The New York State Assembly passed a resolution this week, sponsored by Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne, honoring the Clarkson's University women's hockey team for winning the NCAA Division I championship last month in Minnesota.

Representatives from the team were scheduled to be in Albany this week to be recognized by both the state Assembly and the state Senate, but the trip was cancelled due to concerns about traveling conditions.

Jenne, D-Theresa, said the Clarkson women's team members “serve as great ambassadors for the North Country and the state of New York.”

"The Clarkson women have been crowned the national champions in three of the past five years and that is a tremendous feat given the parity in college sports," she said in a prepared statement. "It is a credit to the players and their work ethic, the coaches for recruiting talented players and helping those young women improve their game when they are putting on the green and gold sweaters and the university for providing the team with the resources necessary to compete against much larger colleges and universities across the country.

"It is equally important that the Clarkson women's hockey team players bring that same work ethic to the classroom, where the team grade point average is 3.2 on a scale of 4.”

The team shared the stage during a recent celebration honoring the team at the Cheel Arena with players from St. Lawrence County-based girls' hockey teams that represented New York state in national tournaments earlier this month.

The resolution, carried in the state Senate by Sen. Joe Griffo, R-Rome, said the hallmarks of the Golden Knights women's hockey team were a sisterhood of athletic ability, good sportsmanship, honor and scholarship from the opening game of the season to Elizabeth Giguere's game winner in overtime in the national championship game demonstrated these players were second to none.

The resolution also praised the coaches and staff for their work.

"The athletic talent displayed by this team is due in great part to the efforts of Coach Matt Desrosiers, Assistant Coaches Britni Smith and Tony Maci, and Strength and Conditioning Coach Tad Johnson, skilled and inspirational tutors, respected for their ability to develop potential into excellence," it reads. "Coach Desrosiers and his dedicated staff have done a superb job in guiding, molding and inspiring the team members toward their goals."

Clarkson scored 7:55 into overtime to earn a 2-1 victory over Colgate in the NCAA Division 1 Women's Frozen Four championship game on March 18 at at the University of Minnesota’s Ridder Arena.

Freshman forward Giguere's unassisted breakaway goal to win the national title was selected as ESPN SportsCenter's top play of the day.

Clarkson became the first hockey team to win all of its NCAA tournament games in overtime. The Golden Knights opened the NCAA tournament with a 2-1 overtime victory against Mercyhurst and then advanced to the championship game by shutting out Ohio State University 1-0 in the semifinal matchup.

The Golden Knights are the only Eastern team to win Division 1 women's hockey national championships, and Clarkson became just the fourth women's hockey team to win three or more national championships. They join Minnesota, Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Clarkson senior goalie Shea Tiley was named the NCAA tournament's Most Outstanding Player. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by senior defenseman Savannah Harmon, junior forward Loren Gabel and freshman forward Elizabeth Giguere.

Tiley, Harmon and Gabel were also first-team All-Americans and top 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award given to the national player of the year with Gabel being a Top Three finalist. Giguere was named a second-team All-American.

Clarkson had also blanked Colgate 3-0 to earn the ECAC tournament championship after advancing to the title game with a 4-2 victory over St. Lawrence University in the semifinal.

"Colgate and Clarkson facing off in the national tournament title game, and the success of St. Lawrence University and Cornell during the regular season is a reminder of the high quality of women's college hockey in upstate New York," Jenne said.