Coming off a one-point weekend in ECAC Hockey play, the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team will look to take advantage of home ice and solidified itself among the top teams in the conference as it continues a current stretch of games at Cheel Arena. Guided by fourth-year co-head coaches Matt and Shannon Desrosiers and assistant coach Matt Kelly, the Golden Knights will host central New York rivals Colgate and Cornell this weekend in Potsdam. The Knights will battle the Colgate Raiders on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and face off against national powerhouse the Big Red of Cornell on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

Led by senior captain Katelyn Ptolemy (Dinsmore, SASK) and senior assistant captain Danielle Boudreau (Whitby, ONT), Clarkson owns a 14-7-5 overall record and is tied for fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with an 8-4-2 league mark.

Last Friday, Clarkson closed out a seven-game road trip in Canton, NY with a 3-2 loss at St. Lawrence. On Saturday, playing its first game in Potsdam since early December, the Knights’ opened a five-game home stand by battling back to tie the Saints 1-1 at Cheel Arena.

One of nine players scoring in double figures for the Green and Gold, sophomore Carly Mercer (Exeter, ONT) leads the Knights in scoring with 30 points on 12 goals and a team-high 18 assists. Through 22 games, classmate Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata, ONT) has recorded 12 goals and 15 assists. Junior Danielle Skirrow (Trenton, ONT) has scored a team-high 13 goals to go along with eight assists. Skirrow has tallied a team-high four game-winners and is tied with Mercer for the team lead in power-play markers with eight, which is the fourth highest in the nation. Junior defenseman Hailey Wood (Lethbridge, ALB) post 18 points, including 16 assists.

Selected ECAC Goaltender of the Month for both October and November, sophomore Erica Howe (Ottawa, ONT) has posted all-star numbers this season. Playing in all but 47 minutes in the Clarkson goal through the first 26 games, Howe boasts a 1.79 goals against average (8th in the nation), a .927 save percentage (16th) and is tied for third in the NCAA in shutouts with five. Howe backstops Division I’s top-ranked penalty-kill 90% (99-110).

Colgate, guided by head coach Scott Wiley, owns an 8-16-1 overall record and stands in 10th place in the conference with a 3-10-1 ECAC Hockey slate. The Raiders are looking to snap a five-game losing skid. Colgate opened a four-game road trip this past weekend, losing at Dartmouth, 4-3 in overtime, and at Harvard, 4-0. The Raiders are 3-9 on the road this season.

The Big Red of Cornell roll into the North Country with an eight-game winning streak prior to Friday’s game at St. Lawrence. Guided by head coach Doug Derraugh, Cornell is ranked 2nd in the nation with an 18-2 overall record and stands atop the ECAC Hockey standings with 13-1 league mark. The Big Red’s lone blemish in conference play was a 5-4 setback to Dartmouth on November 11 at Lynah Rink. Cornell returned the favor this past Saturday by downing the Big Green 1-0 in overtime at Thompson Arena in Hanover, NH. On Friday, Cornell shut out archrival Harvard 2-0 in Cambridge, MA.