2:13 apart early in the third period put Clarkson in the lead for good. Sophomore defenseman Alex Boak (Norwood, NY), with a power-play marker at 3:06, and classmate Matt Zarbo (Grand Island, NY) at 5:19, tallied the go-ahead goals. Sophomore Mike Garlasco (Mahwah, NJ) and freshman Joe Zarbo (Grand Island, NY) provided the Clarkson scoring through the first two periods. The Knights outshot Ottawa 39-27, including a 30-18 margin over the final two periods. Senior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) posted 25 saves. Clarkson was 1-of-4 on the power play, while Ottawa was 0-of-2 with the man-advantage.

The University of Alaska Seawolves are guided by eighth-year head coach Dave Shyiak. Last year, the Seawolves posted a 16-18-3 overall record and tied for eighth in the WCHA with a 12-14-2 league slate. Anchorage skated past Northern Alberta 7-2 this past Friday in Wasilla, AK.

The Nanooks of the University of Alaska Fairbanks are guided by fourth-year head coach Dallas Ferguson. Last season, the Nanooks skated to a 16-17-5 overall record and a seventh-place, 10-13-5 mark in the CCHA. Alaska-Fairbanks is slated to join the WCHA in 2013-14. The Nanooks shutout Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Ooks 8-0 Saturday night in Fairbanks.

The Series:

The games against Anchorage and Fairbanks will be the first time Clarkson has ever faced a team from Alaska.

Knight Notes:

This will mark the fifth straight season, and the eighth time in the past nine years, that Clarkson has opened the season on the road … Since the 2000-01 campaign, the Knights are 3-8 in official season openers ... Last season, Clarkson lost to Nebraska-Omaha 8-0 in the opening round of the Omaha Stampede ... The Knights’ last season-opening win was a 6-4 victory at RIT on October 17, 2008 ... Last season, Clarkson was 1-3 against WCHA teams, defeating St. Cloud (6-2), and 2-1 against CCHA teams, defeating BGSU (4-0) and Lake Superior (2-1) ... After this weekend’s games in Alaska the Knights will play their next four games in Potsdam and six of the next eight at Cheel Arena, beginning with a two-game series vs Sacred Heart on October 14-15 ... Clarkson’s last in-season tournament/classic championship came on December 29-30, 2006 when the Green and Gold claimed the Badger Showdown title in Wisconsin after defeating Wisconsin (6-2) and Lake Superior (3-2) ... The Zarbo Brothers from Grand Island NY, sophomore Matt and freshman Joe, are the first brothers to play together at Clarkson since Liverpool, NY natives Mark ‘90 and Dave ‘91 Tretowicz skated for the Knights in the late 1980s and early 1990s ... The Tretowicz Brothers combined for the winning goal in the 1988 min-game at Lynah Rink that knocked out Casey Jones’ Cornell squad from the postseason play ... Five current Clarkson players have been selected in the NHL Draft - Julien Cayer (Detroit ‘08), Nick Tremblay (Boston ‘08), Paul Karpowich (St. Louis ‘08), Ben Sexton (Boston ’09) and Cody Rosen (NY Islanders ’10) ... Six former Clarkson standouts are still on NHL preseason rosters - Chris Clark (Boston), Grant Clitsome (Columbus), Erik Cole (Montreal), Kent Huskins (St. Louis), Randy Jones (Winnipeg), andWillie Mitchell (Los Angeles).