With three games this week, the Clarkson University Hockey team will look to enhance its position as one of the top eight teams in the ECAC Hockey standings. Guided by eighth-year head coach George Roll, associate coach Greg Drechsel and assistant coach Chris Rogles, the Golden Knights play at archrival St. Lawrence on Tuesday with a 7:30 p.m. game at Appleton Arena in Canton. The Green and Gold then host Union and Rensselaer this weekend in the final regular-season home games at Cheel Arena.

Led by junior captain Mark Borowiecki (Kanata, ONT) and assistant captains, senior Brandon DeFazio (Oakville, ONT) and junior Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY), the Knights currently have a hold on eighth place in the conference with a 7-9-1 ECAC Hockey mark. Clarkson stands at 13-14-2 overall with five games remaining in the regular season.

Clarkson, which has a game in hand on every team above it in the ECAC Hockey standings, has 15 league points. The Knights are one-point behind seventh-place Quinnipiac and two points ahead of ninth-place Brown. Clarkson also owns the tie-breaker over Brown, having swept the regular-season series from the Bears. The Knights are four points in front of 10th-place St. Lawrence. The top eight teams in the league standings will have a home-ice date in the upcoming ECAC Hockey playoffs.

The Knights split a pair of game at Cheel over the weekend. On Friday, Clarkson snapped a four-game losing skid with a 4-1 victory over Brown. On Saturday, second-ranked Yale proved too much for the Green and Gold to handle, winning 6-3.

Three players lead a balanced scoring effort for the Knights with 20 points each. DeFazio has scored a team-high 11 goals to go along with nine assists. Junior Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE) has chipped in nine goals and 11 assists, while Morley leads the team in assists with 15, while also scoring five goals. Junior goaltender Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) has started 28 games, including the last 16, and posts a .910 save percentage and a 3.10 GAA.

St. Lawrence owns a 9-15-5 overall record and a 5-11-1 ECAC Hockey slate. The Saints gained two points in weekend play at Appleton Arena, upsetting Yale 3-2 before losing to Brown 5-1.

The Series:

The Golden Knights hold an overwhelming 113-64-9 series lead against the Saints, which began with a 1-0 Clarkson victory during the 1925-26 season. The rivalry, however, has been virtually even recently. The Green and Gold have defeated St. Lawrence twice this season to take a slim 16-15-2 lead in games played during the 2000s. Clarkson knocked off the Saints 2-1 in overtime for a non-league victory in Lake Placid on October 30, and gained a 3-1 ECAC Hockey win at Cheel Arena on November 20. Last season the North Country foes skated in six games with St. Lawrence coming out on top 3-2-1, including a 2-1 series victory (3-2ot, 3-4ot, 3-2) in an ECAC playoff first-round series in Canton on March 5-7. The teams went 1-1-1 in three regular-season games last season. Clarkson won the first meeting, a non-league affair at Cheel Arena, 4-1 on October 24. The rivals battled to a 3-3 draw at Appleton Arena on December 4, and St. Lawrence won the last game 4-3 in Potsdam on December 5. Clarkson’s last regular-season win in Canton was a 6-2 triumph on January 23, 2007. The last time the Knights won three games in a season against St. Lawrence was in 2001-02 when they went 3-1. Scott Freeman leads the Green and Gold in scoring against the Saints with 14 points on three goals and 11 assists through 15 games. Freshman Matt Zarbo has tallied three goals in his first two games against the Saints. Paul Karpowich posts a .920 save percentage, a 2.42 goals against average and a 5-5-1 record through 644:13 minutes of play against SLU. George Roll is 12-11-2 against St. Lawrence, while Joe Marsh owns a 29-41-3 mark against Clarkson.