A pair of freshmen, Erica Howe (Ottawa, ONT) and Carly Mercer (Exeter, ONT), from the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team have been named to the 2011 ECAC Hockey All-Rookie team. The play of Howe, a 5-9 goaltender, and Mercer, a 5-6 center, highlighted a strong showing by the Golden Knights’ talented Class of 2014.

Howe played 25 games in the Clarkson crease and emerged as the Golden Knights’ number one goaltender in the season’s second half, starting 13 of the final 14 games. She posted a 10-7-5 record, including two shutouts, on a .928 save percentage and a 1.87 goals against average. Howe recorded five games with 30-or-more stops and made a season-high 38 saves in the overtime loss at ninth-ranked Dartmouth on Sunday in game 3 of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals series.

Playing in all 37 games, Mercer tied as Clarkson’s second-leading scorer with 24 points with eight goals and 16 assists. She was especially productive in 2011 with 20 points (6-14) over the last 16 games. Her best outing was a one-goal, two-assist effort in the 3-2 win at Princeton on January 20.

The Knights’ freshman class accounted for 35% of Clarkson’s offense in 2010-11, recording 19 goals and 50 assists to help the Green and Gold to a 14-17-6 overall record. The Class of 2014 emerged as solid Division I players down the stretch as Clarkson went 8-5-3 over the final 16 games to gain one of the eight league postseason berths with a sixth-place 10-8-4 ECAC Hockey mark.