Entering its 14th season of Division I play the Clarkson University Women's Hockey team will look to continue the success which has established the Golden Knights as one of the top programs in the NCAA.

Guided by ninth-year head coach Matt Desrosiers and assistant coaches Britni Smith and Tony Maci, Clarkson is coming off a 30-5-5 overall record, including a 14-3-5 ECAC Hockey slate. The Knights, who closed out the 2015-16 campaign with their second appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four in the past three years, will play games against teams from each of the four Division I conferences in 2016-17. Along with the 22 ECAC Hockey circuit, the Green and Gold will also face-off against teams from College Hockey America (CHA), Hockey East (HEA) and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).

"We're pretty excited about this year's schedule," stated Desrosiers. "With the strength of the ECAC, the league portion of our schedule should once again have some fast paced and exciting games. Every year teams are fighting for playoff positions all the way to the last weekend of the regular season so you can't take many nights off. The same should hold true again this upcoming season.

"We also have some different teams then in years past on the schedule which is always great for the players and coaches. We start the regular season off with our program's first ever games against Penn State and then quickly get into a rivalry weekend against St. Lawrence for our annual two non-conference games against them. We then welcome one of the top programs in the country in Wisconsin to Cheel Arena which should be a great challenge and fun weekend of hockey. We also have the Windjammer Classic tournament hosted by UVM in November that we are looking forward to. It's always great to have the players get some experience playing in a tournament style format sometime during the season to hopefully help prepare them for what they might see later on in the postseason.

"All in all I think we have put together a schedule that should challenge us to bring our best every game and push our team to continually get better week after week."

•2016-17 Schedule

The Knights open the 34-game season with eight straight non-league dates before ECAC Hockey action begins in late October. Clarkson begins by hosting CHA foe Penn State in a weekend series on September 30 and October 1 in the first of 17 regular-season games at Cheel Arena. The home-and-home non-conference series with St. Lawrence follows with the Knights playing in Canton on October 7 and then battling the Saints in Potsdam the next day.

The University of Wisconsin of the WCHA makes its first-ever appearance at Cheel on October 14-15. The Green and Gold then travel out of the North Country for the first time with a two-game set at HEA foe the University of New Hampshire on October 22-23 to close out the season-opening, non-league portion of the schedule.

Clarkson, which has finished as one of the top two teams in ECAC Hockey in each of the past four years, opens the 22-game campaign with six straight conference match-ups, beginning with reigning league champion Quinnipiac in Hamden, CT on November 4.

The Knights will play in the Windjammer Classic at the University of Vermont over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, battling Robert Morris (CHA), St. Cloud State (WCHA) and Vermont (HEA) at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington on November 25-26.

Clarkson resumes league play hosting St. Lawrence on Thursday, December 1 and then facing their North Country rival at Appleton Arena on Saturday, December 3. The 2016 portion of the schedule comes to a close on December 9-10 with a home-and-home weekend against Syracuse.

The Green and Gold face a full slate of ECAC Hockey games in the New Year, with Yale coming into town on January 13 to open a four-game home stand.

Playoff hockey begins on February 24 with the quarterfinal round of the ECAC Hockey Tournament. The league's championship weekend will be held on March 4-5 at the campus site of the highest remaining seeds in the eight-team tournament. NCAA postseason play concludes on Sunday, March 19 with the 17th Annual Frozen Four at Family Arena in St. Charles, MO.

Prior to the official start of the 2016-17 campaign, Clarkson will host Concordia University on Friday, September 23 in an exhibition contest.

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

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