Team Notes: Clarkson Opens League Campaign Hosting Rensselaer and Union

With a 5-1-2 overall record and a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1), the Clarkson University Hockey team is off to its best start in five years. Guided by first-year head coach Casey Jones and assistant coaches Phil Roy ‘00 and Andy Jones, the Golden Knights, who are receiving votes in the national polls, enjoyed a successful showing in the season-opening, non-league portion of the schedule. Clarkson will now look to carry that momentum into ECAC Hockey play.

Led by senior captain Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY) and assistants, grad student Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE) and sophomore Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT), Clarkson begins its 51st season of ECAC action when it hosts Capital District rivals Rensselaer and Union at Cheel Arena this weekend. Both games are 7:00 p.m. starts.

Clarkson has accumulated 10 ECAC Regular Season titles since the 1961-62 campaign with its last championship coming in 2007-08. The Knights finished in a tie for seventh in the league standings last season. The Green and Goldare picked to finish 11th this season in the ECAC Hockey Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

Clarkson was impressive in its recently completed six-game stretch against Atlantic Hockey foes. The Knights outscored their AH opponents 23-8 and posted a pair of shutouts. Last weekend in Massachusetts, the Green and Gold skated to a 3-2 win and a 2-2 tie at Bentley.

Sophomore Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) came through with his third straight game-winning goal and senior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) put in another solid effort between the pipes as Clarkson extended its winning streak to five games with Friday’s win over the Falcons. The Knights’ win streak came to an end on Saturday, but Clarkson battled through some adverse conditions to gain the tie on the road. Freshman defenseman Sam Labrecque (Granby, QUE) scored a goal and set up another to continue his solid play on the Clarkson blueline.

Boasting a .940 save percentage and a 1.84 GAA, Karpowich was named ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Month.

Coming off one of its best campaigns in recent years when it posted 20 wins and played in the NCAA Tournament in 2010-11, Rensselaer has struggled against top competition to start this season. The Engineers, guided by sixth-year head coach Seth Appert, are just 1-6 and have lost their last five games. Three of RPI’s first four opponents are currently ranked in the Top 10 of the national polls.

Rensselaer has had a tough time finding the back of the net, being outscored 21-8 through seven games. The Engineers have been shut out three times and been held to one goal twice. This past weekend in Troy, third-ranked Colorado College posted a pair of 4-1 victories over the Engineers at Houston Field House. RPI’s lone victory of the season was a 4-1 triumph at home over Minnesota State. The Engineers are picked for a fourth-place finish in the league.

One of the elite programs in ECAC Hockey over the past several seasons, Union will be challenging for its second consecutive conference RS title this year. Guided by first-year head coach Rick Bennett, the Dutchmen own a 3-1-3 overall record heading into Friday’s game at St. Lawrence. Union was knocked from the ranks of the nation’s unbeatens last Friday when UNH dealt the Dutchmen a 2-1 setback in Durham. Union came back the next night, however, with a convincing 5-2 victory over American International at Messa Rink in Schenectady. Union, which is picked for a second-place showing by the preseason coaches’ poll, enjoyed its best season ever in 2010-11 by winning the ECAC Hockey Regular Season, posting 26 wins overall and making its first ever appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament.

The Series:
In a heated rivalry which dates back to the 1924-25 campaign, Clarkson leads the overall series against Rensselaer 81-44-8. The Knights have won five of the last eight meetings against RPI and handed the Engineers their first home loss last season with a 3-2 overtime triumph at Houston Field House on January 7. Rensselaer, however, came back to post a 5-1 victory at Cheel Arena on February 19 for its third win in the last four games against the Green and Gold. The Engineers swept the regular-season series from Clarkson for the first time in six seasons by winning both games in 2009-10, 5-2 in Potsdam (11/13/09) and 2-1 in Troy (2/6/10). Clarkson is 11-6-3 against RPI at Cheel Arena.

Nick Tremblay has a team-high four points against RPI with one goal and three assists through six games. Corey Tamblyn has scored a team-high three goals through four games in the series, including two scores in the win in Troy last season. Paul Karpowich is 3-3 against RPI with a .901 save percentage and a 3.02 GAA. Engineers’ head coach Seth Appert is 3-6-1 in the series.

Clarkson leads the all-time series against Union, which began with a 5-1 Dutchmen win in Schenectady on January 23, 1925, 27-17-5. Union, however, is on its longest winning streak in the rivalry with seven straight victories and has outscored the Green and Gold 42-13 during the stretch. Clarkson came close to ending the Dutchmen’s run in the second meeting last year, but Union was able hold off a third-period rally by the Knights to game a 4-3 overtime triumph at Cheel on February 18.

The Dutchmen, who are 7-2-1 over the last 10 meetings in the series, handed the Knights one of their worst losses in the program’s history with an 11-2 defeat at Messa Rink on February 5, 2010 and followed that up with an 8-1 triumph in Schenectady on January 8 last year. The Knights’ last win in the series was a 4-3 overtime victory in Potsdam on January 23, 2009. Clarkson is 14-5-1 all-time at Cheel against the Dutchmen.

Nick Tremblay (0-3) leads the Green and Gold in scoring against the Dutchmen with three points in eight games.Corey Tamblyn has scored a team-high two goals against Union. Paul Karpowich has played 271 minutes through six games against the Dutchmen and posts a .857 save percentage, a 5.53 GAA and a 0-5 record.

Knight Notes:
At 5-1-2, Clarkson is off to its best start since the 2006-07 campaign when the Green and Gold opened up 6-1-1 … The Knights are tied for the nation’s second longest current unbeaten streak at six games (5-0-1) … Clarkson has received strong specialty teams play to start the season. The power-play has recorded at least one goal in every game this season and is ranked fourth in the nation (12-44, 27.3%). The penalty kill is ranked 8th nationally (41-46, 89.1%) … Rookie defenseman Sam Labrecque plays a key role quarterbacking the power-play unit and has tallied seven of his eight points with the man-advantage. Clarkson’s leading scorer from the blueline, and tied for sixth among the nation’s defensemen in scoring, Labrecque is averaging a point a game with two goals and six assists. He has a six-game point-scoring streak … The Knights’ offense is averaging 3.50 goals per game … Eleven different Knights have scored goals (7 with a ppg), and 16 have recorded at least one point … Senior Louke Oakley (Whitby, ONT) leads Clarkson with five goals and 10 assists … Ben Sexton is second in scoring with nine points (3-6), including a team-high three power-play markers. Sexton, who has tallied two goals and three assists in the past three games, suffered an injury in Saturday’s game at Bentley and is questionable for this weekend’s series against RPI and Union … Nick Tremblay has scored a goal in each of the last four games and has eight points (5-3) through eight games. The Knights’ active career scoring leader, Tremblay has tallied 60 points (21-39) through 114 games … Allan McPherson also has eight points (4-4) on the season and has tallied Clarkson’s last three game-winning goals … Freshman defenseman Kevin Tansey(Hammond, ONT) posts a team best plus/minus with a +7 … Paul Karpowich has started the last 31 games in the Clarkson goal and 98 during his career. Karpowich was named ECAC Hockey/Fischer Hockey Goaltender of the Month. He is closing in on the all-time save record at Clarkson with 2,880 saves through 101 games. The Knights’ all-time record is 3,375 saves by Dan Murphy in 135 games from 1994-98 … Clarkson, which has outscored its opponents 10-4 in the opening 20 minutes, is 5-0-1 when leading after the first, and is 5-0-2 when leading through 40 minutes.