POTSDAM -- After opening the season with a pair of tough losses to national powerhouse the University of Minnesota at Cheel Arena this past weekend, the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team takes to the road to battle Hockey East foes the University of Connecticut and Providence College this Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
The Golden Knights play the Huskies on Saturday in Storrs, CT at 1:00 p.m. and then take on the Friars in Providence, RI on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
Guided by the head coaching of husband-and-wife tandem Matt and Shannon Desrosiers, now in their third-year at the Clarkson helm, and assistant coach Matt Kelly, the Knights return 14 letterwinners from last year’s squad which posted a 23-12-4 overall record and a second-place 14-5-3 ECAC Hockey mark.
Senior defenseman Courtney Olson (Brunswick, GA) will lead the Green and Gold as team captain, while seniors Melissa Waldie (Newmarket, ONT) and Caitlin Oleksa (Battle Creek, MI) and juniors Kali Gillanders (Kyle, SASK) and Katelyn Ptolemy (Dinsmore, SASK) will serve as alternate captains.
Clarkson featured a very young lineup in the weekend series against fourth-ranked Minnesota with eight freshmen seeing action against the Gophers. The Knights were held off the scoreboard in each game, falling 5-0 and 3-0.
Senior goaltender Lauren Dahm (Baldwinsville, NY) combined for 69 saves in five periods of action against Minnesota over the weekend, including a career-high 46 stops on Saturday. The Knights were 0-of-14 on the power play over the weekend and were outshot 86-41.
Clarkson is receiving votes in both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com national polls.
Shannon Desrosiers will not be behind the Clarkson bench for this weekend’s game as she will be competing in Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii on Saturday.
The Knights are undefeated against the two Hockey East foes, going 1-0 against Connecticut and 2-0-1 against Providence. Clarkson shut out the Huskies last season in their first ever meeting, winning 4-0 in Potsdam on October 10. The Knights edged the Friars at Cheel on October 9 last season, winning 3-2 in overtime on Juana Baribeau’s (Amos, QUE) second goal of the game 86 seconds into the extra session.
The University of Connecticut comes into Saturday’s game with an 0-1 record, but took 8th/9th-ranked University of New Hampshire to the limit before falling 2-1 at home on October 2. Providence, which hosts St. Lawrence on Saturday, spilt a series at Robert Morris last weekend, falling 5-4 on Friday and winning 5-2 on Saturday.
