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Knights to battle Saints in ECAC hockey action in Canton

Posted 12/4/14

With the return to ECAC Hockey play and a game against its archrival up next, the Clarkson University Hockey team will look to solidify its position as one of the top teams in the conference …

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Knights to battle Saints in ECAC hockey action in Canton

Posted

With the return to ECAC Hockey play and a game against its archrival up next, the Clarkson University Hockey team will look to solidify its position as one of the top teams in the conference standings heading into the exam/holiday break.

Guided by fourth-year head coach Casey Jones and assistants Phil Roy '00 and Andy Jones, the Golden Knights make the short trip down Route 11 on Saturday to battle North Country foe St. Lawrence University in the final league contest of 2014. Faceoff is at 7:00 p.m. at Appleton Arena in Canton.

Clarkson, led by junior captain Paul Geiger (Stouffville, ONT) and assistants captains, senior James Howden (Edgeley, SASK) and junior Jeff DiNallo (Aurora, ONT), stands in a four-way tie for second-place in ECAC Hockey with a 3-1-2 league mark. The Green and Gold own a 5-7-4 overall record.

This past weekend in North Andover, MA, Clarkson struggled offensively, scoring just one goal in a two-game, non-league series against Hockey East's Merrimack College, falling to the Warriors 3-0 and 2-1.

Scouting St. Lawrence

After a weekend off the Saints have three games remaining in the 2014 portion of the schedule, beginning with Saturday's tilt against Clarkson. St. Lawrence stands at 8-5-1 overall and is in the logjam for the second place in the conference standings with a 4-2 ECAC Hockey mark. St. Lawrence has gone 5-2-1 since Halloween, beginning with the 2-2 tie against Clarkson. In its last game, the Saints lost 2-1 in overtime to Quinnipiac in Canton. SLU is 2-2-1 at Appleton Arena, outscoring their opponents 11-8 on home ice.

Freshman goaltender Kyle Hayton has been solid in the St. Lawrence crease, posting a .935 save percentage and a 2.11 goals against average while playing every minute. He is tied for the national lead in shutouts with four. SLU has Division I's eighth-ranked offense, averaging 3.43 goals per game. The Saints have outscored their opponents 15-6 in the first period and 17-8 over the final 20 minutes. Patrick Doherty leads the Saints in scoring with 12 points, including a team-high five goals. Drew Smolcynski follows with 11 points, including a team-high 10 assists.

• Friday's game will be the 198th meeting between Clarkson and St. Lawrence in their rivalry which the Knights lead by a commanding 120-66-11 margin. Clarkson has an eight-game (7-0-1) unbeaten streak against its North Country neighbor in ECAC Hockey play and has gone 9-2-1 against its archrival since the 2010-11 campaign. No player on the current Clarkson roster has ever lost a game at Appleton Arena. Earlier this season, the Knights tied the Saints 2-2 in Canton and lost 4-0 at Cheel on October 31 and November 1.

• Clarkson has played in 10 games this season decided by one goal-or-less, going 2-4-4. The Knights have outscored their ECAC Hockey foes 13-8 in six league games, but have been outscored 33-29 overall. Clarkson is averaging 1.81 goals per game.

• The Knights are ranked 15th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing only 2.06 goals per game and are tied for first in ECAC Hockey, allowing only 1.33 GPG. Clarkson is allowing only 23.69 shots per game, which is third best in Division 1.

• Clarkson's play on specialty teams has mixed reviews. The Knights are strong on the penalty kill, ranked 15th in the nation at 88.2% (45-51), but have clicked at just 10.2% on the power play (5-49), 46th in the country. The Green and Gold are second in the league on the PK (95.5%, 21-22). The only goal allowed by the Knights on the man-advantage in ECAC action was at Cornell (11/14).

• The Knights are 4-0-2 when leading after the first, but 0-4-1 when trailing after the opening 20 minutes. After two periods, Clarkson is 4-0-3 when leading and 0-4-0 when losing. Clarkson is 4-1-2 when scoring first, but 1-6-2 when the

opponent gets the opening lead. The Green and Gold are winless when being outshot, 0-2-3.

• Freshman Nic Pierog (Georgetown, ONT) was the only Knight to score in the weekend series at Merrimack. It was his third goal of the season and first since the October 24 2-2 tie vs. BGSU, and Clarkson's fifth power-play marker of the year. He is tie for scoring lead among Clarkson rookies with three points (3-0) along with Sam Vigneault (Baie-Comeau, QUE) (2-1) and Ben Dalpe (Paris, ONT) (1-2).

• Sophomore Steve Perry (Ligonier, PA) has started the last four games in the Clarkson crease. He posts an overall .908 save percentage and a 2.01 goals against average en route to a 5-6-1 record, including one shutout. Perry ranks first in ECAC Hockey in conference save percentage (.959) and GAA (0.99), and is second in win% (.750) through four league games.

• The Knights played six freshmen in the series at Merrimack, three centers and three defensemen.

• A pair of freshmen are making a strong contribution at the faceoff dot for the Golden Knights. Brett Gervais (Corona, CA) has taken the most draws for Clarkson, playing in all 16 games and winning 54.1% (153-130). In seven games, Ben Dalpe owns the team's best winning percentage at 67.7 (42-20), which is fifth in the nation. Junior Jeff DiNallo has won 50.5% of his draws (111-109).

• Joe Zarbo (Grand Island, NY) leads the Knights in scoring with 10 points, including a team-high six goals. He has 56 career points (28-28) in 119 games.

• Sophomore defenseman James de Haas (Mississauga, ONT) leads the Green and Gold in scoring from the blueline and is tied with Jordan Boucher (St. Therese, QUE) for second overall on the team with eight points, including a team-high six assists.

• Clarkson closes out the first half of the schedule at Big 10's Michgan State on Sunday, December 14, and then hosts Atlantic Hockey's American Internationl on Tuesday, December 30 in the final game of 2014. The Knights open the 2015 portion of the schedule, playing at home in seven of the second half's first nine games.

• Clarkson has played eight games against team currently ranked in the Top 20, going 1-5-2.

• Brandon DeFazio '11 became the latest former Knight to reach the NHL when he was called up from the AHL to the Vancouver Canucks on November 9. He played in two Vancouver wins before being sent back down to Utica. He joined Mark Borowiecki '11 (Ottawa), Grant Clitsome '08 (Winnipeg), Erik Cole '00 (Dallas) and Willie Mitchell '99 (Florida) among former CU players skating in the NHL in 2014-15.

• Four current Golden Knights have been selected in the NHL Draft - James de Haas (2012 Detroit - 6th rd, 170), Terrance Amorosa (2013 Philadelphia - 5th rd, 189), Troy Josephs (2013 Pittsburgh - 7th rd, 209) and Kelly Summers (2014 Ottawa - 7th rd, 189).

• In its 93rd season, Clarkson boasts 70 winning campaigns and a 1,368-807-145 all-time record for a .621 winning percentage since 1920-21.