Team Notes: Clarkson and St. Lawrence Battle for Third Time in 2011-12
Playing at Cheel Arena for the first time in almost two months, the Clarkson University Hockey team started off the 2012 portion of the ECAC Hockey schedule with a three-point weekend to gain some much needed momentum for the second-half stretch of the league campaign.
Guided by first-year head coach Casey Jones and assistants Phil Roy’00 and Andy Jones, the Golden Knights skated to a 2-2 tie against Brown on Saturday and then came from behind to knock off defending conference tournament champion Yale 5-4 in overtime on Sunday. Led by senior captain Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY) and assistant captains, grad student Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE) and sophomore Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT), Clarkson owns a 10-10-5 overall record and is tied for sixth place in the conference standings with a 4-4-3 ECAC Hockey mark.
The Green and Gold will look to use the energy generated from Sunday’s dramatic victory when they host archrival St. Lawrence this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. The Knights and Saints will meet for the third time this season to decide the regular-season series between the North Country foes. Clarkson defeated St. Lawrence in conference play, 5-3 in Canton on December 6, while the Saints posted a 4-1 non-league win in Lake Placid on December 10.
Trailing 3-1 late in the second period against Yale, Clarkson relied upon its specialty teams to snap a five-game winless skid (0-4-1). Freshman defenseman Sam Labrecque (Granby, QUE) scored on the power play with 61 seconds left in overtime to lift the Green and Gold to their first victory since defeating St. Lawrence in early December. The Knights went 3-of-5 with the man-advantage and held Yale’s vaunted power play to just one goal in six opportunities. Along with solid defensive play on the blueline, Labrecque finished with two goals and one assist. He was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week. Senior Louke Oakley (Whitby, ONT) led all scorers with a career-high four points (2-2). Sexton, with a power-play marker and one assist, and Tremblay, with two assists, also played prominent roles in the victory.
The Knights also battled back against Brown on Saturday, twice overcoming one-goal deficits to gain a tie. Clarkson put a season-high 41 shots on goal, but could only get scores from sophomore Will Frederick (Allison Park, PA) and Tremblay.
Oakley leads a balanced scoring effort for the Knights with 22 points, including 12 assists. Tremblay follows with 19 points and shares the goal-scoring lead with Oakley with 10 tallies. Labrecque powers the offense from the blueline with 16 points (4-12).
Senior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT), who is regarded as one of the top goaltenders in the nation, posts a .934 save percentage, a 2.06 goals against average and is tied for second in the country for shutouts with five. Karpowich, who has started 23 games this season, is 56 stops shy of breaking the Knights’ all-time save record. He has 3,320 saves through 116 games.
St. Lawrence, which entered the New Year on a role and
took a five-game unbeaten streak (3-0-2) into early January, has
slipped a bit and is winless in its last three games (0-2-1). The
Saints, with associate coach Mike Hurlbut at the helm, owns an
8-12-3 overall record and is tied for 10th in the ECAC Hockey
standings with a 4-6-1 league mark. St. Lawrence picked up one
point at home over the weekend with a 3-3 tie against Yale and a
4-1 loss to Brown. The Saints, who are 1-6 in their last seven
games at Cheel, are 3-4-1 in away games this season.
The Series:
The Golden Knights hold an overwhelming 115-65-9 series lead
against the Saints, which began with a 1-0 Clarkson victory during
the 1925-26 season. The North Country rivals have played two times
this season with the Green and Gold skating to a 5-3 ECAC Hockey
victory in Canton on December 6. Four days later in a non-league
matchup, St. Lawrence defeated Clarkson 4-1 in Lake Placid on
December 10.
In 2010-11, Clarkson defeated St. Lawrence three times in one season for the first time since the 2001-02 campaign. The Knights are 18-16-2 against their archrival in games played during the 2000s. Through the first 20 seasons at Cheel Arena, Clarkson is 19-6-1 against the Saints. St. Lawrence’s last win in Potsdam was a 4-3 victory on December 5, 2009.
Corey Tamblyn (2-4) leads the Green and Gold in scoring against the Saints with seven points (3-4). He tallied one goal and one assist in the December 6 victory, and netted the Knights’ lone goal in the loss in Lake Placid. Nick Tremblay and Jake Morley have both scored three goals and three assists in the series against SLU. In five games against St. Lawrence, Matt Zarbo has tallied four goals, including two game-winners, and one assist. His younger brother, Joe, tallied one goal and an assist in his first game in the rivalry.
Paul Karpowich posts a .919 save
percentage, a 2.48 goals against average and a 7-6-1 record through
821:44 minutes of play against SLU.
Knight Notes:
In its first action at Cheel Arena since November 19, Clarkson
took three of four points in ECAC Hockey play. The Knights
dominated Brown on Saturday, outshooting the Bears 41-17, but had
to settle for a 2-2 tie. On Sunday, in a game that was postponed
from Friday due to inclement weather in the North Country, Clarkson
rallied for the first time this season when trailing after the
opening period (1-5-2) to gain its first overtime win of the season
(1-0-5) with the 5-4 victory over Yale … The Green and Gold
are 2-0-2 in their last four league games and 3-1-2 in conference
action since November 19 … Clarkson’s leading rookie
scorer and top offensive threat from the blueline, Sam
Labrecque scored his first collegiate game-winning goal in
Sunday’s triumph over the Bulldogs, capping off a career
three-point night (2-1) for the rookie rearguard. He was named ECAC
Hockey Rookie of the Week. Labrecque headlines
the Knights’ power play with 11 (3-8) of his 16 (4-12) points
coming on the man-advantage. He opened Clarkson’s scoring
against Yale with his first goal since October 29 …
Louke Oakley, the Knights’ leading scorer
had a career day against Yale with four points on two goals and two
assists, all on Clarkson’s last four goals as the Knights
overcame a 3-1 deficit. He has 22 points and shares the team lead
in goals (10) and assists (12). He had just one goal in the
previous eight games … Against one of the top power-play and
penalty-killing teams in the country, Clarkson enjoyed one of its
best games of the season on specialty teams in the win over Yale.
The Knights equaled a season-high three power-play goals (3-5) and
killed off 5-of-6 Yale man-advantage opportunities. Clarkson had
tallied just three PPG combined over the previous nine games
(3-of-41). Through 25 games, Clarkson is 21-122 (17.2%) on the
power play and 114-135 (84.4%) on the penalty kill … The
return of Ben Sexton to the lineup after missing
12 games with an injury has sparked the power play. He has a
team-high five PPG, including two since rejoining the lineup on
December 29. He is averaging a point per game with seven goals and
eight assists through 13 games … Nick
Tremblay is second in Clarkson scoring with 19 points,
including 10 goals. He has the team’s current longest
point-scoring streak at three games (1-3) … Senior
Corey Tamblyn (Bobcaygeon, ONT) has tallied at
least one point in five of the last seven games, and is fourth on
the team in scoring with 15 points (7-8) … Will
Frederick is having a solid sophomore campaign with seven
points (3-4) and is among the Knights’ plus/minus leaders
with a +7 … Paul Karpowich is ranked among
the top goaltenders in the nation with a .934 save percentage (3rd)
and a 2.06 goals against average (11th), and is tied for second in
the country in shutouts (5). He is closing in on the all-time save
record at Clarkson with 3,320 through 116 games. The Knights’
all-time record is 3,375 saves by Dan Murphy ’98 in 135 games
from 1994-98 ... Mark
Borowiecki is the latest former Golden Knight to join
the National Hockey League. Borowiecki
was called up to the Ottawa Senators on Janaury 17
from Binghamton in the AHL. Last year’s captain and a
standout defenseman, Borowiecki left Clarkson after his junior year
to pursue his professional career ... Dave
Seitz ‘96, who scored 105 points (45-60)
through 128 games with the Knights from 1992-96, was inducted into
the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) Hall of Fame this week. Seitz
was an all-star for the South Carolina Stingrays after graduating
from Clarkson ... Clarkson will hold its annual "Skate
With a Knight" this Sunday, January 22 from 12 noon-1:00 p.m at
Cheel Arena.
