Not that the Clarkson University Hockey team needed any more incentive to make amends for last year’s disappointing season, but today’s announcement of the ECAC Hockey Coaches’ Preseason Poll will certainly add to the Golden Knights’ motivation for the 2009-10 campaign.
Coming off a 10-19-7 overall record, including an 8-10-4 ECAC Hockey mark (tied for 8th) in 2008-09, Clarkson garnered little respect from the conference coaches as the Green and Gold were picked to finish 11th in the 12-team league this winter.
A perennial power in ECAC Hockey since the league’s inception in 1961, the 11th-place ranking is the lowest Clarkson has ever been tabbed in the coaches’ preseason poll. The Knights claimed their 10th league regular season title just two years ago.
Seventeen lettermen, including nine who contributed to Clarkson’s 2008 ECAC Regular Season Championship and a victory in that year’s NCAA Tournament, return this season.
“I certainly feel better about our team than that,” stated head coach George Roll about the preseason ranking. “We have to go out on the ice and prove the poll wrong. There are a lot of guys here who were part of our regular-season championship team two years ago, so they know what it takes. I am optimistic about this year. The guys have worked extremely hard in the offseason, and now it is time to get out on the ice and prove to people that they have underestimated our team.”
The Knights host the University of Toronto at Cheel Arena in an exhibition contest this Saturday, October 3 before officially opening their 88th season at Michigan State on October 9-10. The ECAC Hockey campaign begins on November 6 when Clarkson plays at Quinnipiac.
Yale, which finished atop in the regular-season standings last season and won its first-ever tournament championship is the team to beat in the 2009-10 regular season, according to voting by the league coaches as part of the pre-season poll.
