Team Notes: Clarkson Looks for Successful Close to 2010

Coming off its first weekend sweep on the road in almost two years and riding a three-game winning streak, the Clarkson University Hockey team will look to close out the 2010 portion of its schedule with a successful effort when it plays at Sacred Heart University this Sunday afternoon in a 4:00 p.m. game at the Milford Ice Pavilion in Fairfield, CT.

Guided by eighth-year head coach George Roll, associate coach Greg Drechsel and assistant coach Chris Rogles, the Golden Knights have won five of their last six games and have already equaled last year’s win total with a 9-5-2 overall record. Winners of four consecutive league games for the first time since midway through the 2008-09 campaign, the Green and Gold enter the week in fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 4-2-1 conference mark.

Led by junior captain Mark Borowiecki (Kanata, ONT) and assistant captains, senior Brandon DeFazio (Oakville, ONT) and junior Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY), Clarkson earned its first weekend road sweep since January 16-17, 2009 with a pair of 5-3 victories at Princeton and Quinnipiac this past Friday and Saturday.

Eight different Clarkson players scored goals in the weekend sweep, highlighted by DeFazio’s first career hat trick in the win at Quinnipiac, and the first three-goal outing by a Golden Knight in over two years. Junior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) was solid again between the pipes, combing for 76 saves over the two games, including a season-high 39 stops with 21 in the third period in Friday’s triumph at Princeton.

One of several standouts for the Knigths during the weekend, freshman Matt Zarbo (Grand Island, NY) was named XML Skates/ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week for the third time this season after scoring the game-winner at Princeton and setting up the first two goals at Quinnipiac.

After allowing 13 goals in a two-game span in losses to Cornell (6-1) and Dartmouth (7-1) on November 6-13, Clarkson has turned its play around and has outscored the opposition 19-11 over the past six games. The lone blemish on the Knights’ record since the loss to Dartmouth in Potsdam in mid-November was a 2-1 setback to Air Force in the opening round of the Denver Cup on November 26.

After Sunday’s game at Sacred Heart, Clarkson is off until it opens the New Year on January 3-4 when it hosts the current number-two ranked team in the country, Minnesota-Duluth in a Monday-Tuesday series at Cheel Arena.

Sacred Heart owns a 2-10-4 overall record and hosts Atlantic Hockey foe University of Connecticut this Friday before playing the Knights. The Pioneers are guided by former Yale assistant C.J. Marottolo, now in his second year behind the Sacred Heart bench. Sacred Heart entered the week tied for 10th in the Atlantic Hockey standings with a 2-6-4 conference mark. This past weekend at the Milford Ice Pavilion, the Pioneers split with conference rival Mercyhurst. After losing 6-2 on Friday, Sacred Heart came back with a 3-2 victory on Saturday for is second triumph of the season, snapping an eight-game winless stretch (0-5-3).

The Series:
Clarkson and Sacred Heart have played just once with the Golden Knights gaining a 4-1 victory at Cheel Arena on November 1, 2003.

Knight Notes:
Clarkson has won three straight and five of its last six games to improve to nine wins on the season, equaling last’ year win total … The Knights close out the 2010 portion of the schedule at Sacred Heart this Sunday afternoon … Clarkson posted its first weekend road sweep since mid-January 2009 with 5-3 victories at Princeton and Quinnipiac on Friday and Saturday … Clarkson defeated Yale (4-3) and Brown (4-3ot) on January 16-17, 2009 for its last weekend sweep on the road … Eight different Knights scored goals in the sweep highlighted by Brandon DeFazio’s first career hat trick, all three goals in the third period, in the win at Quinnipiac … The Last Golden Knight to record a hat trick was Chris D’Alvise in a 6-4 win at RIT on October 17, 2008 … Two key goals by the Knights over the weekend were sophomore Nik Pokulok’s (Vaudreuil-Dorin, QUE) goal 13 seconds after Princeton took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period on Friday, and DeFazio’s first goal of the game 48 seconds after Quinnipiac had tied Saturday’s contest 2-2 early in the third period … DeFazio leads the Green and Gold in scoring with 13 points and shares the goal-scoring lead with six tallies … Freshman Matt Zarbo (Grand Island, NY) has 12 points and six goals. He was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week for the third time this season after recording three points (1-2) over the weekend … Jake Morley posts 11 points and shares the assist lead with seven along with DeFazio … Senior Scott Freeman (Whitby, ONT) tallied three points over the weekend (1-2) and is closing in on the century mark with 78 career Points (23-55), including nine (5-4) this season, through 118 games … Sophomore Adam Pawlick (Utica, NY) scored Clarkson’s fifth power-play goal of the season in Friday’s win at Princeton … Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) is challenging Zarbo for the rookie scoring lead at Clarkson with nine points (4-5). He extended his point-scoring streak to three games with one goal and two assists over the weekend … Junior Corey Tamblyn (Bobcaygeon, ONT) tallied his first goal of the season with Clarkson’s third score at Princeton … Senior defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Barrie, ONT) scored his second goal of the season to give the Knights’ a 2-0 lead at Quinnipiac … Paul Karpowich combined for 76 saves in two victories on the road, including a season-high 39 saves, with 21 in the third period, in the 5-3 win at Princeton. His victories over Princeton and Quinnipiac were his first wins in December during his three-year Clarkson career. Karpowich has recorded 10 30-save outings this season and posts a .925 save percentage, a 2.62 goals against average and a 9-4-2 record, including one shutout while starting 15 of 16 games ... The Knights are 8-0-2 when scoring first and 9-0-1 when leading or tied after 40 minutes … Clarkson is 6-2-1 when outshot by the opponent.