A weekend sweep at Cheel Arena in the final regular-season games of the 2015-16 campaign capped off a strong second-half run by the Clarkson University Hockey team. The Golden Knights, who were winless in league action during the 2015 portion of the schedule (0-5-2), skated to a 10-4-1 mark in conference play in the New Year to move out of the league basement and challenged for a top spot in the ECAC Hockey standings.

Clarkson, guided by fifth-year head coach Casey Jones and assistants Phil Roy '00 and Josh Hauge, finished in a tie for fifth-place in the highly competitive conference, just two points shy of fourth, with a 10-9-3 record. The Green and Gold, who defeated 12th-ranked Harvard, 2-1, and Dartmouth, 4-3, in Potsdam over the weekend earned the fifth seed in the ECAC Hockey playoffs and will host a first-round series for the third straight year.

The Knights will battle 12th-seed Princeton in the opening round for the second time in three years. The best-of-three game series starts on Friday at Cheel. The teams will meet again in Game 2 on Saturday, and if necessary on Sunday in a deciding Game 3. Puck drops at 7:00 p.m. in each game.

-- ECAC Hockey has announced that upcoming men's games for the league's postseason tournaments will be available worldwide through the technology of BoxCast. The men's first-round and quarterfinal round coverage will be streamed beginning Friday, March 4 with live broadcasts of all four first-round games of the Men's Championship Tournament. This marks the ninth consecutive year that postseason action from ECAC Hockey can be viewed by fans around the world. ECAC Hockey tournament games will be available for viewing by a global audience and be aired through www.ecachockey.com. Fans can watch all first-round and quarterfinal round games of the ECAC Hockey tournament on mobile devices as well as standard PCs and Macs. The games will be available on iOS devices as well as Androids.

Fans can purchase a game for $9.95 (US) for viewing directly from www.ecachockey.com.

Clarkson Audio Broadcast Here - Live Stats Here

Clarkson, led by senior captain Paul Geiger (Stouffville, ONT) and assistant captains, seniors Jeff DiNallo (Aurora, ONT) and Pat Megannety (Oakville, ONT), and junior James de Haas (Mississauga, ONT) own an 18-13-3 overall record.

• The Knights and Tigers have met each other 11 times in the ECAC playoffs with Clarkson holding an 8-3 postseason lead. Clarkson has knocked the Tigers out of the playoffs in their last four postseason meetings. In their last playoff matchup, the Knights won the 2014 first-round series 2-1 in Potsdam. Princeton won Game 1 of that series 3-2 in overtime, but the Green and Gold came back to win the final two games (4-0, 3-2) to gain the program's first playoff series victory since 2007. In their only other first-round matchup, Clarkson swept Princeton in a 2006 series (2-1 and 5-0) at Cheel. The Knights also won a 2000 quarterfinal series over Princeton (3-2, 2-1) in Potsdam and have a pair of semifinal victories over the Tigers in Lake Placid (1999 and 1997). Princeton defeated the Green and Gold in the ECAC Championship game at Lake Placid on March 21, 1998, 5-4 in double overtime. The Tigers won the first playoff meeting between the teams with a 2-1 semifinal victory in Lake Placid in 1995.

• Clarkson and Princeton split the regular-season series in 2015-16 with the Tigers winning 3-0 in New Jersey on November 21 and the Knights winning 5-2 in Potsdam on February 12. The Knights have won seven of the last 10 meetings and are 27-5 vs. the Tigers at Cheel Arena.

• The Knights' 18 wins and tie for fifth-place in the ECAC Hockey standings is their best regular-season showing since 2013-14 when the Knights produced the same re Clarkson is 29-13 in the ECAC Hockey playoffs at Cheel Arena.

• The Knights are 13-2-2 at Cheel Arena this season, equalling their best home winning percentage, .824, since going 16-3-1 in 2007-08.

• Clarkson has enjoyed good success against Top-20 ranked teams in 2016, going 6-3-1 in the New Year against the country's best programs.

• Senior Greg Lewis (Mars, PA) has started the last 16 games for the Knights, including all 14 league games in 2016, backstopping Clarkson to 10 conference wins in the New Year and the 5th seed in the playoffs. He posted the second-best GAA (1.90) and third-best save percentage (.930) in league play since January 1. Lewis recorded his third 35-or-more save effort over last nine games with 35 stops in Saturday's 4-3 win over Dartmouth. Through 21 games overall, he has a .924 save percentage, a 2.07 goals against average and a 12-7-2 record, including one shutout.

• Clarkson has received a balanced offensive effort all season long and the final regular- season weekend was no different as five different Knights scored a goal. Over the past five games, eight different players have accounted for Clarkson's 11 goals. The Knights do not have any individuals listed among the top 100 national players in the major scoring categories of goals, assists or points, but as a team Clarkson is listed as the 27th scoring offense averaging 2.68 goals per game.

• Since missing the first five games of the New Year with an injury, junior Jordan Boucher (St. Therese, QUE) has been one of the Knights' most productive scorers with five goals and seven assists over the past 12 games. Despite playing in only 23 of the 34 games, he is Clarkson's second leading scorer with 21 points (8-13) and posts a team-high +8 plus/minus rating. Boucher has tallied a pair of two-goal games in the last six games. He put on an offensive show against Dartmouth with a pair of first-period scores and an assist on a second-period goal.

• Clarkson's leading scorer, sophomore Sam Vigneault (Baie-Comeau, QUE) has 25 points on 11 goals and 14 assists. He scored his sixth game-winning goal of the season in the 4-3 victory over Dartmouth, tying him for third most game-winners in Division I.

• Sophomore Terrance Amorosa (Kirkland, QUE) has been a force on the blueline down the stretch after missing 11 games in 2015 with an injury. He led league defenseman in conference power-play goals (3) and game-winners (3) despite playing only 16 league games. He shares the overall scoring lead from the blueline for the Knights' with 14 points (4-10) in 23 games. He posts a +7 plus/minus rating. He tallied two assists in the win over Dartmouth for his second career two-point game.

• Clarkson's second-year captain, Paul Geiger has led the Knights' stingy defensive effort and contributed nine points (3-6) over the past 15 games. He has tallied 13 points (5-8) in 31 games. Geiger is one of the least penalized players in the conference with just one penalty overall.

• Jeff DiNallo scored the Knights' opening goal vs Harvard on Friday for his fourth goal of the season and second in three games. Last year's Clarkson MVP has 13 points, including nine assists, this season with 11 (3-8) coming in 2016.

• James de Haas is the only Clarkson player to skate in all 34 games. He is tied for second in scoring from the blueline for the Knights with 14 points, including 1 Sophomore Ben Dalpe (Paris, ONT) scored his second game-winning goal of the month with the deciding score in the 2-1 victory over nationally-ranked Harvard. Dalpe has seven points (4-3) in 25 games and is one of the Knights' top center at the faceoff dot winning 56.1% (151-118) of his draws.

• Sophomore Brett Gervais (Corona, CA) recorded his fourth career two-point game with a goal and an assist in the win over Dartmouth. A strong two-way forward, and a top center at the faceoff circle, winning 51.8% of his draws (299-278), he is ranked ninth in ECAC for faceoff wins with 202 in league play. Gervais is Clarkson's fourth leading scorer with 17 points (5-2) and shares the team lead in plus/minus at +8.

• Clarkson is struggling on the power play, going scoreless in its last 19 man-advantage opportunities, spanning six games. The Knights are connecting at 16.5% (19-115) overall on the power play. Junior A.J Fossen (maple Grove, MN) leads the team in power-play goals with five, but has not scored on the man-advantage since October 24.

• The Knights are 11-1-2 when scoring first, 9-1-1 when on top after the opening period, 11-1-1 when leading through 40 minutes and 12-0 when scoring four-or-more goals.

• Clarkson has been a force in the ECAC since the league was formed at the start of the 1961-62 season. The Knights have participated in 53 of the conference's first 54 postseason tournaments, winning five league championships (1966, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2007). Clarkson owns an 86-74-5 record in the conference playoffs, and is 4-7 in first-round series (11-16).

The Knights are 8-3 against Princeton in conference postseason action. Clarkson has a 12-12-2 postseason record as the fifth seed.

After winning the 2007 ECAC Tournament title, Clarkson has been knocked out of the playoffs in its first postseason action in seven of the following eight years. Last season, Clarkson lost its first-round series vs Rensselaer 2-1 (3-2, 0-5, 5-1) at Cheel. Clarkson defeated Princeton in Potsdam 2-1 (2-3ot, 4-0, 3-2) in 2014. The Knights lost at Brown 2-0 (3-0, 4-3) in 2013, and also lost first-round series at Cheel to Rensselaer in 2012 (5-1, 3-4 3ot, 4-1) and Harvard in 2011 (2-1, 6-4). Clarkson lost at St. Lawrence in 2010 (3-2ot, 3-4ot, 3-2) and fell in Schenectady to Union (5-3, 7-2) in 2009. Colgate edged the Green and Gold in the 2008 quarterfinals at Cheel (0-1, 4-3, 3-2 2ot).

The Knights have advanced to 31 league championship tournaments and have skated in 13 title games, winning its fifth in 2007 with a 4-2 victory over Quinnipiac in the championship game at the Times Union Center in Albany.

• In its 94th season, Clarkson boasts 71 winning campaigns and a 1,393-833-149 all-time record for a .618 winning percentage since 1920-21.

Scouting Princeton

Princeton, guided by second-year head coach, and former Clarkson assistant (99-02), Ron Fogarty owns a 5-21-3 overall record and finished with a 3-16-2, 12th-place ECAC Hockey mark. The Tigers enter the postseason looking to break out of a 10-games winless stretch (0-9-1). Princeton did end a nine-game losing skid with a 2-2 draw against Brown on Saturday at Hobey Baker Rink, scoring the tying goal with seven seconds left in regulation. Princeton did not win a conference game in 2016. The Tigers' last win was a 1-0 non-league victory over American International on January 26. Princeton is 2-13 in road games this season.

Ryan Kuffner has a team-high 20 points, including 15 assists. Max Veronneau leads the Tigers with 10 goals. Colton Phinney has started all 28 games with a .923 save percentage, a 2.92 goals against average and two shutouts.

The Series

Clarkson holds a decisive 80-31-5 lead in the all-time series against Princeton, which began with an 8-5 Knight victory in New Jersey on January 17, 1928. Clarkson is 7-3 over the Tigers in their last 10 games. Princeton handed Clarkson just its second shutout loss in the series with a 3-0 victory at Hobey Baker Rink in their first meeting this year on November 21, but Clarkson came back in the second meeting this season with a convincing 5-2 victory in Potsdam on February 12. The teams also split in 2014-15 with Clarkson winning 4-0 at Cheel and the Tigers winning 2-1 at Hobey Baker Rink. The Knights are 27-5 vs Princeton at Cheel. The Tigers' last win in Potsdam was a 3-2 overtime triumph in Game 1 of the 2014 ECAC first-round series on March 7. Paul Geiger and Jeff DiNallo lead the way offensively against Princeton with seven points, including five assists apiece. Jordan Boucher has a team-high three goals in the rivalry. Through six games in the series, Greg Lewis holds a .915 save percentage and a 1.94 GAA en route to a 4-2 record. Steve Perry is 4-1 against the Tigers with two shutouts on a .939 save percentage and a 1.61 goals against average.