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Clarkson men's hockey hosts NCAA’s newest hockey program Arizona State

Posted 11/27/15

Old meets new this weekend as the Clarkson University Hockey team hosts Arizona State in a two-game, non-league series at Cheel Arena on Friday and Saturday. Both games are 7:00 p.m. starts. In its …

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Clarkson men's hockey hosts NCAA’s newest hockey program Arizona State

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Old meets new this weekend as the Clarkson University Hockey team hosts Arizona State in a two-game, non-league series at Cheel Arena on Friday and Saturday. Both games are 7:00 p.m. starts. In its 94th season of college hockey, Clarkson plays its final home games of the 2015 portion of the schedule with the two-game set against first-year Independent ASU.

The Golden Knights, guided by fifth-year head coach Casey Jones and assistant Phil Roy '00 and Josh Hauge, stand at 5-4-2 overall and are tied for 10th in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 0-3-2 league mark. Clarkson is 4-1-1 at Cheel Arena this season, but has not won a game since sweeping Western Michigan (4-2, 6-2) in Potsdam on October 23-24. After this weekend's games against Arizona State, Clarkson returns to conference action at Colgate and Cornell on December 4-5 in the final games before the exam/holiday break.

• The Knights will look to return to the form that they displayed at the beginning of the season when they outscored the opponents 25-15 en route to a 5-1 non-league record, their best start in 24 years. After a weekend off in late October the Green and Gold returned to action with the start of ECAC Hockey play, and things have not been the same since. Through the first five conference games, Clarkson has yet to win and has only managed to score four goals so far in November. Clarkson played one of its best games of the season last Friday to start its longest conference road trip of the year, battling to a 1-1 overtime tie at No. 2-ranked Quinnipiac in Hamden, CT. The Knights could not matched that effort on Saturday, however, as they suffered their second shutout in the last three games with a 3-0 loss to Princeton in New Jersey.

• In its 94th season, Clarkson boasts 70 winning campaigns and a 1,380-824-148 all-time record for a .618 winning percentage since 1920-21.

• Of the 60 current teams playing Division I Hockey, the Knights have played 56 of them. Clarkson will add another team to its list with Arizona State this weekend, and another one when they play either Robert Morris or Penn State in the second round of the Three Rivers Classic on December 29 in Pittsburgh. The University of Connecticut is the other Division I program the Green and Gold have yet to face.

• Senior Greg Lewis (Mars, PA) made his first appearance of the season, starting Friday's game at #2-ranked Quinnipiac, and held the nation's #1-ranked offense to just one goal on its home ice, turning aside 33 of 34 Bobcat shots through 65 minutes of action. Through 68 career games, including 63 starts, Lewis holds a .902 save precentage, a 2.68 goals against average and a 22-31-9 record, including 4 shutouts.

• Junior Steve Perry (Ligonier, PA) has started 10 games for the Knights this season and posts a .891 save precentage, a 2.61 GAA and a 5-4-1 record, including one shutout. He has played in 54 career games with 52 starts and posts a .909 save percentage, a 2.18 GAA and a 24-22-5 record with seven shutouts.

• Sophomore Nic Pierog (Georgetown ONT) tallied the Knights' lone goal over the weekend, on Friday in the 1-1 tie at Quinnipiac. It was his second goal of the season.

• The Knights' power play, which was clicking as one of the best in the nation during the season-opening, non-league portion of the schedule, has been shut down during ECAC Hockey action. Clarkson has gone scoreless on all 17 man-advantage opportunities in league play. Overall, Clarkson is 9-43 (20.9%) on the power play.

• While the power play has struggled, the Knights have shown improvement while shorthanded. Clarkson is near perfect on the penalty kill in ECAC Hockey play (20-21, 95.2%), and is 41-of-77 overall (87.2%), 18th in Division 1.

• Junior A.J. Fossen (Maple Grove, MN) is still tied for first in the nation in power-play goals with five, but has not recorded a point in the past five games. Fossen is the Knights' leading goal scored (5) and is tied for second in points with seven.

• Junior Jordon Boucher (St. Therese, QUE) has tallied a team-high nine points (3-6) in nine games.

• Sophomore Brett Gervais (Corona, CA) has taken the most draws for the Knights at the faceoff circle (95-94, 50.3%). He is one of four Knights with seven points (2-5)

and holds a team-high +5 plus/minus rating.

• Sophomore Sam Vigneault (Baie-Comeau, QUE) is tied for eighth in the country in game-winning goals (2). He has seven points (2-5) on the year.

• Junior James de Haas (Mississauga, ONT) powers the Clarkson offense from the blueline with seven points (1-6).

• Clarkson's is averaging 2.64 goals per game, tied with Arizona State for the 35th most productive offense. The Knights have scored four-or-more goals in each of their five wins and have had a pair of six-goal outings.

• Seventeen players have accounted for Clarkson's 29 goals. Twenty Knights have recorded at least one point.

• Senior defenseman Kevin Tansey (Hammond, ONT) leads Clarkson in blocked shots with 17.

• Clarkson has outshot eight of its first 11 opponents, 359-277 combined total.

• Senior defenseman Paul Geiger (Stouffville, ONT) is in his second year as the Golden Knights' captain. Classmates Jeff DiNallo (Aurora, ONT) and Pat Megannety (Oakville, ONT), and James de Haas serve as assistant captains.

• Clarkson has one of the most experienced teams in the country with 25 lettermen, including eight seniors and eight juniors.

Scouting Arizona State

After great success as a club program, Arizona State made the move up to the NCAA level this season as college hockey's 60th Division I program. The Sun Devils, guided by head coach and ASU alumnus Greg Powers, travels east with a 5-6 record. ASU last played on November 13-14 when it swept Lake Superior 3-2 and 3-2 in overtime in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

The Sun Devils also posted a Division I victory (2-1) at Alaska on October 10. ASU has also skated to a pair of victories over Division III Southern New Hampshire (9-2, 7-1) in Tempe, AZ. Other ECAC Hockey teams on ASU's schedule are Rensselaer and Yale.

Jordan Masters (5-7) and Joey Raats (1-9) lead the Sun Devils in scoring with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Ryland Pashovitz has seen the bulk of the action in the Arizona crease, starting eight games with a .923 save percentage and a 2.75 GAA en route to a 4-5 record.

Arizona State boasts the 10th-ranked power play in the country, clicking at 23.8% (10-42). Eight different players have scored on the man-advantage for ASU.