Earning a tournament title in the desert southwest to close out 2018 and skating to a thrilling overtime road victory against a non-league rival to open the New Year has given Clarkson University a big boost of momentum as it resumes ECAC Hockey action after a five-week hiatus from conference play. 

Guided by 8th-year Head Coach Casey Jones and assistants Josh Hauge and Brent Brekke, the Golden Knights will host NY Capital District rivals Union and Rensselaer at Cheel Arena this weekend in a pair of 7:00 p.m. contests. Clarkson will hold "Teddy Bear Toss" Night during Saturday's game against RPI.

Ranked 16th in the nation, the Knights are one of the hottest teams in the country having won fourth straight to improve their overall record to 12-6. The Green and Gold own a 3-3 ECAC Hockey mark and are currently tied for 10th in the conference standings. Clarkson, however, along with travel partner St. Lawrence has played the fewest league games. The Knights enter the weekend seven points out of first place, but with three and four games in hand, respectively on league-leaders Yale and Quinnipiac. 

• Game Notes vs Union-RPI series
• USCHO.com Poll
• USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll
• ECAC Hockey
• NCAA Div. I PairWise Rankings
• Coaches Corner with Mike Vaillancourt, B99.3 radio 

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• In its final non-league game of the regular season, Clarkson overcame an early deficit at Vermont and then skated away with a 3-2 overtime victory at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Sunday with senior defenseman Aaron Thow's game-winning goal with just 18.7 seconds left in the extra five-minute session. 
• Clarkson closed out its non-league schedule with a 9-3 mark, going 2-0 vs WCHA, 2-1 vs AH, 1-0 vs NCHC, 1-0 vs HEA, 1-0 vs Independent, 1-0 vs ECAC Hockey non-league and 1-2 vs Big10. 
• The Knights hold a 32-27-5 advantage in their all-time series against Union. The Green and Gold have won four of the last six meetings, but the Dutchmen won the first meeting this season, 3-2 in Schenectady on November 3. The Knights hold a 16-10-1 advantage over Union at Cheel. 
• Clarkson leads the overall series against Rensselaer, which dates back to the 1924-25 campaign, 96-51-11. Clarkson has won six straight and nine of the last 10 over the Engineers. The Knights have outscored RPI 17-0 in their last four meetings and have shut out their rivals in the last 260:07 of series action, which includes a 6-0 win in Troy on November 2. Clarkson is 19-12-4 vs RPI at Cheel.
• Jake Kielly recorded his 50th career victory in Sunday's win at Vermont with a 19-save effort. He became the first Clarkson goaltender to record 50 career wins since David Leggio '08, amassed a career record of 59-29-12 through 103 games. Kielly's record stands at 50-32-11 through 93 games. NCAA's active leader in career shutouts with 14, Kielly has started all 18 games this season and posts a .927 save percentage and a 1.95 goals against average en route to a 12-6 record and three shutouts in his junior campaign. He was named MVP of the Desert Hockey Classic, gained ECAC Hockey October Goaltender of the Month honors and  has earned ECAC Hockey goaltender of the Week accolades three times this season (11/5, 11/19, 12/31). Kielly was named one of the 20 Division I goaltenders to the watch list for the 2019 Mike Richter Award, which annually honors the most outstanding goaltender in the NCAA.
• Clarkson's defensive effort ranks tied for 4th in the NCAA, allowing only 2.00 goals per
game (second lowest overall average in ECAC Hockey, behind only Quinnipiac - 1.85).
• Although the Knights have just one player ranked among the top 20 point-per-game producers in the nation, Clarkson's offense is averaging 3.22 goals per game, 15th in the NCAA (fourth best overall in ECAC Hockey, behind Quinnipiac - 3.75, Harvard - 3.58 and Union 3.26).
• The Knights' scoring margin is 10th in the NCAA at 1.22 (second best overall in ECAC Hockey, behind Quinnipiac - 1.90).
• Clarkson has outscored the opponents 12-3 during the current four-game winning streak. The Green and Gold have scored at least three goals in each of their 12 victories. 
• The Knights have tallied the opening goal in 15 of the first 18 games, going 11-4 when they get on the scoreboard first.
• The Knights are 12-0-0 when leading after two periods.  
• Clarkson starts fast and finishes strong, outscoring the opponents 19-9 in the first period and 23-10 in the final 20  minutes of regulation. The Green and Gold have been outscored 17-15 in the middle frame.
• Junior co-captain Nico Sturm leads the Green and Gold's balanced offensive effort with 21 points on team-high nine goals and 12 assists. He has tallied at least one point in 16 of the first 18 games. ECAC Hockey's Best Defensive Forward last season, Sturm holds a team-high +12 plus/minus rating. He is Clarkson's top center at the faceoff circle, winning 59% (161-112) of his draws. Sturm is bidding to become the next Golden Knight to join the century Club with 79 career points (31-48) in 97 games. He was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week on December 31.
• Five other Golden Knights are scoring in double figures.  Through the first 18 games, 17 Knights have scored at least one goal and 21 of the 23 skaters have recorded at least one point. 
• Junior Haralds Egle is second on the Clarkson scoring charts with a career-high 19 points. He scored his eighth goal of the season, a career high, to open the Knights' scoring in Sunday's victory at Vermont. He also setup the gamewinner with his 11th assist.
• Sophomore John Carter MacLean tallied his second goal of the season in Sunday's win.
• Clarkson defensemen are chipping in 30.5% of the offense, recording 44 points on 14 goals and 34 assists from the blueline.  All eight of the Knight rearguards have tallied at least one point.
• The lone senior on the Clarkson blueline Aaron Thow, and junior Greg Moro lead  the way offensively among the rearguards with 13 points each. Thow has tallied four points (3-1) over the past four games and notched his eighth goal of the season with the OT winner at Vermont. Moro set up all three Clarkson scores against UVM and has 10 assists on the year.
• A big reason for the Knights' stingy goals allowed average has been the improved play of the penalty-killing units.  Since a dismal 2-of-6 shorthanded effort  in the 6-3 loss at Canisius (11/10), Clarkson has allowed just one power-play goal in the opponents' last 36 man-advantage chances (97.1%) over the last 10 games, including a current 18 straight kills. For the year, the Knights are 83.3% (60-72) on the penalty kill, tied for tied for 18th in NCAA.

The Series:
Vs Union
The Knights hold a 32-27-5 advantage in their all-time series against Union. After a strong surge by the Dutchmen over the last 10 years, the Green and Gold have begun to reclaim the advantage in the series and have won four of the last six meetings. Union has gone 6-4 over the last 10 games and owns a 23-19-3 lead in games played during the 2000s. The Dutchmen broke out of a two-game slump in the series by edging Clarkson 3-2 in Schenectady in their first meeting this season on November 3. Clarkson swept the series last year, winning 3-2 at Cheel on November 17 and 4-1 in Schenectady on January 12. The Knights hold a 16-10-1 advantage over Union at Cheel. 
Devin Brosseau has a team-high five points in the rivalry with two goals and three assists. Nico Sturm has scored a team-high three goals. Jake Kielly posts a .915 save percentage and a 2.59 goals against average through five games en route to a 3-2 record.

Vs Rensselaer
The Knights lead the overall series against Rensselaer, which dates back to the 1924-25 campaign, 96-51-11. Clarkson has won six straight and nine of the last 10 over the Engineers. The Knights have outscored RPI 17-0 in their last four meetings and have shut out their rivals in the last 260:07 of series action. In their first meeting this year, Clarkson skated to a 6-0 victory in Troy on November 2. The Engineers' last win over Clarkson was a 2-1 victory at Cheel on January 28, 2017.
Nico Sturm has scored a team high five goals in the rivalry, and along with Haralds Egle (4-5) has nine points against RPI.  Jake Kielly holds a .943 SP, a 1.65 GAA and a 7-1 record through eight games. He made 34 saves in the win earlier this season for his third whitewash over the Engineers.

Scouting Union
The Dutchmen are coming off mixed results at the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh over the weekend. Union smoked the number one team in the country St. Cloud State 7-2 in the opening round of the tournament, but then fell to Brown 6-3 in the championship game. Ranked 15th in the national polls, Union owns a 10-5-4 overall record and is tied for seventh in the ECAC Hockey standings at 3-4-1. Head Coach Rick Bennett's squad is 3-3-1 on opponents' home ice.

Scouting Rensselaer
Rensselaer enters the North County with a 5-14 overall record. The Engineers, who play at St. Lawrence on Friday, are tied with the Knights for 10th in the ECAC Hockey standings, owning a 3-6 league mark. RPI snapped an eight-game-losing skid with a 2-1 overtime victory over Army at Houston Field House on Saturday. The previous night, the Engineers fell to Harvard 3-2 in overtime in Cambridge, MA. Second-year head coach Dave Smith's squad is 2-9 in road games.