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After a challenging opening half of the season, which included road series at nationally-ranked Michigan State and Minnesota-Duluth along with single game encounters against Top-10 rated Quinnipiac and Boston College on their home ice, Clarkson struggled to start the New Year on a winning note.
This past weekend out in Minneapolis, after a 27-day layoff, the Knights dropped two games at the Dodge Holiday Classic, hosted by the University of Minnesota. Playing on the Olympic-size ice sheet (200’x100’) at Mariucci Arena, Clarkson was shut out by Northern Michigan, 4-0, in first round action on Saturday, and then lost a one-goal game to Bowling Green, 4-3, in Sunday’s consolation contest.
Clarkson owns a 4-12-2 overall record and will be looking to break out of a six-game winless stretch (0-4-2) when they host the Chargers this weekend. The Knights have not won since rallying for a 3-2 victory at Dartmouth on November 20.
ECAC Hockey play resumes for the Green and Gold on January 15-16 when Central NY rivals Cornell and Colgate travel to the North Country. Clarkson is in 11th place in the conference standings with a 1-5-2 league mark.
Senior assistant captain Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT), who tallied a goal and one assist against Bowling Green, leads the Clarkson offense with 18 points, including a team-high nine goals. His goal against the Falcons came shorthanded and was his 40th career goal. Beca has 103 career points through 130 games. Junior captain Scott Freeman (Whitby, ONT), who also tallied a goal on Sunday, is the Knights’ second-leading scorer with 16 points and is tied for the team lead in assists with 12.
Alabama-Huntsville owns a 5-10-1 overall record, but has gone 2-1-1 in its last four games. The only loss for head coach Danton Cole’s squad since late November was a one-goal defeat to Vermont when the Catamounts defeated the Chargers 4-3 in the opening round of the Catamount Cup in Burlington this past Saturday. UAH came back in the consolation contest on Sunday with its most impressive win of the season, a 4-1 victory over Mercyhurst. In the last season of College Hockey America, the Chargers are tied for third in the four-team league with a 1-4-1 conference mark. Alabama-Huntsville, which is looking to join one of the other five leagues next season, is scheduled to play as an Independent in 2010-11.
Knight Notes:
Friday’s game will be the first ever meeting between Clarkson and Alabama-Huntsville and the final non-conference contests of the season for the Green and Gold … The Knights are 3-7 outside ECAC Hockey play this season … Clarkson has lost three straight and is in a six-game winless slump (0-4-2). The Knights have just one victory over their past 13 games (1-10-2). Clarkson’s only win since October 24 was a 3-2 triumph at Dartmouth on November 20. The Green and Gold have also earned ties at Harvard (2-2) on November 21 and at St. Lawrence (3-3) on December 4 … Clarkson plays six straight at Cheel Arena beginning this weekend, and 10 of its last 16 games at home. The Knights make only one trip outside of New York State for the remainder of the regular season, a weekend series at Brown and Yale on February 19-20 … Six Golden Knights are scoring in double figures, led by Matt Beca’s 18 points. Beca tallied shorthanded for his team-high ninth goal of the season and 40th career marker in the Dodge Holiday Classic consolation game against Bowling Green. He has 103 career points, including five shorthanded goals, through 130 games. Beca has 13 points (4-9) over the past 10 games … Second on the team in scoring with 16 points (4-12), Scott Freeman has tallied 10 points (1-9) over the past eight games … Junior defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Cameron, ONT) has 12 points (5-7). He recorded his second goal in three games when he scored with the extra attacker against Bowling Green on Sunday … After missing four games with an injury prior to the Dodge Holiday Classic, sophomore Louke Oakley (Whitby, ONT) set up a pair of goals against Bowling Green. He shares the team lead in assists with 12 and has 14 points through 14 games … Sophomore Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE) snapped a 12-game point drought with an assist against BG … Clarkson’s 4-0 loss to Northern Michigan was the Knights’ first shutout loss since falling 2-0 to Ohio State in the championship game of the Ohio Hockey Classic on January 3, 2009. Clarkson and Cornell skated to a 0-0 tie last January 31 … The Knights went 0-of-9 on the power play at the tournament while killing off six of the eight opponents’ man-advantage opportunities. Clarkson is 18-107 on the power play this season (16.8%) and 79-105 on the penalty kill (75.2%) ... Clarkson experienced two significant roster changes over the break. The Knights lost assistant coach Jean-Francois Houle, who accepted the head coaching position with the Lewiston MAINEiacs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Houle, a former player at Clarkson (1993-97), served on the Knights’ coaching staff since George Roll took over the program at the start of the 2003-04 campaign. Houle won his coaching debut for Lewiston when the MAINEiacs defeated Victoriaville 4-3 on December 27, and three of his first four games … Clarkson added forward Markus Piispanen to the lineup. The second-leading scorer for the Espoo Blues Junior A team in Finland, Piispanen played in both games of the Dodge Holiday Classic.
