With a split of the just completed four-game road trip the Clarkson University Hockey team has put itself in position to challenge for one of the top four spots in the ECAC Hockey standings. The Golden Knights, guided by first-year head coach Casey Jones and assistants Phil Roy ’00 and Andy Jones, will now look to take advantage of home ice with four of the remaining six games of the regular-season to be played at Cheel Arena. Clarkson opens a four-game home stand hosting Princeton on Friday, followed by Quinnipiac on Saturday. Both games are 7:00 p.m. face offs.

Led by senior captain Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY) and assistant captains, grad student Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE) and Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT), the Golden Knights own a 13-12-5 overall record and a 7-6-3 ECAC Hockey mark. The Green and Gold hold down fifth place in the standings and are two points out of third place, behind Colgate and Harvard with a game in hand on the Crimson. The Knights, who are 4-2-1 in conference play during the New Year, are also just one point in front of Quinnipiac and hold a two-point lead over Dartmouth and Yale, who are tied for seventh in the tightly packed conference.

Clarkson closed out its longest ECAC road trip of the season on Saturday with a 5-1 loss to defending conference tournament champion Yale in New Haven, CT. On Friday, the Knights received goals from three different players, all set up by assists from Sexton, and senior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) posted 40 saves, including a penalty-shot stop, in a 3-1 victory over Brown in Providence, RI. Clarkson opened the road trip on January 27-28 in NY’s Capital District, losing to league-leader Union 5-2 in Schenectady before coming back with a 3-2 win over Rensselaer in Troy.

Senior Louke Oakley (Whitby, ONT) and Tremblay are one and two on the Clarkson scoring chart with 27 and 26 points through 28 games, respectively. The Knights’ leading playmaker, Oakley has 16 assists, while Tremblay is the team’s leading goal scorer with 14. Sexton is averaging over a point a game with six goals and 14 assists through 18 contests. He is the Knights’ top threat on the power-play with five man-advantage goals. Freshman defenseman Sam Labrecque (Granby, QUE) powers the offense from the blueline with 17 points (5-12), including 11 on the power play (3-8).

Karpowich has started 28 of the first 30 games and posts a .928 save percentage (10th in the nation), a 2.26 goals against average and is tied for third in the country in shutouts with five.

Guided by former St. Lawrence standout Bob Prier, Princeton is riding a four-game unbeaten streak (2-0-2) and is 3-1-4 since late December. The Tigers stand at 7-10-6 overall and are tied for ninth in the league standings with a 5-8-3 ECAC Hockey slate. Princeton completed a four-game home stand at Hobey Baker in New Jersey on Friday with a 3-3 draw against Dartmouth. The Tigers’ only loss since December 12 was a 6-2 setback at Yale on January 7. Princeton is 2-6 on opponents’ home ice.

Quinnipiac enters the North Country right behind Clarkson in the standings with 16 points on a 6-6-4 league mark prior to Friday’s game at St. Lawrence. The Bobcats, led by head coach Rand Pecknold, own a 14-9-5 overall record. This past weekend at TD Bank Sports Center, Quinnipiac lost to Harvard 6-3 on Friday before defeating Dartmouth 2-1 on Saturday. The Bobcats are 4-6-3 in away games this season.

The Series:

Clarkson holds a decisive 71-28-5 lead in the all-time series against Princeton, which began with an 8-5 Knight victory in New Jersey on January 17, 1928. The Tigers have won five of the last seven games in the series, and are coming off their first ever shutout over Clarkson. In the first meeting this season, Princeton blanked the Green and Gold 3-0 in New Jersey on November 12. Last season, the teams both skated away with a road win in the series. Princeton snapped a two-game Clarkson win streak in the series by defeating the Knights 4-3 in overtime at Cheel on January 29, 2011. Clarkson defeated Princeton 5-3 at Hobey Baker Rink on December 3, 2010. The Knights claimed the program’s 10th and last ECAC regular-season crown with a 4-3 victory over Princeton in Potsdam on February 29, 2008. The Knights are 20-4 all-time against the Tigers at Cheel.

Nick Tremblay leads the way offensively against the Tigers with five points on two goals and three assists. Corey Tamblyn and Adam Pawlick have also scored twice against Princeton. Jake Morley holds a team-high four assists in the series. Paul Karpowich is 2-4 against Princeton with a .918 save percentage and a 3.06 GAA. Richie LaVeau is 0-1 against the Tigers with a .897 save percentage and a 4.11 GAA.

The Golden Knights hold a slim 8-7-1 lead in the series against Quinnipiac after the Bobcats closed the gap by winning four of the last seven meetings. The series started with a 4-0 Clarkson win in Northford, CT on February 8, 2000. Earlier this season, the Knights, behind a season-high 43 saves from Paul Karpowich, tied Quinnipiac 1-1 at the TD Bank Sports Center.

Last season the teams both skated to a victory on the other’s home ice. The Knights won their second in a row over Quinnipiac with a 5-3 win at TD Bank Sports Center on December 4, 2010, but the Bobcats returned the favor at Cheel Arena on January 28, 2011 by knocking off the Green and Gold 3-2. Clarkson holds a 4-3 lead in games played at Cheel. The Knights won their fifth and last ECAC Tournament title with a 4-2 victory over the Bobcats in Albany on March 17, 2007.

Louke Oakley (1-4) has a team-high five points in the series. Adam Pawlick, who scored for Clarkson in the tie earlier this season, has scored a team-high two goals in the series. Paul Karpowich posts a .923 save percentage, a 2.65 GAA and a 2-3-1 record against the Bobcats. Richie LaVeau has one start against Quinnipiac and holds a .900 save percentage, a 3.10 GAA and a 0-1 record.

Knight Notes:

Limited to playing time due to injuries through the first season and a half of his collegiate career, Ben Sexton is showing ECAC Hockey what was missing from the Clarkson line up during his absence. Through 18 games this season, the 2009 Boston Bruins draft choice (7th rd, 206 overall) is averaging over a point per game with six goals and 14 assists. Sexton, who missed 12 games with an injury from November 4 through December 10, has been impressive in his return with 11 points (3-8) over 10 games since getting back in the lineup at the Florida Tournament on December 29. He scored two goals in his second game back and was named to the All-Tournament team. Sexton has a current three-game point scoring streak and set up all three goals in the Knights’ 3-1 victory at Brown on Friday. Named an assistant captain as a sophomore, Sexton headlines the Knights’ power-play with a team-high five goals along with eight assists on the man-advantage. Through 30 career games, he has recorded 28 points (11-17) … Clarkson’s top two leading scorers, Nick Tremblay and Louke Oakley saw lengthy point-scoring streaks snapped at Yale on Saturday. Tremblay had a seven-game surge (5-6) stopped by the Bulldogs, while Oakley’s five-game stretch (3-6) was halted … Oakley has a team-high 16 assists and 27 points in 28 games. His previous season-high was 22 points (3-19) in 33 games as a sophomore in 2009-10 … Tremblay leads the team in goals with 14 and has 26 points. He totaled 16 goals combined through his first three years at Clarkson. Tremblay has 78 career points (30-48) through 134 games … Freshman defenseman Sam Labrecque provides the offensive spark from the blueline with five goals and 12 assists … The Clarkson defense has accounted for 10 goals and 46 points this season … Sophomore Alex Boak (Norwood, NY) scored the opening goal of the game from the blueline in Clarkson’s last two wins for his first goals of the season. He tallied in the victories at RPI (1/28) and Brown (2/3) … Rookie defenders Kevin Tansey (Hammond, ONT) and James Howden (Edgeley, SASK) share the team plus/minus lead at +7 … Two of freshman Patrick Marsh's (Oakville, ONT) three goals this season have been game-winners. He netted the deciding goal in Friday’s 3-1 victory at Brown … Sophomore Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) broke out of lengthy scoring drought when he tallied the Knights’ lone goal at Yale on Saturday for his seventh goal of the season and first since November 26 … Paul Karpowich has made numerous key saves for Clarkson during his four-year career as the Knights’ number one goaltender and holds the program’s record for career saves at 3,464 through 121 games. He posted one of his biggest saves when he denied Brown’s Bobby Farnham on a penalty shot early in the third period on Friday. That was Karpowich’s second save on a penalty shot while at Clarkson. He also stoned Drew Akins of Minnesota-Duluth early in the 2009-10 campaign. The 2009 St. Louis Blues draft choice (7th rd, 185 overall) made 40 saves in the win at Brown. He has made 40-or-more saves in 11 games during his collegiate career and is 5-5-1 in those contests. Karpowich is ranked 10th in the nation with a .928 save percentage and is tied for third in the country in shutouts with five … The Knights are 10-0-2 when leading through 40 minutes … Clarkson is 232-102-37 in 21 years at Cheel Arena, including an 8-2-1 record this season.