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Clarkson Begins Quest For 3rd Straight National Title

3/13/2019 12:52:00 PM

Two-time defending National Champion Clarkson University will begin its quest for the program's fourth NCAA title this Saturday when the Golden Knights host Boston College in a quarterfinal game at Cheel Arena. Face off is at 2:00 p.m. 
The Green and the Gold are looking to become the first women's hockey program to win three straight NCAA Titles since Minnesota Duluth claimed the championships in the inaugural years of the Division I Tournament (2001-2003).

Clarkson, which won its third National Title last year in Minneapolis, MN, is striving to reach next weekend's Frozen Four in Hamden, CT, the site of its first National Championship. The Golden Knights are making their eighth overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and seventh consecutive showing in women's college hockey's showcase event. The Green and Gold have advanced to the Frozen Four four times and won it all in 2014, 2017 and 2018.

Seeded fourth in the eight-team tournament, the Golden Knights are one victory away from their fourth consecutive 30-win season with a 29-7-2 overall record. 

Clarkson vs Boston College - NCAA Quarterfinal release 
ECAC Hockey
USCHO.com Poll
USA Today Poll
NCAA Pairwise Rankings
Kaz Watch: Clarkson's Loren Gabel Again in Hunt for Patty Kazmaier Award
Kaz Watch: Clarkson's Elizabeth Giguere Named a Top-10 Finalist for Award
Coaches Corner with Mike Vaillancourt, B99.3 radio 

• Clarkson is 10-4 in the NCAA Tournament, including a 4-3 mark in the quarterfinals. The Knights have won all three of the quarterfinal games they have hosted at Cheel Arena, defeating Boston College (3-1) in 2014, Cornell (1-0) in 2017 and Mercyhurst (2-1ot) last year. All three of those victories started the Green and Gold on their championship-title winning runs. Clarkson has won three straight quarterfinal games, starting in 2016 with a 1-0 victory over Quinnipiac in Hamden, CT. 
• Boston College leads the all-time series against the Knights, 7-4-3 and holds a 2-1 edge in NCAA postseason action. The last three meetings between the national powers have all come in the NCAA Tournament The Eagles won the last two encounters, 5-1 in 2015 quarterfinal action at Chestnut Hill and 3-2 in overtime of the 2016 semifinals in Durham, NH. Clarkson won the first postseason meeting against BC with a 3-1 triumph in the 2014 quarterfinal round at Cheel Arena.
• Clarkson enters NCAA postseason play with plenty of momentum, unbeaten in its last seven games (6-0-1), including four straight victories, capped off by winning its third consecutive ECAC Hockey Tournament Championship. This past weekend at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, NY, the Knights defeated Colgate 2-0 and Cornell 4-1 to claim the league's coveted title and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
• The Golden Knights finished tied for second in the ECAC Hockey regular-season standings with a 16-5-1 league mark. 
• Similar to the ECAC Hockey All-League All-Star awards, where six Knights gained recognition, Clarkson also dominated the conference championship All-Tournament Team, placing four players on the six member all-star team. Senior left wing Loren Gabel also earned Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. Joining Gabel on the all-tournament team were sophomore right wing Elizabeth Giguere, junior defenseman Ella Shelton and goaltender, graduate student Kassidy Sauve.
• Clarkson owns the third most potent offense in Division I, averaging 3.71 goals.
• Defensively the Green and Gold are also third in Division I, allowing only 1.76 goals.
• The Knights' scoring margin is also third in the country at 1.95.
• Headlining the Green and Gold attack are three of the top five scorers in Division I, including a pair of Top 10 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Finalists. Loren Gabel leads the nation in goals with 40 and and is second in points (69). Linemates, Elizabeth Giguere tops Division I in points with 72 and is the nation's leading player maker with 47 assists., while junior center Michaela Pejzlova is tied for fifth in the NCAA in points with 54.
• Making up arguably the top line ever in women's college hockey, the Clarkson trio has combined for 84 goals and 111 assists for 195 points. That is more goals than 17 other Division I teams, including seven ECAC Hockey squads, more assists than seven teams (four in ECAC) and more points than 12 other teams (six in ECAC).
• Averaging almost two points per game, Gabel, a Top 3 Finalist for the Patty Kazmaier for the second year in a row,  has tallied 69 points (40-29) through 36 games. She leads the country in game-winning goals, connecting for her 10th and 11th deciding goals of the season in the victories at the ECAC Hockey Championship Tournament this past weekend.  Gabel scored her fifth and sixth goals of this year's playoffs within a 26-second span early in the second period of Sunday's 4-1 win over Cornell in the tournament championship game. She also scored the opening goal in the 2-0 semifinal win over Colgate.Through 158 career games, Gabel has amassed 213 points on 116 goals and 97 assists as the Green and Gold's all-time leading scorer. 
• Giguere has recorded 25 goals and 47 assists through 38 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 79 games, she has tallied 143 points on 52 goals and 91 assists. Giguere has scored a Clarkson record five shorthanded goals this season. Only two teams, other than Clarkson have more shorthanded goals than Giguere - Cornell and Boston College with six. She has also tallied three power-play goals, four game-winners and posts a nation-high +62 rating.
• Giguere, who tallied twice in overtime in Clarkson's run last year to the national title, ended another postseason game in dramatic fashion, with the winning score at 11:45 of the extra session in the ECAC Hockey Game 2 quarterfinal 4-3 win over Quinnipiac. 
• Centering the top line in college hockey, Pejzlova has 54 points on 19 goals and 35 assists, and has accumulated 141 career points (56-85) in 116 games. She is tied for the team lead in power-play goals with four and has scored four game-winners, and owns the second best plus/minus in the nation (+53).
• Graduate transfer T.T. Cianfarano has been a nice addition to the Clarkson lineup,  recording 34 points on 18 goals and 16 assists. 
• Ella Shelton (6-19) and senior Emma Keenan (3-17) round out Clarkson's 20-point scorers with 23 and 20 points, respectively from the blueline.
• An All-American at Ohio State, graduate transfer Kassidy Sauve has been stellar in in the postseason,  making 118 saves on 122 shots (.967 save pct) with two shutouts in four games. Starting 34 games overall, she posts a .937 save percentage (5th in nation), a 1.68 GAA (3rd) and is second in the country in wins with a 26-6-2 record, including seven shutouts (3rd). Sauve was named ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week five times, the most by any league player, and was honored as the conference Goaltender of the Month for both December and February.
• Clarkson has outscored the opponents 60-21 in the second period.
• Clarkson has scored 37 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). 
• Clarkson is 17-1-1 at Cheel Arena this season, outscoring opponents 74-28 in Potsdam.
The lone home loss was a 4-3 overtime setback to Colgate on February 9. 
• The Knights have played five overtime games in their last nine outings, going 2-2-1 in the extra sessions. For the season, Clarkson is 3-3-2 in overtime games. 
• Senior forward Cassidy Vinkle will serve as the Green and Gold's captain, while defenders, senior Josiane Pozzebon and Shelton will act as assistant captains. 

Vs Boston College
Entering the NCAA Quarterfinal matchup this weekend, Boston College leads the all-time series against the Knights, 7-4-3. The Eagles also lead Clarkson in playoff meetings with a 2-1 edge in three NCAA Tournament games. Clarkson is 2-1-1 against Boston College at Cheel Arena in four games. The two teams last met in the 2016 Frozen Four, with the Eagles coming from behind for a 3-2 win in overtime. The Golden Knights have not lost an NCAA Tournament game or a playoff game of any kind since that defeat, winning 18 straight playoff games and six consecutive NCAA Tournament contests en route to two more National Championships. Six Golden Knights players skated in the semifinal matchup in 2016 against Boston College. Only one active player, then-freshman Kelly Mariani, scored a point in that game. Mariani tallied an assist on a second period Cayley Mercer goal to put the Knights up 2-0. The Eagles may suffer from déjà vu this weekend when they face off against graduate transfer Kassidy Sauve. Boston College hosted Ohio State in the NCAA Quarterfinal a season ago in Chestnut Hill, with Sauve stopping all 38 shots from Eagles, including 23 in the third period, to lift the Buckeyes to a 2-0 win and an appearance in the 2018 Frozen Four. 

Scouting the Eagles
Boston College enters the NCAA tournament with a 26-11-1 record after falling in the Hockey East Championship to third-ranked Northeastern 3-2 in overtime. Boston College held off Cornell for the fifth seed in the NCAA Tournament, going 7-1-1 in its last nine games. The Eagles swept Connecticut 4-1 and 5-4 in their league quarterfinal series and then beat Boston University 5-1 in the Hockey East semifinals to advance to the title game. 

Boston College played three games against ECAC opponents this season, going 2-1 in those games thanks to a pair of victories against St. Lawrence. The Eagles also lost to Harvard (4-1) in early February during the Beanpot in Boston. 
Much like the Golden Knights, the Eagles were lethal on home ice during the regular season, winning 17 of 18 contests in Chestnut Hill, but suffering through a subpar mark on the road (7-9-1). 

The Eagles played 10 games this season against ranked opponents, going 5-5. 

Boston College is loaded with talent and features Daryl Watts, who won the 2018 Patty Kazmaier award, and Megan Keller, a top-3 finalist for this year's Patty Kazmaier award. Watts leads the team in scoring this year with 47 points (21 goals, 26 assists), though she is a far cry away from her 2017-18 total of 82 points. Keller has produced at an elite level from the blue line, scoring 19 goals and tallying 24 assists for 43 points, the most points by any defender in NCAA Division I. Keller also leads the team with a +39 rating. Freshman Maddy McArthur has stepped into the goal in her first collegiate season, providing steady goaltending to the tune of a 2.01 goals against average and .911 save percentage through 34 games (23-10-1). 
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