Team Notes: Golden Knights Strive for League Points on the Road

By earning its first weekend sweep in ECAC Hockey play since late October, the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team firmed up its position as one of the top eight teams in the conference. Now the Golden Knights, with nine games remaining in the regular season, will look to build upon the momentum of the victories over Yale and Brown at Cheel Arena this past Friday and Saturday and lock down one of the eight playoff spots available for the upcoming league postseason.

Winners of three of their last four games, Clarkson takes to the road this weekend, playing a 7:00 p.m. game against Quinnipiac in Hamden, CT on Friday and battling Princeton in New Jersey on Saturday afternoon, beginning at 4:00 p.m.

Guided by third-year co-head coaches Matt and Shannon Desrosiers and assistant coach Matt Kelly, Clarkson owns a 9-13-3 overall record and holds down eighth-place in ECAC Hockey with a 6-6-1 league mark. The Knights, who are one point behind St. Lawrence and two points shy of fifth place, are four points ahead of ninth-place Yale.

This past weekend in Potsdam, Melissa Waldie (Newmarket, ONT) highlighted Clarkson’s two victories, becoming the Green and Gold’s all-time leading goal scorer. The senior right wing was the hero in Friday’s 2-1 overtime triumph over Yale with the game-winning tally late in the extra session to tie the Clarkson record. Waldie then established herself as the Knights’ most prolific sniper ever with a pair of goals in Saturday’s 5-3 win over Brown.

Waldie, who has played in 137 career games (through 1/22/11), has 64 goals, passing Marie-Jo Gaudet ’09(62 goals) for first place on the Clarkson goal-scoring chart. She is second all-time in points for the Green and Gold with 115, trailing only Britney Selina ’10 (148 points). Waldie has a team-high 18 points through 25 games this season with 12 goals and six assists.

While Waldie was setting records, Clarkson’s freshman class continued to display its improving play. The Knights’ rookies accounted for five points (1-4) in the win over Brown, which was Clarkson’s most productive offensive outing of the season. 

Freshman Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata, ONT) played a key role in the victory over the Bears, tallying the winning goal and also setting up a score. Classmate Carly Mercer (Exeter, ONT) posted three assists over the weekend to run her point-scoring streak to four games with seven points (2-5) over that span. 

Rookie Erica Howe (Ottawa, ONT) received the start in goal for both games and responded with 39 combined stops over the weekend to improve her collegiate record in the Clarkson goal to 5-4-2. Through 14 games, Howe posts a .927 save percentage and a 1.78 GAA.

Senior Lauren Dahm (Baldwinsville, NY), Clarkson’s all-time winningest goaltender with 49 career victories, has also played 14 games this season. She posts a .918 save percentage and a 2.63 GAA.

Ranked 10th in the national polls, Quinnipiac has also won three of its last four games, and is coming off a weekend split on the road at Wayne State, losing 2-1 on Friday, but coming back with a 3-0 victory on Saturday. Guided by former Clarkson head coach Rick Seeley, the Bobcats stand at 16-8-1 overall and are tied for third in the league standings at 8-6.

Winners of seven straight prior to Friday’s game against St. Lawrence, Princeton owns a 10-10-1 overall record. The Tigers, who last played on January 7-8 when they swept Clarkson and St. Lawrence in the North Country, are tied for fifth in the league standings with a 7-6-1 mark.