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Nation's Top Teams Battle at Cheel With Plenty on the Line

2/6/2019 12:59:00 PM

Three of the top teams in the nation will battle it out at Cheel Arena this weekend with plenty on the line in ECAC Hockey. Fourth-ranked Clarkson University hosts No. 6 Cornell on Friday at 6:00 p.m. followed by a Saturday afternoon match up against No. 10 Colgate at 3 p.m.

Tied for Division I's longest current winning streak at eight games, Clarkson, guided by 11th-year head coach Matt Desrosiers and assistants Britni Smith and Tony Maci, has reached the 20-win mark for the eighth consecutive season with a 22-5-1 overall record. Winners of its last 10 league games, the Golden Knights own a 13-3 ECAC Hockey mark. The Green and Gold stand in third place, but are just one point shy of the top spot with six conference games remaining.

Clarkson vs Cornell-Colgate Weekend release  
ECAC Hockey Standings
USCHO.com Poll
USA Today Poll
NCAA Pairwise Rankings
Coaches Corner with Mike Vaillancourt, B99.3 radio 
Gabel and Clarkson wear target with pride - USCHO.com - Feb. 7


• Clarkson holds a 20-14-4 edge in the series over the Big Red. The Golden Knights were riding a five-game win streak against Cornell before falling 3-1 back in early December. The Green and Gold hold a 13-6-2 advantage all-time against Cornell at Cheel Arena, where Clarkson is 13-0-0 this season. 
• Clarkson leads the all-time series against Colgate 21-10-4. After defeating the Raiders in both the ECAC Final and the NCAA Championship game a season ago, Colgate got a bit of revenge with a 4-1 victory over the Knights back in November. Clarkson and Colgate faced off twice last season at Cheel Arena, with each team winning once. The Green and Gold are 9-5-2 all-time against the Raiders at Cheel.
• Hitting stride as it challenges for a third consecutive ECAC Hockey regular-season championship, the Knights have been dominant in league play to start the New Year, outscoring its opponents 36-9 during its current eight-game winning streak.
• Dating back to an early December home-and-home sweep of St. Lawrence, the Green and Gold have won 10 straight league games, outscoring their conference foes 43-10 during that span in ECAC Hockey play.
• This past weekend, Clarkson swept a tough series on the road, winning 3-2 at Quinnipiac on Friday in Hamden, CT before handing Princeton its first loss in 21 games with a 3-1 victory at Hobey Baker Rink in New Jersey.
• Clarkson boasts the second most potent offense in Division I, averaging 3.93 goals.
• Defensively the Green and Gold are fifth in Division I, allowing only 1.82 goals.
• The Knights' scoring margin is third in the country at 2.11.
• The Knights are  17-0-1 when scoring first and 20-0 when leading through 40 minutes.
• Clarkson has outscored the opponents 52-15 in the second period.
• Headlining the Green and Gold attack are three of the top five scorers in Division I. Senior left wing Loren Gabel leads the nation in goals with 30 and points with 55. Sophomore right wing Elizabeth Giguere is right behind her linemate with 53 points and leads country in assists with 34. Junior center Michaela Pejzlova is fourth in the NCAA in points with 45 and tied as Division I's third leading playmaker with 28 assists.
• Making up arguably the top line ever in women's college hockey, the Clarkson trio has combined for 66 goals and 87 assists for 153 points. That is more goals than 19 other Division I teams, including eight ECAC Hockey squads, more assists than 13 teams (six in ECAC) and more points than 16 other teams (seven in ECAC).
• Averaging over two points per game, Gabel has tallied 55 points (30-25) through 26 games. She figured in on all the Clarkson scoring in the weekend road sweep with her third hat trick of the season in the 3-2 win at Quinnipiac, She followed with two goals, including the first one just 36 seconds in, and one assist in the 3-1 victory at Princeton.  Gabel was named NCAA 3rd Star of the Week. Through 148 career games, Gabel has amassed 199 points on 106 goals and 93 assists as the Green and Gold's all-time leading scorer. 
• Giguere, who tallied five assists over the weekend has recorded 19 goals and 34 assists through 28 games. She is steadily moving up the Clarkson all-time scoring lists and looks to challenge Gabel's records before her collegiate career is over. Through just 69 games, she has tallied 124 points on 46 goals and 78 assists. Giguere has scored a Clarkson record five shorthanded goals this season, which is more than 37 NCAA teams have recorded in 2018-19. She has also tallied three power-play goals, three game-winners and posts a nation-high +44 rating.
• Centering the top line in college hockey, Pejzlova has 45 points on 17 goals and 28 assists, and has accumulated 132 career points (54-78) in 106 games. Pejzlova has an eight-game point streak with five goals and eight assists during the current winning streak. She is tied for the team lead in power-play goals with four.
• Graduate transfer T.T. Cianfarano has been a nice addition to the Clarkson lineup,  recording 28 points on 14 goals and 14 assists. 
• Junior defenseman Ella Shelton rounds out Clarkson's 20-point scorers with five goals and 17 assists. 
• An All-American at Ohio State, graduate transfer Kassidy Sauve has been stellar in recent games, and backstopped the Green and Gold to the weekend sweep with consecutive 30+ save outings. She posted a Clarkson career-best 37 saves on 38 shots in 3-1 win over the 4th-ranked Tigers. Sauve helped the Green and Gold shut down Princeton's #1-ranked power play (0-6) with 15 saves on the Tigers' power-play chances. She also posted 32 saves in the 3-2 victory at Quinnipiac. Sauve was named ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week for the fourth time this season. Through 24 starts, she posts a .933 save percentage and a 1.74 goals against average en route to a 19-4-1 record, including four shutouts.
• Clarkson has scored 20 goals in the first or last two minutes of periods this season. The quickest goal to start a game by a Knight this season was from Loren Gabel just eight seconds into the 5-1 win over Yale (1/18). 

Series Cornell: Clarkson holds a 20-14-4 edge in the series over the Big Red. The Golden Knights were riding a five-game win streak against Cornell before falling 3-1 back in early December. The Green and Gold hold a 13-6-2 advantage all-time against Cornell at Cheel Arena, where Clarkson is 13-0-0 this season. Loren Gabel, has been excellent against the Big Red over the years, scoring 15 points on 10 goals and five assists in 11 career games versus Cornell. Linemates Michaela Pejzlova and Elizabeth Giguere have also each tallied seven points against the Big Red. In her first and only matchup to date against Cornell as a Golden Knight, Kassidy Sauve turned away 31 of 33 shots faced.

Series Colgate: Clarkson leads the all-time series against Colgate 21-10-4. After defeating the Raiders in both the ECAC Final and the NCAA Championship game a season ago, Colgate got a bit of revenge with a 4-1 victory over the Knights back in November. Clarkson and Colgate faced off twice last season at Cheel Arena, with each team winning once. The Green and Gold are 9-5-2 all-time against the Raiders at Cheel. In 12 career games versus the Raiders, Loren Gabel has scored six goals and six assists to lead the Knights. In just five contests, Elizabeth Giguere has eight points on two goals and six assists. In the first matchup this season, Kassidy Sauve stopped 24 shots in the 4-1 loss.

Scouting Cornell: Ranked sixth in the nation, the Big Red own a 16-2-5 overall record and a 13-2-1 mark in the ECAC. With Princeton finally losing a conference game, Cornell climbed into a tie with the Tigers for the ECAC lead with 27 points, just one point ahead of Clarkson. The Big Red are currently on an eight-game winning streak and are 8-1-1 since they last played the Knights. Cornell's defense has stood tall recently, allowing two goals or fewer in each game of its winning streak. This past weekend, the Big Red easily handled both Union College (7-0) and RPI (5-0) at home. Maddie Mills leads Cornell with 31 points on 14 goals and a team-best 17 assists. Marlene Boissonnault ranks fourth in the nation in GAA (1.66) and boasts a .927 SP en route to a 13-2-4 record in 19 starts.

Scouting Colgate: Colgate, rated 10th in the country, owns a records of 16-8-4 overall and 10-4-2 in conference play, good for fourth place in the ECAC with 22 points, five off the pace and four out of third. The Raiders hit a road block when they played their travel partner, Cornell, two weeks ago, losing both contests 4-2 against the Big Red, but the team recovered last weekend with a sweep of RPI (4-1) and Union (5-2). The Raiders have struggled a bit on the road, with a record just slightly above .500 at 7-6-3. Jessie Eldridge leads the offensive effort with team-highs of 39 points and 23 goals. Julia Vandyk receives the majority of the playing time in the Colgate crease, possessing a record of 13-8-4 with a .914 save percentage and a 2.53 goals against average.
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