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With the start of postseason play the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team will look to put a late regular-season slump behind it and return to the dominant form it displayed at the start of the 2009-10 campaign. By posting just one win in their last seven games, the Golden Knights fell just short of their bid to claim the ECAC Hockey regular season title. The Green and Gold, however, will look to build upon the momentum generated in the come-from-behind 3-3 tie against fifth-ranked Harvard at Cheel Arena this past Saturday.
Guided by second-year co-head coaches Shannon and Matt Desrosiers, Clarkson skated to the best league showing in the program’s seven-year history with a second place 14-5-3 ECAC Hockey mark. Ranked sixth in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national polls, the Knights own a 20-9-5 overall record.
Clarkson, led by senior captain Britney Selina (Thornhill, ONT) and senior assistant captain Carlee Eusepi (Oakville, ONT), will host archrival St. Lawrence University in the opening round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs. The Knights and seventh-seeded Saints will face off on Friday at 4:00 p.m. at Cheel Arena, and again on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. If the best-of-three game series is tied after Saturday, the North Country foes will meet for a deciding third game on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. with the winner advancing to the semifinal round.
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Can't make it to the game? Follow the Golden Knights over the Internet at
Clarkson Hockey Broadcast Central
with live video and live in-game scoring. Saturday's game will be broadcast live by WQTK,93.3FM over the internet.
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Clarkson is 3-10 all-time in the ECAC playoffs and 1-4 in quarterfinal series. This will be Clarkson’s second postseason series ever played at Cheel. The Knights won the 2008 quarterfinal series against Princeton in Potsdam 2-1 (0-1, 3-2ot, 2-1). Clarkson owns a 77-31-13 (.690%) all-time record on its home ice, including a 13-2-2 mark this season.
Clarkson and St. Lawrence have battle in two previous league playoff series, both at Appleton Arena in Canton with the Saints winning in 2007, 2-0 (3-2, 3-1), and last season, 2-0 (4-3ot, 2-1). Overall against St. Lawrence the Green and Gold own a 3-11-2 record. The teams split this season with each team winning at home, Clarkson 4-1 on October 27 and the Saints 4-2 on February 2. The Knights are 3-2-1 against their neighbors at Cheel.
Senior Dominique Thibault (L’Orginal, ONT) leads the Clarkson offense with 36 points, including a team-high 19 goals. Two other Knights are recording 30 points. Clarkson’s all-time leading scorer, Selina has tallied a team-high 23 assists to go along with nine goals. Selina has amassed 144 career points on 49 goals and 95 assists through 142 games. Sophomore standout Juana Baribeau (Amos, QUE) is balanced on the score sheet with 15 goals and 16 assists.
Junior Melissa Waldie (Newmarket, ONT) has 26 points (15-11) and leads the team in power-play markers with nine. Eusepi powers the offense from the blueline with 16 points (5-11). Senior Genevieve Lavoie (Delson, QUE) and sophomore Kali Gillanders (Kyle, SASK) round out Clarkson’s double figure scorers with 11(3-8) and 10 (2-8) points, respectively.
Junior Lauren Dahm (Baldwinsville, NY) backbones one of the nation’s stingiest defensive units. She holds a .935 save percentage, a 1.53 goals against average and is second in the nation in shutouts (8).
Dahm, Selina and Thibault were named as nominees for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award. Selina (2nd team), Eusepi (2), Dahm (2nd) and Thibault (3rd) were voted to the ECAC Hockey All-Star Team by the league coaches.
St. Lawrence finished in seventh place in the ECAC Hockey standings with an 11-8-3 league slate. The Saints stand at 15-12-7 overall. St. Lawrence, which fell 2-1 to Harvard on Friday, snapped a three-game losing skid with a 4-3 victory over Dartmouth in their regular season final on Saturday at Appleton Arena. The Saints are 8-7-2 in road games this season.
