Enjoying an 18-day break, the Clarkson University Hockey team returns to action in late December when it travels to southwest Florida to participate in the 2011 Florida College Classic in Estero. The Golden Knights will face off against Maine in first-round action on Thursday, December 29 in a 4:05 p.m. contest at Germain Arena. UMass and Cornell will follow, playing at 7:35 p.m. The next night, the first day’s two winners will meet in the championship game at 7:35 p.m., while the two losing teams will play in the consolation contest at 4:05 p.m.

Guided by first-year head coach Casey Jones and assistants Phil Roy ’00 and Andy Jones, the Knights own a 9-7-4 overall record and closed out the 2011 portion of the ECAC Hockey schedule with a 3-4-2 league mark, good for a five-way tie for fourth place the conference standings.

In their last action before the break, the Green and Gold, led by senior captain Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY) and assistant captains, grad student Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE) and sophomore Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT), spilt a pair of games against St. Lawrence. Clarkson knocked off the Saints 5-3 in ECAC Hockey action at Appleton Arena in Canton, NY on December 6 before falling to the Saints 4-1 in a non-league affair at Festivus Faceoff in Lake Placid on December 10.

This will be Clarkson’s third appearance at the Florida Tournament, having participated in the inaugural tourney in 2000 and again in 2007. In the 2000 tournament, the Knights lost to Maine 4-2 before defeating Ohio State 7-6. In 2007, the Green and Gold lost to Maine 5-3 in opening round action and then skated to a 3-3 tie with Cornell.

Anchored in goal by senior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT), Clarkson boasts one of the stingiest defenses in the nation allowing only 2.05 goals per games (tied for fifth in Div. I). Karpowich, who has played more minutes than any other goaltender in the country, at 1,210:24, ranks among the Top 10 netminders in the NCAA. He posts the second best save percentage in Division1 (.938) and is ranked ninth in goals against average (1.93). Karpowich is tied for second in the nation in shutouts with five.

The Knights have five players with double figures in the point column, led by senior Louke Oakley (Whitby, ONT) with 17 on seven goals and 10 assists.

Making its 12th straight appearance at the Florida Tournament, Maine, guided by head coach Tim Whitehead, owns a 6-7-2 overall record and holds down sixth place in Hockey East with a 5-6-1 league mark. In their last action before the break, the Blacks Bears saw a four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1) come to an end with a 5-1 loss to Boston University in Orono on December 10. Maine has won four tournament titles in Florida (2000, 2002, 2006, 2009).

Guided by 17th-year head coach Mike Schafer, Cornell has not played since December 3 when the Big Red recorded their fifth consecutive shutout at home with a 0-0 tie against Clarkson at Lynah Rink. Cornell owns a 7-3-1 overall record and stands atop the ECAC standings with a 6-1-1 conference slate. The Big Red have played in the previous 11 Florida tournaments, winning titles in 2003, 2005 and 2008.

The lone team in the tournament to travel down to Florida coming off a win, UMass defeated Yale 3-1 on December 7 in its last action. Guided by 12th-year head coach Don Cahoon, the Minutemen own a 5-7-4 overall record and a 2-6-3, 9th-place ECAC Hockey mark. UMass is making its second showing in the Florida Classic, having last played in 2002 earning a second-place showing.

The Series:

Maine leads the series against the Knights 9-5-1 and is currently on a four-game winning streak over the Green and Gold. The teams met just 34 days ago with the Black Bears gaining a 4-3 victory at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, ME on November 26. Clarkson picked up its last series’ win with a 3-2 triumph on January 12, 1996. This will be the third meeting between Clarkson and Maine in Florida. The Black Bears earned a 5-3 victory in the opening round of the 2007 Florida College Classic on December 28 and also defeated the Knights in the inaugural Everblades Tournament, winning in the first round 4-2 on December 27, 2000. Clarkson and Maine began the rivalry on February 29, 1980 with the Knights gaining an 11-2 victory in Potsdam. The Black Bears own an 8-1-1 advantage over the past 10 meetings, including four straight victories over the Green and Gold, all on neutral ice.

Senior Louke Oakley (1-1) and freshman defenseman Sam Labrecque (0-2-2) lead Clarkson in scoring against Maine with two points each in one game against the Black Bears. Senior Paul Karpowich posts a .892 save percentage and a 4.14 GAA in one game of 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 56-49-13. Cornell holds a current seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) in the series. In their first meeting this season, Clarkson and Cornell skated to a 0-0 tie at Lynah Rink in Ithaca on December 3. Last season, the Big Red skated past Clarkson 6-1 at Cheel Arena on November 6 and knocked off the Green and Gold 5-2 at Lynah on February 4. Cornell swept the Green and Gold in 2009-10, winning 3-1 at Cheel 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. The teams skated to a 3-3 tie in the second round of the 2007 Everblades Tournament. ¬

Corey Tamblyn is Clarkson’s leading scorer against Cornell with three points, including two goals through five games. Adam Pawlick is the only other current Knight to have scored a goal in the series. Paul Karpowich has played seven games against the Big Red, posting a .892 save percentage, a 3.09 goals against average and a 0-5-2 record. He made 32 saves in the 0-0 tie earlier this month.

Clarkson and UMass have played just five times with the Minutemen holding a 3-1-1 advantage. The last three meetings have been overtime contests. The Knights posted a 2-1 OT triumph in the last meeting on October 12, 2007 in Potsdam. UMass’ last win over Clarkson was a 1-0 OT decision in the NCAA East Regional on March 23, 2007 in Rochester, NY.

Knight Notes:

In-season tournament championship titles have been hard to come by for Clarkson. The Knights have won just two holiday tournaments over the past 21 years, claiming the 1995 RPI Invitational and the 2006 Badger Showdown. Since defeating Wisconsin (6-2) and Lake Superior (3-2) on December 29 and 30, 2006 at the Kohl Center in Madison. WI the Green and Gold have gone 3-7-2 in tournament/classic play during the regular season …Paul Karpowich is enjoying a stellar start to his senior campaign. The 2008 St. Louis Blues NHL Draft choice (7th rd, 185) is ranked among the national leaders in save percentage - .938 (2nd) and goals against average -1.93 (9th). With Karpowich playing every minute in the Knights’ crease, Clarkson has posted five shutouts this season, the most for the Green and Gold since the 2007-08 campaign when the team notched six whitewashes. Karpowich, who was named ECAC Hockey/Fischer Hockey Goaltender of the Month for October, has started the last 42 games in the Clarkson goal and 110 during his career. He is closing in on the all-time save record at Clarkson with 3,235 through 113 games. The Knights’ all-time record is 3,375 saves by Dan Murphy ’98 in 135 games from 1994-98. Karpowich was named the goaltender on Insidecollegehockey.com’s FIRST HALF ALL-ECAC HOCKEY TEAM … With three freshmen, two sophomores and two juniors on the blueline, Clarkson is allowing only 2.05 goals per game, tied for fifth-best in the NCAA … Rookie defenseman Kevin Tansey (Hammond, ONT) leads the Green and Gold in plus/minus at +13. He posted his first career multiple-point game with two assists against the Saints in the 5-3 win in Canton … Freshman defenseman James Howden (Edgeley, SASK) has been steady with a +8 … Rookie rearguard Sam Labrecque (Granby, ONT) provides the offense from the blueline with 12 points (2-10) … Clarkson assistant captain Ben Sexton is expected to play in the Florida College Classic for his first action in two months. Sexton is tied for sixth in scoring for the Knights with three goals and six assists through the first eight games of the season. He has not played since suffering an injury in the second period of Clarkson’s 2-2 tie at Bentley on October 29. Seven of Sexton’s nine points have come on the power play, including a team-high three goals on the man-advantage. With Sexton in the lineup Clarkson’s power-play was clicking at .27% (12-44). Since November 4 the Knights have scored just four times on the man-advantage in 50 chances (.08%) … For the season, Clarkson is 16-94, .17% on the power play … Clarkson’s Grind Line of senior center Corey Tamblyn (Bobcaygeon, ONT) (+8), senior left wing Jake Morley (+8) and sophomore right wing Will Frederick (Allison Park, PA) (+9) has combined for a +25 playing against opposing teams’ top lines … Tamblyn was named ECAC Player of the Week on December 12 after scoring two goals and one assist in two games against St. Lawrence. Tamblyn assisted on Clarkson’s second goal and scored the Knights’ third goal as the Green and Gold skated to a 5-3 ECAC Hockey victory over the Saints on December 6. In non-league action at the Festivus Faceoff in Lake Placid on December 10, Tamblyn recorded his seventh goal of the season in a 4-1 loss to St. Lawrence. He is tied for third in scoring for the Knights with 12 points … Frederick is coming off his first career multiple-goal game with his first two scores of the season and one assist in the win at St. Lawrence. He has tallied five points (2-3) playing in all 20 games … Morley has three goals and five assists through 17 games … The Knights are 8-1-1 when scoring first and 9-0-2 when leading after 40 minutes … Clarkson is nearing the end of its longest road trip in 71 years. After the tournament in Florida, the Knights travel to Manitoba on January 7 to play North Dakota at the MTS Centre in downtown Winnipeg to complete a nine-game break from Cheel Arena … Clarkson opens a three-game home stand in Potsdam on January 13 when it returns to league play, hosting defending ECAC Hockey Tournament Champion Yale.