After a week that saw it add three more home wins to its record, the fourth-ranked Clarkson University Women's Hockey team will return to ECAC Hockey action by playing host to Quinnipiac and Princeton this weekend. Both Quinnipiac and Princeton join Clarkson in the national polls, with Quinnipiac ranked eighth and Princeton in the tenth spot. The Knights face the Bobcast on Friday 7:00 p.m. and the take on the Tigers at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Led by eighth year head coach Matt Desrosiers and second year assistant coaches Britni Smith and Meghan Duggan, Clarkson has a 13-1-2 overall record and a 1-1-2 conference record. The Golden Knights are a perfect 7-0-0 at home this season, but their first four conference games were played on the road. Clarkson is also a perfect 4-0-0 when its opponents score first.

Clarkson opened a seven-game home-stand last Tuesday with a 5-1 win over Syracuse. Two goals in each of the first two periods allowed the Green and Gold to cruise to a four goal victory. This past Friday, Connecticut came to town, and after falling behind by a goal, Clarkson scored three straight to earn a 3-1 win. On Saturday, Clarkson again matched up with UConn, and after the Huskies turned a 1-0 Clarkson lead into a 2-1 edge of their own with only three minutes remaining, it looked like Clarkson might lose its first home game. However, late goals from senior assistant captains Erin Ambrose and Olivia Howe drove Clarkson to a dramatic 3-2 win.

Leading scorer and senior assistant captain Cayley Mercer notched a goal and five assists in the three games last week. Mercer leads the team and conference with 25 points on 13 goals and 12 assists.

Ambrose scored her first two goals of the season, one against Syracuse and then the game-tying goal on Saturday against UConn. Ambrose now has 114 career points which puts her sixth all-time on Clarkson's career list. She is just four points behind Juana Baribeau '12 and seven behind Melissa Waldie '11. Ambrose might soon be joined in the 100-point club by Mercer who is now at 91 career points. The next three highest career points totals belong to Howe, senior captain Shannon MacAulay, and junior Genevieve Bannon, who are at 81, 80, and 75 career points respectively.

Howe, Mercer, and MacAulay were the only three Clarkson skaters to record at least one point in all three games last week while Bannon had two points against Syracuse and an assist in the Friday victory. Howe and Bannon are second and third on the team in points, with Howe scoring seven goals and adding 11 assists for 18 points while Bannon has 16 points on four goals and 12 assists. Howe is second in the nation with four game-winning goals. MacAulay has a three-game point streak going right now, the first time this season she has notched points in consecutive games. MacAulay is also tied for 16th in the country, along with Howe and freshman Loren Gabel, with two power-play goals.

Quinnipiac has a 7-1-3 overall record and a 3-1-2 ECAC Hockey record, putting the Bobcats third in the conference. Clarkson and Quinnipiac have remarkably similar statistical portfolios, both overall and in conference. Both teams have scored 2.50 goals per game in conference action while Clarkson is allowing just 1.25 goals per game compared to Quinnipiac's 1.33.

Clarkson has a slight edge in conference power-play (18.2% to 13.6%) and penalty kill (89.5% to 88.2%), but Quinnipiac has an edge in overall penalty kills (90.9%to 89.5%). Clarkson has an all-time record of 18-8-3 against the Bobcats, but Quinnipiac took all three matchups last season, including a 1-0 win in Cheel. Overall, Clarkson is 10-5-2 when hosting Quinnipiac.

Princeton is 5-1-2 overall and 3-2-1 in conference, putting them fourth in ECAC Hockey. The Tigers have been especially strong on the road, winning four of their five road contests. Princeton opened the conference schedule with consecutive wins over Yale and Brown, but have just one win in its last four league games, including a 4-2 loss against Quinnipiac in its last game.

Princeton has a slight 12-11-2 edge in the all-time series, but has not beaten Clarkson in four games. Last season saw the Golden Knights knock off the Tigers twice, including a 2-1 comeback home victory.