Looking to build upon the momentum generated off of a strong third-period rally from Saturday’s game against St. Lawrence, the Clarkson University Hockey team will take to the road for the first time in the New Year when it travels to New England this weekend.

Guided by second-year head coach Casey Jones and assistants Phil Roy ’00 and Andy Jones, the Golden Knights face off against Harvard at Bright Hockey Center in Cambridge, MA on Friday and then battle Dartmouth on Saturday at Thompson Arena in Hanover, NH. Both games are 7:00 p.m. starts. After the weekend trip to New England, the Green and Gold return to Cheel Arena to begin a four-game home stand hosting Colgate and Cornell on February 1-2.

Led by junior captain Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT) and senior assistant captain Andrew Himelson (Monroe, NY), Clarkson concluded a disappointing six-game home stand in Potsdam on Saturday with a thrilling rally against its archrival. Trailing 3-0 early in the third period, the Knights battled back with three unanswered goals over the final 12 minutes of regulation to gain a 3-3 tie against the Saints before 3,811 North Country fans at Cheel.

The scoring outburst was the most goals tallied by the Knights in the past six games and was their most productive period since putting up three scores in the second stanza of the December 1 game at Colgate. The third-period rally against St. Lawrence also took a little of the sting away from the results of a winless home stand (0-5-1) and extended Clarkson’s unbeaten streak over the Saints to six games (5-0-1) in ECAC Hockey play. The Knights have gone 7-1-1 against their archrival over the past three seasons, including 2-0-1 this season.

Clarkson, which last won on December 8 against St. Lawrence (3-1) in Lake Placid, owns a 4-12-6 overall record and is tied for eighth in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 3-5-2 league mark. The Knights are just 1-8-2 at Cheel Arena and are 2-4-4 on opponent’s home ice.

Freshman Pat Megannety (Oakville, ONT) keyed Clarkson’s rally against St. Lawrence scoring the Knights’ first and last goal. His first goal of the night came on the power play, snapping a 0-for-26 drought on the man-advantage for the Green and Gold. Junior defenseman Alex Boak (Norwood, NY) tallied his first goal of the season and freshman TJ Moor (Lake St. Louis, MO) recorded two assists. Rookie netminders Greg Lewis (Mars, PA) posted 20 saves as Clarkson outshot its Route 11 neighbor 39-23.

Harvard enters the week with a 5-10-1 overall record and a 3-8, 12th place ECAC Hockey mark. The Crimson have struggled the last two and half months going just 1-8-1 since November 16. Harvard, which closes out a seven-game road trip on Tuesday at Union, lost at Yale (4-0) and Brown (5-2) this past weekend. Guided by ninth-year head coach Ted Donato, the Crimson picked up their only win in the last 10 games when they knocked off 8th-ranked Boston University at Agganis Arena 6-5 in overtime on January 9. Playing their first game at home since December 29 when they host the Knights, the Crimson are 3-4 at Bright Hockey Center.

Ranked 12/13th in the country, Dartmouth posts a 10-6-2 overall record and is tied for third in the conference standings with a 6-4-1 ECAC Hockey mark prior to Friday’s game against St. Lawrence. Guided by 16th-year head coach Bob Gaudet, the Big Green split on the road over the weekend, defeating Brown 4-2 in Providence, RI on Friday before falling to 12th-ranked Yale 4-2 on Saturday in New Haven, CT. Dartmouth is 8-1 at Thompson Arena this season and has outscored its opponents 34-17 in Hanover.

The Series:

Clarkson and Harvard have battled to a 50-50-11 record in their series, which began with a 2-1 Clarkson win in Lake Placid on December 28, 1935. The Crimson, however, are on their longest winning streak of the rivalry with five consecutive victories. Harvard edged the Green and Gold last season with a pair of 3-2 victories – in Potsdam on November 18, 2011 and in Cambridge on February 25, 2012. The Crimson began their current winning streak over the Knights with a 3-1 triumph at Bright Hockey Center on February 25, 2011. Harvard then won for the first time in Potsdam since the start of the 2004 campaign, snapping an eight-game winless stretch (0-7-1) at Cheel, by sweeping the Green and Gold in a 2011 ECAC First-Round playoffs series (2-1, 6-4). Clarkson’s last win in the series was a 3-1 victory in Potsdam on November 13, 2010. The Knights’ last victory (4-2) in Cambridge came on January 12, 2008.

Allan McPherson has recorded a team-high five points (1-4) through six games of the series against Harvard. Nik Pokulok is Clarkson’s top goal scorer against the Crimson with two tallies from the blueline in eight games.

The Golden Knights hold an overwhelming 66-24-7 advantage all-time in the rivalry against Dartmouth, which began with a 4-1 Clarkson win on February 4, 1929. The teams split last season with each winning on its home ice. The Big Green snapped a two-game losing skid to the Knights with a 6-4 win in Hanover on February 24 last season. Clarkson claimed the first meeting of the 2011-12 campaign with a shutout over Dartmouth in Potsdam on November 19. The teams also split in 2010-11 with Dartmouth winning 7-1 at Cheel on November 12, 2010 and the Knights posting a 4-1 victory in Thompson Arena on February 26, 2011.

Adam Pawlick has a team-high four goals in five games against Dartmouth. Allan McPherson has recorded two goals and one assist, while Nik Pokulok has tallied a team-high three assists.

Knight Notes:

With the 3-3 tie against St. Lawrence, Clarkson snapped a five-game losing streak, with all the losses coming at Cheel … The Knights, who are winless in their last six games (0-5-1), last celebrated victories when they defeated the Saints in back-to-back games in early December – winning 4-1 in Canton (Dec. 5) and 3-1 in Lake Placid (Dec. 8) … The Knights are 1-8-2 at home this season … After this weekend’s games at Harvard and Dartmouth, Clarkson plays four straight and six of the final 12 regular season games in Potsdam ... With his two third-period goals against St. Lawrence on Saturday, Pat Megannety became only the third Golden Knight to record more than one goal in a game this season. He joins juniors Jarrett Burton (Echo Lake, ONT) and Will Frederick (Allison Park, PA) as Clarkson’s multiple-goal scorers … Megannety has recorded at least one point in five of the last six games … Twelve different Knights have accounted for Clarkson’s last 13 goals over the past seven games … Megannety shares the Clarkson goal-scoring lead with Burton and sophomore Joe Zarbo (Grand Island, NY) with seven tallies each … Clarkson started its rally against SLU with a power-play goal by Megannety. It was the Knights’ first goal on the man-advantage since November 30, snapping a 0-of-26 drought … Defenseman and North Country native Alex Boak picked a good time to net his first goal of the season, scoring Clarkson’s second goal of the night on Saturday against the Saints … TJ Moor, who joined the Knights at the start of the New Year, recorded his first career multiple-point night with a pair of assists against the Saints. He has tallied three assists through five games … Sophomore defenseman Sam Labrecque (Granby, QUE) has a point in each of the last three games. He is tied with rookie defenseman Paul Geiger (Stouffville, ONT) as Clarkson’s top offensive producer from the blueline with seven points … Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) continues to lead the Green and Gold in scoring with 17 points, including a team-high 13 assists. McPherson holds a +11 plus/minus … Greg Lewis has started 19 games in goal for the Knights, and has played every minute in the Clarkson crease through the first five games of 2013. He posts a .903 save percentage and a 2.80 goals against average … The crowd of 3,811 in Potsdam for Saturday’s game was the 11th largest crowd ever at Cheel Arena. The 16 largest crowds ever at the 22-year-old arena have been against St. Lawrence … Four former Golden Knight standouts were on opening-day National Hockey League Rosters – Mark Borowiecki (Ottawa), Grant Clitsome (Columbus), Erik Cole (Montreal) and Willie Mitchell (Los Angeles).