Clarkson Faces Balanced Schedule in 2008-09

With opponents from four of the other five Division I conferences outside ECAC Hockey, the Clarkson University 2008-09 Schedule features a balanced mix of rising college programs and established NCAA powers.

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Entering its sixth year under head coach George Roll, associate coach Greg Drechsel and assistant coach Jean-Francois Houle, Clarkson will faceoff against teams from Atlantic Hockey (AH), the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), College Hockey America (CHA) and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) along with the 22-game slate in ECAC Hockey. For the first time since the 1986-87 campaign the Golden Knights will not play a Hockey East team in the regular season.

The 87th season of Clarkson Hockey begins on the weekend of October 17-18 when a young Green and Gold squad travels to Western NY to battle Rochester Institute of Technology (AH) on Friday and Niagara University (CHA) on Saturday.

Traditional national powerhouse Colorado College (WCHA) opens an 18-game home slate for the Knights at Cheel Arena with a two-game tilt on October 24-25. The Knights will play nine of their first 13 games in Potsdam.

"This year's schedule is certainly challenging again," stated Roll. "Along with the balanced conference schedule in ECAC Hockey, we face some rising teams from Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America along with traditional NCAA powers. Niagara has been a consistent team in the NCAA Tournament for the past several years. RIT and Canisius are very competitive and have already made their mark in Division I. Colorado College is a preseason Top 5 team. Bowling Green is returning as a strong program in the CCHA and the Ohio State Tournament will be very competitive.

"Even though we might be a little bit young on paper we are still maintaining our goals of being an elite team not only in our league, but nationally as well.  Our senior class this year is very committed to leading the team back to the top of ECAC Hockey and into the NCAA Tournament again this season."

Clarkson begins defense of its 2008 ECAC Hockey regular season title when it opens the league campaign on November 7 by hosting Brown University.

Highlighting the schedule will be four games against arch-rival St. Lawrence University. The Knights and Saints will play a pair of non-league contests with a home-and-home series on January 9-10. The North Country foes will meet again in ECAC Hockey action with another home-and-home weekend on February 6-7.

Rounding out Clarkson's non-league play will be a home weekend against Canisius College (AH) on November 28-29, and a two-game series at Bowling Green State University (CCHA) on December 19-20.

Playing in a holiday tournament for the seventh consecutive year, the Knights will participate in the Ohio State Tournament in Columbus on January 2-3 along with the host Buckeyes (CCHA), Miami University (CCHA) and Army (AH).

The Knights will also host Carleton University from Canada, guided by former Clarkson coach Fred Parker, in an exhibition contest on November 1, and play another exhibition game in early February as part of the 36-game schedule.

For ticket information on all Clarkson Hockey games, contact Cheel Arena at (315) 268-7750.