A pair of hat tricks by junior assistant captain Cayley Mercer helped the Clarkson University Women's Hockey team continue its perfect start to the season. The Golden Knights will open their ECAC Hockey portion of the schedule when they travel to nationally-ranked Harvard and Dartmouth for a pair of games this weekend. On Friday, in a matchup of last season's conference regular season co-champions, Clarkson will battle the Crimson in a 7:00 p.m. game at Bright-Landry Hockey Center in Cambridge, MA. The Knights follow with a 3:30 p.m. game aginst the Big Green at Thompson Arena in Hanover, NH on Saturday.

Led by eighth year head coach Matt Desrosiers and second year assistant coaches Britni Smith and Meghan Duggan, the Green and Gold have raced out to a 9-0-0 start, the best in team history. Fourth-ranked Clarkson has the longest current winning streak in the nation and is one of only six teams that do not have a loss or a tie.

Mercer is the leading scorer for Clarkson with 17 points on ten goals and seven assists. She completed her second and third career hat tricks in 4-2 and 6-4 home wins over New Hampshire this weekend. Mercer has scored at least a point in all nine games this season and is 11th in the country in points per game and sixth in goals per game. She also has a team high +12. For her performances against New Hampshire, Mercer was named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week, the second time she has earned that honor this season.

Senior assistant captain Olivia Howe and junior Geneveive Bannon are the two other Golden Knights with more than 10 points. Howe has 11 points on four goals and seven assists while Bannon has 11 points of her own on a pair of goals and a team-high nine assists. Bannon has four games in which she's tallied a pair of assists this season, including in both wins over New Hampshire. Howe was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week after her performances against Boston University and followed that up with three assists in the two games against New Hampshire this weekend.

Although sophomore Savannah Harmon failed to record a point in a game for the first time this season in the 4-2 win on Friday, she bounced back with an assist on Saturday and is the Clarkson points leader among defenseman. The second-year blue-liner has nine points on two goals and seven assists, placing her tied for sixth in the country in points per game by a defenseman.

The freshmen on the team have continued to play a large role in Clarkson's offense. Of the top ten scorers on the Green and Gold, four are in their debut seasons and the class has provided 28 points, which represents 31% of Clarkson's offense. Loren Gabel leads the way with nine points on six goals and three assists and is tied for ninth in the country in points per game amongst rookies. Gabel scored a goal on Friday and then followed it with a career-high three points on Saturday through a pair of goals and an assist, earning a spot on the ECAC Hockey Weekly Honor Roll. Kelly Mariani has seven points on three goals and four assists and Rhyen McGill has six points on five goals and a helper. Emma Keenan and Josiane Pozzebon have also scored a goal apiece this season, with Keenan adding three assists and Pozzebon adding an assist as well.

Two different Golden Knights appeared in goal this weekend. On Friday, sophomore Shea Tiley made the start and made 17 saves in her seventh win this season. After being named ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week last week, Tiley followed that up by earning a spot on the ECAC Hockey Weekly Honor Roll. Tiley is sixth in the country with a 1.14 goals against average and eighth with a .951 save percentage. Junior MacKenzie Johnson made a career-high 19 saves in her second career start on Sunday. Johnson is tied for ninth in the country with one shutout while Tiley is tied for fourth with two shutouts.

This weekend, Clarkson will be missing senior assistant captain Renata Fast. Fast, who is second on the team in points from the blue-line with six points on one goal and five assists, earned a spot on Team Canada's roster for the 4 Nations Cup. Fast was part of Canada's National Women's Development Team for a three-game series against the United States in August and will make her debut with Canada's National Women's Team at the 4 Nations Cup. Fast will be joined on the roster by former Clarkson goaltender Erika Howe '14.

Harvard came into the season as the preseason favorite to win the ECAC Hockey regular-season title. After finishing in a tie for first with the Golden Knights last season, the Crimson were picked by eight of the 12 league coaches as the best team in the conference. Last season, Harvard was led by Mary Parker, Miye D'Oench, and Emerance Maschmeyer, all of whom return for their senior seasons. Parker and D'Oench had 39 and 33 points respectively, the best totals for Harvard, while Maschmeyer made 26 starts between the pipes, finishing with an 18-5-3 record and three shutouts. This season, the Crimson has played one game so far, dropping its season opener 2-1 to Dartmouth last weekend.

Historically, Harvard has been very successful against Clarkson, holding an all-time 18-9-3 record against theGolden Knights. Last season though saw Clarkson go 1-0-1 against Harvard, including a dramatic 1-0 win in Boston last February that clinched a share of the conference title for Clarkson. Sophomore Brielle Bellerive scored the only goal in that win, while Howe and Fast both scored in a 2-2 tie earlier in the season. If Clarkson is able to earn a win or a tie against the Crimson, it will be the first time that the Golden Knights have gone four straight games without losing to Harvard. Clarkson is 5-11-0 all-time at Harvard, but has won two straight road games against the Crimson.

Dartmouth is enjoying an early spot on top of the conference standings after the Big Green earned a 2-1 win over Harvard last weekend. Dartmouth was picked by the league coaches to finish seventh in ECAC Hockey after finishing eighth last year. This weekend, Dartmouth relied on the stellar performance of its goaltender, Robyn Chemago, who made 20 saves on 21 shots to earn the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week award. Goals from returning leading scorers Lindsey Allen and Kennedy Ottenbreit allowed the Big Green to capitalize on Chemago's strong effort.

Clarkson has an all-time record of 15-10-4, including a perfect 4-0-0 last season. Two of those wins came when Clarkson hosted Dartmouth in the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals. In the two game sweep, Mercer led the team with three goals while Tiley allowed just a single goal over 120:00 minutes of play. The Golden Knights have won 11 straight overall against the Big Green, including four away victories. The last Dartmouth victory came in the 2010-11 season and Clarkson has an all-time 8-5-1 road record against Dartmouth.