The 2016-17 Clarkson University Men's Hockey schedule looks to be one of the more exciting and competitive campaigns in the Golden Knights' lengthy history. Entering its 95th season this fall, Clarkson will face a challenging schedule that includes a possible eight games against Hockey East foes, a notable Thanksgiving Holiday Tournament, a 16-date home slate, including a pair of contests against two traditional Big 10 powerhouse programs, and the always demanding 22-game ECAC Hockey circuit.

"We feel it is a really competitive schedule that will put us up against some teams that I expect will be really good this year," stated sixth-year head coach Casey Jones. "I am really excited about our non-conference games. They provide us with a strength of schedule that you need to have to see where you fit nationally."

Jones added, "Our fans will get to see opponents at Cheel that they have not seen in a while and teams that have never played at Cheel. It shows were college hockey is now with more teams traveling. It will be a challenging season for us and an exciting year for our fans."

• 2016-17 Schedule

The Golden Knights officially open the year with eight straight non-league games before the battle for the conference's Cleary Cup begins in early November.

The 34-game schedule begins with a home-and-home series with the University of Vermont on October 7-8. The Green and Gold begin their 26th season at Cheel Arena hosting the Catamounts in a Friday night game before traveling to Burlington the next night to take on UVM at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

Merrimack and the University of New Hampshire come to North Country on October 14-15. Games against Hockey East foes continue the following weekend when the Knights travel to New England to play at 2015 National Champion Providence College and UMass-Lowell on October 21-22.

Parents' Weekend at Cheel will be a memorable one as Clarkson welcomes the first ever regular-season appearances in Potsdam of the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin on October 28-29.

The ECAC Hockey campaign begins with the Knights hosting defending conference regular season and tournament champion Quinnipiac University on November 4. Clarkson will also take on league foes Princeton (Nov. 5), Brown (Nov. 18), Yale (Nov. 19), Dartmouth (Dec. 2) and Harvard (Dec. 3) at Cheel in the 2016 portion of the schedule.

Clarkson will have just one ECAC Hockey weekend road trip in the opening half of the schedule, traveling to New York's Capital District region on November 11-12 to face Rensselaer and Union College.

The Knights will participate in the Shillelagh Tournament over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, battling Notre Dame, Yale and Holy Cross at the Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend, IN on November 25-26.

The first game against archrival St. Lawrence University will take place at Appleton Arena in Canton on Friday, December 9. The Knights will host the Saints, guided by former Clarkson head coach Mark Morris, at Cheel on Saturday, February 4.

A game against Hockey East foe Northeastern University in Boston on December 30 closes out the 2016 half of the season.

The 2017 portion of the schedule begins with a non-league encounter in Lake Placid against Rensselaer on January 7, followed by 13 consecutive ECAC Hockey games, including five home dates, to close out the regular season. Clarkson will host Union-Rensselaer (Jan. 27-28) and Colgate-Cornell (February 17-18) in weekend series in the second half.

Playoff hockey begins on March 3-5 with the first round of the ECAC Hockey tournament, while the quarterfinal round will be held on March 10-12. The league's championship weekend will return to Lake Placid where the tournament title will be decided at the 1980 Rink - Herb Brooks Arena on March 17-18.

NCAA postseason play concludes with the 70th Annual Frozen Four on April 6 and 8 at the United Center in Chicago, IL.

The Knights get an early jump to the season with an exhibition contest against Canadian college foe Trois-Rivieres on Saturday, October 1 at Cheel.

Follow Golden Knights Hockey online with live radio broadcasts, video streaming and livestats at Clarkson Hockey Broadcast Central

Clarkson posts an impressive 1,395-835-149 overall record since the 1920-21 campaign for an all-time winning percentage of .618, among the best in the country. The Knights have participated in 20 NCAA Tournaments, including three championship games, won 10 ECAC Hockey Regular Season titles and have skated away with five ECAC Tournament championship trophies during their illustrious history.

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