ECAC Hockey's hottest teams meet up at Cheel Arena on Saturday as Clarkson University hosts St. Lawrence University in the continuance of one of college sports greatest rivalries. The Golden Knights, guided by fourth-year head coach Casey Jones and assistants Phil Roy '00 and Andy Jones, have won a season-high three straight and are coming off a pair of shutouts to open a five-game home stand last weekend. The Saints own a season-best four-game winning streak, including a pair of victories over a pair of Top-15 ranked teams.

Led by junior captain Paul Geiger (Stouffville, ONT) and assistant captains, senior James Howden (Edgeley, SASK) and junior Jeff DiNallo (Aurora, ONT), the Green and Gold own a 10-11-4 overall record and hold down fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 7-4-2 league mark. The Knights shut out Brown 6-0 on Friday and blanked 13th-ranked Yale 1-0 on Saturday for Clarkson's first back-to-back whitewashes since March 2008.

Clarkson has a current nine-game ECAC Hockey unbeaten streak (8-0-1) over St. Lawrence, and leads the all-time rivalry by a commnading 121-66-11 margin. The Knights and Saints have skated to a 1-1-1 slate this season. Clarkson is 24-17-4 against its North Country rival in the 2000s and has a 21-7-2 record vs. its neighbor at Cheel Arena. The Green and Gold won their last meeting, a 2-1 conference win in Canton on December 6. St. Lawrence shut out Clarkson at Cheel in non-league action on November 1. The teams opened the rivalry in 2014 with a 2-2 tie at Appleton on October 31.

Murphy-GuyetteProject

The Lil Knights Club will be partnering with the Clarkson University Men's and Women's Hockey teams to help raise monetary donations for The Memorial Youth Project at Cheel Arena on January 31. The Memorial Youth Project raises funds to award scholarships for youth who otherwise would not have the opportunity to participate in various activities, throughout the North Country community.

The Lil Knights will be collecting donations for the project in the Cheel Campus Center lobby and inside the arena during the Clarkson Women's Hockey game against Brown, which starts at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, and at the Golden Knights Men's game against St. Lawrence, which follows later that night at 7:00 p.m.

Scouting St. Lawrence

The Saints, guided by fourth-year head coach Greg Carvel, will roll into Cheel playing their best hockey of the season. Winners of four straight, and five of its last six games, St. Lawrence posts a 13-10-2 overall record and is challenging for the ECAC Hockey lead with a 9-4 conference mark, good for tied for second place in the standings, just two points out of first. The Saints have outscored their opponents 16-7 during their current winning streak. This past weekend, St. Lawrence nipped Yale 3-2 in overtime before skating past Brown 5-2 on Saturday. St. Lawrence also boasts an impressive 5-1 win over 4th-ranked Harvard in Cambridge on January 17. The Saints are 8-5-1 in road games this season, including a 5-1 mark in ECAC Hockey away contests. Freshman Kyle Hayton has enjoyed an impressive start to his collegiate career, posting a .937 save percentage (fourth in nation) and a 2.02 goals against average playing in 24 of 25 games. He is tied for the Division I lead in shutouts with four. Patrick Doherty leads St. Lawrence in scoring with 18 points, including 12 assists. Gunnar Hughes has a team-high nine goals. Mike Marnell was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week.

• Junior Greg Lewis (Mars, PA) has been nearly unbeatable in the Knights' crease in earning the start in the last three games, since sophomore Steve Perry (Ligonier, PA) was injured against Colgate (Jan. 9). He has backstopped Clarkson to its longest winning streak of the season. Lewis became the first Clarkson goaltender in 15 years to post shutouts in consecutive games when he blanked Brown and Yale at Cheel Arena over the weekend. He made 27 saves in the win over the Bears, including a penalty-shot stop, and followed with 25 saves in the one-goal victory over the Bulldogs. Lewis has a shutout streak of 147 :45. He started the game at Dartmouth on January 17 and did not allow a goal in the final 27:45 of the 5-2 win against the Big Green. Through five games he posts a .944 save percentage and a 1.51 goals against average and a 3-0-0 record. Lewis was named ECAC Hockey Goaltender and Player of the Week, along with gaining NCAA First Star of the Week. Lewis, who played in 34 games as a freshman in 2012-13, owns a career .902 save%, 2.75 GAA and a 21-24-7 record, including four shutouts in 57 games.

• Lewis' pad save on the Brown penalty shot by Matt Lorito 23 seconds into the second period on Friday was the second time this season a Clarkson goaltender has denied the Bears' leading scorer on a PS attempt. Perry also stop Lorito in the Knights' 2-1 win at Meenham Auditorium on November 8.

• After scoring just four goals in the first three games of 2015, the Knights have tallied for 12 goals during their current three-game winning streak. Clarkson's six goals against Brown was its highest goal total in two years. The Knights' got goals from six different players over the weekend with 11 players recording at least one point in the sweep.

• Junior Todd Christain (Norwalk, CT) was the Knights' lone multiple-goal scorer on the weekend, netting a career-high two against Brown. After recording just two goals and three points in his first two seasons, Christian has five goals and nine points in 18 games this year.

• Junior defenseman Kevin Tansey (Hammond, ONT) scored the opening goal on Friday against Brown for his first tally of the season.

• Sophomore defenseman James de Haas (Mississauga, ONT) posted his second straight one-goal, one-assist outing in Friday's win with a power-play marker and the lone assist on Tansey's game-winner. He leads the Knights in scoring with 14 points on six goals and eight assists.

• Sophomore Troy Josephs (Whitby, ONT) was Clarkson's lone player to record a point in both wins over the weekend with an assist each night. He is tied for third on the team in scoring with 11 points (2-9).

• Freshman Sam Vigneault (Baie-Comeau, QUE) scored the only goal on Saturday for his second game-winner, and now has three goals in the past four games. He leads the Class of 2018 with eight points (5-3).

• Janick Asselin (Coaticook, QUE) is also starting to emerge has an offensive force in his rookie campaign after missing 10 games with an injury during the season's first half. He scored an unassisted goal and picked up an assist in the win over Brown for his second straight one-goal, one-assist night. He has six points (2-4) in 13 games.

• Senior Joe Zarbo (Grand ISland, NY) is the Knights' top goal scorer with seven tallies, but he has yet to score in 2015. His last goal was the game-winner in the 4-3 victory over AIC (12/30). Zarbo has a team-high four goals against St. Lawerence.

• Jeff DiNallo is Clarkson's leading playmaker with 10 assists and is second in points (13).

• Clarkson has not allowed a power-play goal in its last four games and has killed off the last 17 man-advantage opportunities. The Knights are tied for ninth in the nation on the penalty-kill at 87.5% (77-88) and have only allowed two power-play tallies, both against Cornell, in ECAC Hockey action for the league's top PK at 96% (48-50).

• The Knights saw their string of scoring on the power play come to an end after three games when they did not score on their lone man-advantage opportunity on Saturday against Yale. Clarkson has played in four games were it was only awarded one power-play, and in another when it did not have any. The Knights are 11-74 overall (14.9%). James de Haas and freshman Nic Pierog (Georgetown, ONT) shared the team lead in power-play markers with three each.

• Clarkson has not allowed a power-play goal in its last four games and has killed off the last 17 man-advantage opportunities. The Knights are tied for ninth in the nation on the penalty-kill at 87.5% (77-88) and have only allowed two power-play tallies, both against Cornell, in ECAC Hockey action for the league's top PK at 96% (48-50).