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Clarkson battles Cornell and Colgate in Central NY

Posted 2/1/11

After a rough weekend at Cheel Arena where the Clarkson University Hockey team lost a pair of one-goal games, the Golden Knights take to the road for the always tough trip to Central NY this weekend. …

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Clarkson battles Cornell and Colgate in Central NY

Posted

After a rough weekend at Cheel Arena where the Clarkson University Hockey team lost a pair of one-goal games, the Golden Knights take to the road for the always tough trip to Central NY this weekend. The Golden Knights, guided by eighth-year head coach George Roll, associate coach Greg Drechsel and assistant coach Chris Rogles, will face off at Cornell University for a 7:00 p.m. game at Lynah Rink in Ithaca on Friday and then play Colgate University in a 7:00 p.m. game on Saturday at Starr Rink in Hamilton, which will be televised live by Time Warner Cable.

Clarkson, which has gone 2-6 to start the New Year, owns a 12-11-2 overall record and stands in eighth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 6-6-1 league mark. With nine regular-season games remaining, the Green and Gold, led by junior captain Mark Borowiecki (Kanata, ONT) and assistant captains, senior Brandon DeFazio (Oakville, ONT) and junior Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY) are five points out of fourth place. Clarkson, which has at least one game in hand on every other team in the conference other than travel partner St. Lawrence, is two points in front of ninth-place Brown.

Playing its first ECAC Hockey games in Potsdam since late November, Clarkson suffered a weekend sweep at Cheel this past Friday and Saturday, falling to Quinnipiac 3-2 and Princeton 4-3 in overtime.

The Knights got off to a slow start against Quinnipiac on Friday and could not recover despite a productive showing from their specialty teams. The Bobcats jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead and held off the Green and Gold over the remaining 40 minutes. Clarkson went 2-of-3 on the power play with sophomore defenseman Andrew Himelson (Monroe, NY) and junior Louke Oakley (Whitby, ONT) netting the goals. The Knights killed off all five Quinnipiac man-advantage chances.

Clarkson came out with a much better effort to start Saturday’s game against 19th-ranked Princeton and took the initial lead on a goal by junior Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE), but the Tigers answered back with a pair of scores to take the lead after 20 minutes. The Knights outscored Princeton 2-1, with goals by Tremblay and freshman Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT), over the next two period to force overtime. The Tigers, however, skated away with the victory, scoring just nine seconds into the extra session.

Cornell enjoyed a successful first month of 2011 going 5-1-2 in January to improve its overall record to 9-9-3. Guided by 16th-year head coach Mike Schafer, the Big Red are three points ahead of Clarkson in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 7-5-2 mark in conference play. This past weekend in New England, Cornell gained three points on the road. The Big Red skated to a 2-2 tie at Dartmouth on Friday and edged Ivy League rival Harvard 2-1 on Saturday. Cornell owns a surprisingly sub-.500 home record, going just 4-6-1 at Lynah Rink.

The only luck Colgate has had this season is bad luck. The Raiders have found just about every way imaginable to lose, falling to 3-21-2 overall. Guided by 18th-year head coach Don Vaughan, Colgate, which hosts St. Lawrence on Friday, is still looking for its first ECAC Hockey win of the season, owning a 12th place 0-12-2 league mark. The Raider lost at Harvard (6-2) and Dartmouth (7-3) this past weekend to see their winless skid extend to 13 games (0-12-1). Colgate last skated away with a victory on December 4 with a 3-0 triumph at Army. The Raiders are 1-7-1 at Starr Rink this season with their lone home victory coming on October 30 (5-0 over Sacred Heart).

The Series:

The lone ECAC Hockey team to hold an advantage over Clarkson in its all-time series, Cornell is the Knights’ oldest current rival having first played during the 1922-23 campaign with the teams battling to a 0-0 tie in Ithaca. The Big Red lead the rivalry against the Knights 55-49-12. Cornell holds a current five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) in the series, including three consecutive victories. The Big Red skated past Clarkson 6-1 at Cheel Arena on November 6 in their first meeting this season. Cornell swept the Green and Gold last year, winning 3-1 in Potsdam on January 15 and 5-3 in Ithaca on January 30. Clarkson took two from the Big Red during the 2007-08 campaign, winning 4-2 at Lynah Rink (1/20/08) and 4-1 at Cheel Arena (2/8/08), for its first conference sweep in the rivalry since the 1998-99 campaign and its last victories in the series.

Corey Tamblyn is Clarkson’s leading scorer against Cornell with three points, including two goals through three games. Paul Karpowich has played five games against the Big Red, posting a .875 save percentage, a 3.56 goals against average and a 0-4-1 record. George Roll is 5-14-4 against Cornell, while the Big Red’s Mike Schafer owns a 27-12-4 record against the Knights.

Clarkson leads the Raiders in their all-time series, which began during the 1927-28 campaign, 80-44-15. Colgate, however, is unbeaten against the Green and Gold over the last seven meetings (5-0-2), and is 6-2-7 over the last 15. The Knights stopped a three-game losing skid to Colgate in their first meeting this year, skating to a 4-4 tie at Cheel Arena on November 5. The two New York State rivals have battled to six ties over the past 10 regular-season meetings. The Raiders defeated Clarkson twice last season with a 6-2 win at Cheel Arena on January 16 and a 6-1 victory at Starr Rink on January 29. Clarkson’s last win in the series was a 1-0 triumph in Game 1 of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series at Cheel Arena on March 14, 2008. The Knights hold a 25-22-5 advantage over Colgate on its home ice at Starr Rink, but have not won in Hamilton since earning a 2-1 victory on February 3, 2007.

Brandon DeFazio paces the Knights offense against the Raiders with four points (1-3) through nine games. Paul Karpowich is 0-1-2 with a .878 save percentage and a 4.47 GAA against the Raiders. George Roll is 5-7-7 against Colgate, while Raiders’ head coach Don Vaughan is 14-19-10 in the series.

Knight Notes:

Nick Tremblay tallied two goals and one assist over the weekend extending his point-scoring streak to seven games. Tremblay, who recorded his first career two-goal game on Saturday against Princeton, has recorded eight points (5-3) during his current streak and has posted 11 (6-5) of his 21 points for the season over the past nine games. The 2008 Boston Bruin draft choice (6th rd) is tied with Brandon DeFazio for the Knights’ scoring lead with 18 points (9-9) apiece … Clarkson’s leading playmaker with 11 assists, Jake Morley has set up a goal in each of the past three games … Allan McPherson is the Knights’ leading rookie scorer with 15 points (6-9). He has tallied a point in each of the last three games … Junior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) has started 24 of the 25 games this season, including the last 12. He posts a .913 save percentage and a 3.00 goals against average. Karpowich has recorded 14 games with 30-or-more saves this year … This past weekend was the first time this season that Clarkson did not earn a point in league play over a Friday-Saturday series …The Golden Knights suffered their first overtime loss of the season (2-1-2) when Princeton scored just nine seconds into the extra session on Saturday … Clarkson suffered its first loss of the season when scoring the opening goal in Saturday’s game against the Tigers … Clarkson enjoyed one of its most productive games of the season on specialty teams on Friday vs Quinnipiac, going 2-3 on the power play and killing off all five Bobcat opportunities in the 3-2 loss … Clarkson’s power play is starting to come around with five goals over the past four games and 10 man-advantage markers over the last nine contests. For the season Clarkson is 15-112 on the power play (13.4%) … The Knights penalty killing unit is ranked among the best in Division I (6th) at 87.1% (122-140) … Clarkson is just 4-7-2 at Cheel Arena and has not won a home game (0-4) since defeating St. Lawrence 3-1 on November 20 … Clarkson, which has five games remaining outside of Potsdam, is 5-3 on opponents’ home ice.