The Golden Knights (3-6 overall, 0-2 ECAC Hockey) dropped their sixth straight road game this season, and ninth straight dating back to last year, falling 4-1 at Princeton's Hobey Baker Rink Saturday.

Clarkson dominated the first period, outshooting the Tigers 19-8, but had nothing to show for their efforts. The Tigers (2-2, 1-1) scored at 5 minutes, 29 seconds on a goal from Dan Bartlett to take the early lead.

Princeton added to Clarkson's list of frustrating road second periods this season by scoring two more goals and outshooting the Golden Knights 17-6 in the middle period.

Clarkson got back in the game when Matt Beca scored his sixth goal of the year at 3:10 of the third period, but the Tigers ended the scoring with an empty-net goal from Matt Arhontas at 18:07.

Three Stars

No. 3: Mark Magnowski, Princeton: one goal and two assists, plus two rating.

No. 2: Matt Arhontas, Princeton: Scored two goals and added an assist and finished with a plus-two rating.

No. 1: Alan Reynolds, Princeton: The Tigers backup goalie saw his first action of the season and stopped 31 of 32 shots.

Clarkson (3-5 overall, 0-1 ECAC Hockey) is looking to snap a three-game losing streak and five-game road losing streak as it faces the Tigers (1-2, 0-1) at 4 p.m. this afternoon in Princeton, N.J.

Yesterday's Games

Quinnipiac 4, Clarkson 2

The Golden Knights did many things right, but two mistakes on special teams proved costly as Quinnipiac's Mike Atkinson scored two straight shorthanded goals, then added an empty-net goal late for a natural hat trick. Clarkson outshot the Bobcats 36-31 and limited Quinnipiac to only seven shots in the third period, although two of those were goals. The Golden Knights also played a disciplined game, taking only three penalties. Scott Freeman and Adam Pawlick each scored their third goals of the season for the Golden Knights.

St. Lawrence 5, Princeton 2

The Tigers took an early lead with a goal from Michael Sdao just 2 minutes, 45 seconds into the game. But SLU scored three goals in the second period and eventually built a 4-1 lead. Princeton cut into to lead with a power-play goal from Tyler Beachell at 16:03 of the third, which came during a two-man advantage. Because they were down by two goals late, Tigers coach Guy Gadowsky had to pull goalie Zane Kalemba early for an extra attacker. But SLU ended any chance of a comeback with an empty-net goal from Alex Curran at 17:31.

Stat of the Night

The Tigers, who are ranked 14th nationally, have struggled to start the season, dropping two of their first three games. But Princeton has excelled on special teams this season. Princeton has converted on 22 percent of its power-play chances (4-of-18 and has killed 14 of 15 penalties (93.3 percent).

Who to Watch

Clarkson

Senior Matt Beca has the best career numbers against the Tigers with two goals and four assists in six games. Junior captain Scott Freeman has two goals and three assists in four career games against Princeton and junior forward Lauri Tuohimaa has four assists in four games. Paul Karpowich, who has started every Saturday game in goal, is 0-1 with a 3.03 goals-against average and .935 save percentage against Princeton. Richie LaVeau, who faced Quinnipiac on Friday, is 0-1 with a 4.11 GAA and .897 save percentage against the Tigers.

Princeton

Senior forward Mark Magnowski hasn't scored yet this season, but in six career games against Clarkson he has two goals and three assists. Senior defenseman Jody Pederson has four assists in five games against Clarkson. Three other Tigers have three career points against the Golden Knights: junior forward Matt Arhontas (1 goal-2 assists), senior forward Dan Bartlett (0-3) and senior forward Kevin Kaiser (1-2). Goalie Zane Kalemba is 4-1 lifetime against the Golden Knights with a 2.21 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. Junior goalie Alan Reynolds, who has not played yet this season, has played in one career game against Clarkson for 40 minutes and stopped 16-of-19 shots (.842 save percentage).

Last Meeting

Princeton used a four-goal third period to take a 5-3 victory against the Golden Knights in Hobey Baker Rink on Feb. 13. Clarkson scored first on a goal from defenseman Tom Pizzo at 2:11 of the first period. Lee Jubinville tied the game for the Tigers with a second period goal and Princeton took a 2-1 lead with a goal from Brandon Kushniruk just 41 seconds into the third. Clarkson answered with a goal from Brandon DeFazio three minutes later. The Tigers built a 4-2 lead on goals from Brett Wilson and Tyler Beachell, then Scott Freeman cut the deficit back to one with a goal at 18:00. Kushniruk ended Clarkson's chance of a comeback with an empty-net goal at 18:55.

Stats and Notes

Princeton was picked to finish third in ECAC Hockey by both the coaches and media. The Tigers were second in 2007-08 and won the conference tournament and finished third last year, making the NCAA Tournament in both seasons. ... Princeton, which has increased its win total in each of the last six seasons under coach Guy Gadowsky, was ranked as high as No. 9 earlier this season. ...Princeton led the nation in shots last year, averaging just over 37. The Tigers have 108 shots in three games so far this season. ... This will be the 100th game between Clarkson and the Tigers, with the Golden Knights holding a commanding 69-25-5 lead. Princeton, however, has taken four of the last six and swept the series last year. ... Princeton was the least penalized team in the nation last year (10.6 minutes-per game) and has just 32 minutes in three games this season. ... Clarkson has lost eight straight road games, dating back to last season, when the Golden Knights ended the year with three straight losses at Union. The last time Clarkson has a streak that long was 12 straight in the 2005-06 season.

Clarkson played its best road game of the season Friday, but still came up short, dropping its ECAC Hockey opener to Quinnipiac at the TD Banknorth Center in Hamden, Conn.

The Golden Knights (3-5 overall) outshot Quinnipiac 36-31 and took only two penalties Friday.

But two mistakes on Clarkson power plays led to shorthanded goals for Quinnipiac's Mike Atkinson, and he wound up recording a natural hat trick with an empty net goal with 14 seconds remaining.

Scott Freeman and Adam Pawlick scored Clarkson's goals and Richie LaVeau stopped 27 of 30 shots.

Three Stars

No. 3: Louke Oakley, Clarkson: assisted on both Golden Knight goals.

No. 2: Dan Clarke, Quinnipiac: had a .944 save percentage (34 saves-36 shots)

No. 1: Mike Atkinson, Quinnipiac: two shorthanded goals, natural hat trick

With an 0-4 record on the road this season, the Golden Knights will hope to pick up their first away victory in the ECAC Hockey opening game for both teams.

Clarkson (3-4) has played national powers Michigan State and Minnesota-Duluth in its first four road games. Quinnipiac (4-1) has also played four road games, sweeping Ohio State 4-2 and 3-1 and splitting a series last weekend at Robert Morris (5-0 and 5-8).

Clarkson Coach George Roll on the Weekend

"Both Quinnipiac and Princeton will be looking to begin league play with wins on their home ice. It will be two battles. We want to play better on the road and get the momentum back we lost this past weekend. In both road series, we spent a lot of time in the penalty box. We were shorthanded a lot at Michigan State and again this past weekend at UMD. We have to play with more discipline on the road."

Stat of the Night

This is another game where having the lead after two periods will be important. Clarkson has a 58-game unbeaten streak when it leads after two (54-0-4). Quinnipiac is 33-0-3 in its last 36 games with a lead after two periods. Clarkson fans may remember the last time the Bobcats blew a second-period lead, it came in the 2007 ECAC Hockey championship game when Clarkson rallied from a 2-0 deficit to claim the championship with a 4-2 win.

Who to Watch

Clarkson

Junior forward Lauri Tuohimaa has had the most success against the Bobcats, with two goals and four assists in four career games. Senior forward Matt Beca has one goal with five assists in seven games and junior captain Scott Freeman, another forward, has five assists in four career games. The only Clarkson goalie who has faced Quinnipiac is sophomore Paul Karpowich, who is 0-2 with a 4.10 goals-against average and an .886 save percentage. Sophomore Richie LaVeau has had most of the Friday starts this season, however.

Quinnipiac

Senior forwards Brandon Wong and Jean-Marc Beaudoin each have two goals and two assists against the Golden Knights. Another senior forward, Eric Lame, has one goal and one assist. Junior defenseman Zach Hansen has two assists. Sophomore goalie Dan Clarke started one game against Clarkson last year and picked up the win, stopping 18 of 21 shots.

Last Meeting

The Bobcats used a three-goal second period to earn a 5-3 win over Clarkson in the TD Banknorth Center on Feb. 14. Clarkson took an early lead with a goal from defenseman Bryan Rufenach in the first period. Quinnipiac outshot the Golden Knights 28-14 in the final two periods, however.

Stats and Notes

Clarkson was picked to finish 11th out of 12 teams by the league's coaches in the preseason poll. ... Clarkson has not trailed after the first period yet this season, but has been outscored 12-3 in the second period. ... Rufenach will miss tonight's game after picking up a game disqualification penalty last Saturday at Minnesota-Duluth. His offensive presence will be missed. He leads the team with 28 shots on goal and 15 of his shots have come during power plays. ... Like Clarkson, Quinnipiac has struggled in the second period this year, being outscored 4-1. But the Bobcats have outscored the opposition 10-3 in the third period.

Conference play began last weekend with Harvard's 5-3 road win at Dartmouth. For the other 10 teams in the league it starts this weekend with a full state of games.

Here's a report on some teams heading into the start of conference play:

Yale Looks to Repeat

The Bulldogs start conference play ranked sixth in the nation and return most of the players who played key roles in winning both the regular-season and conference tournaments last season.

"I think we expect more from ourselves and hold ourselves to a higher standard this year," forward Denny Kearney told the Yale Daily News. "We had a great year last year, and hopefully we can do at least as well, if not better, this year."

Said Bulldogs coach Keith Allain to the school paper, "We're excited about the hockey season. I think that we have something to prove - we just have to get it going."

RPI Dealing With Injuries

The Engineers start conference play with a 4-3-1 overall record, but will be missing leading scorer Tyler Helfrich for a second straight weekend as well as sophomore Josh Rabbani.

Rabbani has a shoulder injury and Helfrich is recovering from an ankle injury.

"I don't anticipate (Helfrich) playing," Engineers coach Seth Appert told the Troy Record. "I think if this were the national tournament, I think he could play, I think we could probably gut him through a weekend. But an ankle is one of those things that, if we're too aggressive with this, it could be affecting him all season and we can't have that."

Leaman Benches Players

Union coach Nate Leaman announced after Wednesday's practice that Stephane Boileau and Brian Yanovitch were not going to play Friday in the Dutchmen's contest at home against Brown.

The duo is being punished for penalties taken in RPI's offensive zone during Saturday's 4-3 overtime loss. Yanovitch was given a boarding penalty 1 minute, 9 seconds into the second period and Boileau was given a hooking penalty with 4:37 left in the third period. Both penalties led to power-play goals by RPI.

"(The penalties) were unnecessary," Leaman told the Schenectady Daily Gazette. "We're hurting ourselves. We did it against Maine in game one. Unfortunately, we're still learning that aspect. The bottom line is I'm sitting Yanovitch, and I'm sitting Boileau. They both took penalties that hurt our team. Unfortunately, it's gotten to that point. We just have to make sure that the message gets sent that we can't take penalties like that and expect to win."

Big Red Win Squeaker

Once again Niagara put a scare into an ECAC Hockey team last weekend, but the Purple Eagles came up short again, losing 3-2 to Cornell in overtime.

"It was frustrating, no question, when you generate that many good quality scoring chances," Cornell coach Mike Schafer told the Cornell Daily Sun. "The power play moved it around, we took our shots, but some nights you just have to keep persevering."

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week: Alex Killorn, Harvard: Scored Harvard's first two goals and assisted on the third to help the Crimson recover from a 3-1 deficit and pick up a 5-3 win over Dartmouth.

Rookie of the Week: Peter Child, SLU: Not only did he score his first career goal, he picked up a hat trick in the same contest as SLU beat Sacred Heart 6-3 on Friday.

Goalie of the Week: Ryan Rondeau, Yale: Stopped 40 of 42 shots in a 5-2 nonconference win over Princeton. Both Princeton goals came on power plays.

In the Polls

The conference has three teams in this week's U.S. College Hockey Online national poll. Cornell is No. 5, Yale is No. 6 and Princeton is No. 14.

Last Week's Scores

Friday

Princeton 1, Brown 0 (OT) (NC)

Harvard 5, Dartmouth 3

RPI 4, Union 3 (OT) (NC)

Cornell 3, Niagara 2 (OT)

Quinnipiac 5, Robert Morris 0

Minnesota-Duluth 4, Clarkson 1

St. Lawrence 6, Sacred Heart 3

Colgate 4, Army 4 (OT)

Yale 8, Ontario IT 0 (ex)

Saturday

St. Lawrence 3, Sacred Heart 3 (OT)

Army 2, RPI 1

Yale 5, Princeton 2 (NC)

Robert Morris 8, Quinnipiac 5

Minnesota-Duluth 4, Clarkson 2

Colgate 4, Niagara 2

Brown 6, Ontario IT 1 (ex)

This Weekend's Schedule

Friday

St. Lawrence at Princeton, 7 p.m.

Clarkson at Quinnipiac, 7 p.m.

Harvard at Colgate, 7 p.m.

Dartmouth at Cornell, 7 p.m.

Yale at RPI, 7 p.m.

Brown at Union, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday

St. Lawrence at Quinnipiac, 4 p.m.

Clarkson at Princeton, 4 p.m.

Dartmouth at Colgate, 4 p.m.

Harvard at Cornell, 7 p.m.

Brown at RPI, 7 p.m.

Yale at Union, 7 p.m.

Now that ECAC Hockey play has arrived the Watertown Daily Times will be running a weekly Clarkson Notes column every Friday. The Wednesday blog entry will now consist of secondary items, or video reports on selected weeks.

This week's edition is slightly different because a handful of players on the team have the flu, so the coaching staff has suggested it might be healthier for non-sick people to avoid the locker room area this week.

Today I thought I'd rank the six non-Ivy teams that have played a handful of nonconference games by strength-of-schedule.

I looked at two basic stats to come up with this study: record of opponents and number of road games.

The record of opponents does not include games played against that team. For example, Clarkson beat Niagara. Niagara is 0-5-1. When I counted Niagara's record into Clarkson's overall opponent record I gave them an 0-4-1 record (as if the Clarkson loss did not count).

NOTE: The Ivy League teams all start late so they are not included in this survey due to lack of games.

So here are my rankings for pre-ECAC Hockey strength of schedule (remember this is not a ranking of which teams I think are best so far this season):

1. Clarkson (3-4 overall): Clarkson's nonconference opponents to date (including the SLU game) are 13-13-1. Clarkson is tied with Quinnipiac for playing the most road games so far this season, with four. Clarkson gets the nod over the Bobcats because they've played the stronger road competition in Michigan State and

Minnesota-Duluth.

2. Rensselaer (4-3-1): The Engineers have played three road games (although one was a short drive over to Schenectady to play Union College). RPI's

opponents are 18-18-6.

3. Quinnipiac (4-1): Quinnipiac has played four road games, but their opponents have a combined record of 5-8-1 so far this season.

4. Union (3-3-1): Union has played only two road games this season and their opponents have a combined record of 11-11-4.

5. Colgate (2-2-3): The Raiders have also played only two road games and their opponents are only 9-19-2.

6. St. Lawrence (4-2-1): The Saints have the second-best nonconference record after Quinnipiac, but their weak schedule so far means it's hard to get a real gauge on this team. SLU has played only one road game, and that was just

10 miles away in Potsdam. (The Saints played two games in Omaha, Neb. to start the year, but played two other teams who also traveled so neither team had a home-ice advantage). SLU's schedule has been weak as well. The only winning

team the Saints have faced all year was UMass.-Lowell, who defeated them. SLU's opponents' overall record so far is 9-19-3.

Randy Jones Revisited

Yesterday was Pro Hockey Notes day, but the NHL decided to post video today of a Randy Jones interview, so here is a bonus item:

Randy Jones found his way back to the National Hockey League last week when the Los Angeles Kings claimed him on waivers after the Philadelphia Flyers tried to recall him from their American Hockey League franchise in Glens Falls.

Salary cap concerns had caused the Flyers to send Jones to the AHL prior to the start of the season.

The Kings claiming Jones means that the Flyers have to pay half of his $2.75-million salary this season.

"He certainly would have helped us," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "That's the risk you take, and what are you going to do?"

Jones, a 28-year-old defenseman, played for current Kings coach Terry Murray when Murray was an assistant with the Flyers and in charge of defense.

"He's a pretty good player," Murray told the Los Angeles Times. "He's a player who plays in all situations. He can play on your power play, penalty kill, be a defending player.

He's a pretty good all-around player, so when he does get into the lineup there won't be any hesitation in any one of those situations."

Murray is not rushing Jones into the lineup. He has not played yet for the Kings.

"It's been nothing but fantastic so far," Jones told the L.A. Times. "I'm having a blast here getting to know the guys. I've got to get situated a little bit and meet the guys and get into practicing. It's tough to come into an organization and new team with new systems. They play a different style of game."

Jones has played in 217 career NHL games, all with the Flyers, and has 69 career points.

You Think You Know Craig Conroy?

Before you watch this video clip on Potsdam native Craig Conroy, see if you can guess the answers he gives to all these questions:

1. Favorite band?

2. Favorite movie?

3. Favorite cartoon?

4. Hidden talent?

5. Favorite vacation spot?

6. Favorite board game?

7. Favorite fast food place?

Now, watch the clip and see how well you did. If you got all seven right you just may be Craig Conroy!

Last Week's Goals

Todd White Thursday vs. Washington

Kent Huskins Sunday vs. Carolina

Stats

Player (team) GP G A Pts

Willie Mitchell (Van) 15 2 4 6

Craig Conroy (Cal) 12 0 5 5

Kent Huskins (SJ) 15 1 4 5

Todd White (Atl) 10 3 1 4

Chris Clark (Wash) 14 1 2 3

Todd Marchant (Ana) 12 0 0 0

Randy Jones (LA) 0 0 0 0

*Erik Cole (Car) 3 0 0 0

*Injured

Another rough night for a shorthanded Clarkson team as Minnesota-Duluth completes a weekend, nonconference sweep with a 4-2 win.

Clarkson was missing Scott Freeman, who had both an ankle injury and the flu, as well as Jeremiah Crowe, who had the flue. The Golden Knights played with one less forward than usual and also had one less defenseman.

To make matters worse, defenseman Bryan Rufenach was given a game disqualification for a major penalty on a check from behind at the end of the first period and will miss Clarkson's ECAC Hockey opener at Quinnipiac on Friday.

Clarkson was outshot 44-22 and had 16 penalties for 54 minutes. Mark Borowiecki was also give a major penalty in the third period, but his was just a game misconduct.

Clarkson's goals were scored by Brandon DeFazio and Borowiecki

Three Stars

No. 3: Brady Lamb, UMD: one goal, one assist

No. 2: Jack Connolly, UMD: two assists and five shots on goal.

No. 1: Rob Dorson, UMD: played a part in every goal with one goal and three assists. In one of hockey's oddities, he was a minus-one.

Rating WCHA Officials

In case any fans were wondering if WCHA officials give their own league teams a break in non-conference games the statistics don't really show any bias.

There have been 22 games this season where a non-WCHA team faced a WCHA team on its home ice.

The non-WCHA teams have 151 penalties and the WCHA teams 137. That average comes to 6.8-6.2 per game, not really anything noticable.

The only thing I noticed is there have been six major penalties called on non-WCHA teams (though three came for Clarkson this weekend) and just two on WCHA teams.

It was a rough night for the Golden Knights as Minnesota-Duluth put up 50 shots in a 4-1 nonconference win Friday.

Clarkson (3-3) was hampered by illness and injury and had another bad second period in a road game.

Senior Matt Beca, who leads the team with five goals, had the flu and played sparingly, taking just one shot.

Clarkson then lost forward Brandon DeFazio, Beca's linemate, at 4 minutes, 46 seconds of the first period after he was given a game misconduct for a check from behind.

And later in the game forwards Corey Tamblyn and Scott Freeman were both hit in the ankle by pucks while blocking shots and could miss today's game.

The game was scoreless after one and the shots were relatively even, with the Bulldogs holding an 8-5 edge.

But UMD (4-2-1) scored three goals in the second period, including two just 42 seconds apart, and outshot Clarkson 20-3 to build a 3-0 lead. UMD outshot the Golden Knights 22-9 in the third period.

Clarkson's only goal came from Jake Morley at 16:20 of the third period during a power play, with Nik Pokulok and Mark Borowiecki assisting.

Three Stars

No. 3: Richie LaVeau, Clarkson: LaVeau finished with 46 saves and despite giving up three goals had a .939 save percentage.

No. 2: Justin Fontaine, UMD: the Bulldogs leading scorer had two assists and finished with a plus-four rating.

No. 1: Jack Connolly, UMD: scored two goals in the second period to lead the Bulldogs.

Clarkson plays its second set of road games this season and once again finds itself in the midwest, this time facing WCHA foe Minnesota-Duluth.

Clarkson (3-2 overall) had a bad time on its first road trip of the season, dropping a pair of games 6-1 and 4-3 to Michigan State. The Golden Knights rebounded by winning three nonconference games at home.

Minnesota-Duluth (3-2-1) has spent the last two weekends in conference play, sweeping Minnesota State at home and then tying St. Cloud State 3-3 and losing to the Huskies 4-2 on the road last week. Here are highlights of UMD's game from last Saturday:

The Bulldogs won the WCHA Tournament last year and then knocked off Princeton 5-4 in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before finally being eliminated by Miami (Ohio) in the quarterfinals.

Clarkson coach George Roll on UMD

"Watching them on tape, they have some very dynamic forwards and they are solid on the blueline and in net. It is going to be a tough series for us. We have to go in there and play the way we have over the last three games."

Stat of the Weekend

If either team has a lead after two periods this weekend you can probably leave the arena or turn off the radio broadcast. Clarkson is 58-0-4 in its last 62 games with a two-period lead and the Bulldogs are 27-0-3 in their last 30 games with a two-period lead.

Who to Watch

Clarkson Goalie Paul Karpowich said after Saturday's 4-1 win over St. Lawrence University that he was looking to redeem himself for how he played at Michigan State. In those two games Karpowich gave up 10 goals and had an .830 save percentage. In his last two starts, however, he's given up four goals and has a .947 save percentage. ... Scott Freeman and Louke Oakley enter the weekend with four-game scoring streaks. Matt Beca saw a four-game, goal-scoring streak end against SLU.

Minnesota-Duluth The Bulldogs top performer so far this season has been junior forward Justin Fontaine, who has seven of the Bulldogs' 18 goals. Fontaine also has three assists and is tied with Jack Connolly (four goals-six assists) for the team lead in scoring. Fontaine is especially dangerous on the power play, with six goals already. The Bulldogs have used two goaltenders this season. Brady Hjelle has played in five games with a 3-2-1 record and a 2.95 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. Kenny Reiter has played in two games and is 0-1 with a 2.30 GAA and a .923 save percentage.

Last Meeting

The last time these teams met was on Dec. 27, 1997 in a first-round game of the Syracuse Invitational Tournament. UMD gained a 5-2 win after scoring four unanswered goals in the third period. Clarkson fell behind 1-0 but took a 2-1 lead with goals from Nick Windsor and Dana Mulvihill. The Bulldogs scored three goals in a span of 1 minute, 42 seconds of the third period to blow the game open.

Stats and Notes

These teams have played four career games, with each side winning twice. The last time Clarkson played at UMD's Duluth Entertainment Convention Center was in an NCAA Tournament series in 1984. Clarkson lost the first game 6-2 and won game two 6-3, but was eliminated because the Bulldogs had the edge in total goals (9-8). ... Clarkson is 3-6-3 against WCHA teams during Roll's first six years as coach. ... Minnesota-Duluth has never faced Clarkson in Potsdam. ... Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin is 11-2-3 lifetime against ECAC Hockey teams, but he's never faced the Golden Knights.

We'll finally have every ECAC Hockey team starting its season this weekend as the six Ivy League schools begin playing, although Yale and Brown are only playing exhibition games.

The Ivy League schools prefer to play fewer games which leads me to a suggestion to help the other six ECAC Hockey teams find more competition.

It's getting harder for the other six teams to schedule nonconference games, because most of the other conferences play a longer schedule and do not have free weekends.

I'd suggest that ECAC Hockey split into two divisions (much like college football conferences). One would be the six non-Ivy schools (Clarkson, St. Lawrence, RPI, Union, Colgate and Quinnipiac) and the other would the the Ivies (Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Dartmouth and Cornell).

The current 22-game system of playing every other league foe home-and-home would remain, but the six non-Ivy schools would play one additional game a year against the other five teams, giving them 27 conference games. You'd rotate the site, so if Clarkson played at Colgate one year, the next year the extra game would be at Cheel Arena.

The playoffs could either be mixed or remain in divisions. The top two teams in each division would get first-round byes. You could either have 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5 in each division or cross over and have 3 Ivy play 6 non-Ivy.

As for names of the divisions, perhaps the Ivy League could just call itself that, or each division could be named after someone prominent from one of the six schools in the division, Ned Harkness type people come to mind.

Anyway, my two cents on a possible future idea, feel free to comment in our comments section.

Ivy Team Notes

Goaltending will be a big focus among Ivy League schools this year, with Princeton's Zane Kalemba, Cornell's Ben Scrivens and the return of Harvard goalie Kyle Richter, who took a leave of absence last season.

Kalemba is the defending Ken Dryden Award winner in ECAC Hockey, but Cornell coach Mike Schafer feels Scrivens is the top netminder in the league.

"To me, I think Ben is the best goaltender in college hockey," Schafer told the Ithaca Journal. "You really couldn't convince me otherwise that someone is more valuable or better than him as a goalie. He hasn't had the preseason accolades, but it's no different than the polls. No one wants to just have preseason accolades. You want the honors at the end of th eyear. Same with Ben and our team."

Richter, now a junior, had a .935 save percentage and 2.19 goals-against average as a sophomore.

He will now compete with junior Ryan Carroll and senior John Riley to regain his position as starting goalie.

"We're having a real positive feeling, and have a lot of reason to have optimism," Harvard coach Ted Donato told the Harvard Crimson. "Last season we came to a spot where we didn't have a goalie to start the season that had played in a college game. This year we'll have three. And although he's been off for a little bit, when Kyle Richter left us, he was the goalie of the year in our league. Ryan Carroll played very well last year, and I think John Riley has developed a lot since he arrived. We feel a lot stronger in that position than we have been in a long time."

RPI's Helfrich Injured

Rensselaer had two big nonconference wins last weekend to improve to 3-2-1, defeating Sacred Heart and American International.

But the Engineers lost leading scorer Tyler Helfrich to a lower-leg injury.

"It's not a knee and it's not broken," RPI coach Seth Appert told the Troy Record. "Both are good things to hear."

Helfrich's status for this weekend's games is unsure.

"With an ankle, you just don't know," Appert told the Schenectady Daily Gazette on Monday. "I don't have any expectations that he will play this weekend. We have no idea if it will be one week, or four weeks."

Weekly Award Winners

Player of the WeekJason Walters, Union: Walters scored two goals with two assists last weekend.

Rookie of the WeekBrandon Pirri, RPI: scored two goals, including the game-winner in overtime, against Sacred Heart. Had two assists against AIC.

Goaltender of the WeekPaul Karpowich, Clarkson: Made 30 saves, including 11 on power-play chances, to lead Clarkson to a 4-1 win over SLU.

ECAC and the Polls

The conference has two teams in the U.S. College Hockey Online top 10 this week. Cornell is No. 6 and Yale is No. 7. The Bulldogs received one first-place vote.

Princeton is No. 11 and Quinnipiac is No. 18. Harvard, St. Lawrence and Union also receieved votes.

Last Week's Scores

Friday

UMass.-Lowell 5, Colgate 3

RPI 4, Sacred Heart 3 (OT)

Union 4, American International 2

(exhibitions)

Harvard 3, McGill 3 (OT)

Cornell 7, Windsor 0

Princeton 7, SUNY Morrisville 0

Saturday

Clarkson 4, St. Lawrence 1

RPI 3, American International 2

Sacred Heart 6, Union 5 (OT)

(exhibitions)

McGill 7, Dartmouth 4

U.S. Under-18 3, Cornell 2

Sunday

(exhibitions)

U.S. Under-18 4, Colgate 1

Windsor 5, Princeton 3

This Weekend's Schedule

Friday

Brown at Princeton, 4 p.m.

Harvard at Dartmouth, 7 p.m.

RPI at Union, 7 p.m.

Niagara at Cornell, 7 p.m.

Quinnipiac at Robert Morris, 7:05 p.m.

Sacred Heart at St. Larwence, 7:30 p.m.

Army at Colgate, 7:30 p.m.

Clarkson at Minnesota-Duluth, 8:07 p.m.

(exhibition)

Ontario IT at Yale, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Sacred Heart at St. Lawrence, 7 p.m.

Army at RPI, 7 p.m.

Yale at Princeton, 7 p.m.

Quinnipiac at Robert Morris, 7:05 p.m.

Niagara at Colgate, 7:30 p.m.

Clarkson at Minnesota-Duluth, 8:07 p.m.

(exhibition)

Ontario IT at Brown, 7 p.m.

The Golden Knights are leaving early tomorrow morning to make the trip to face Minnesota-Duluth in a pair of nonconference games this weekend.

There will be plenty of bus time ahead for Clarkson, which has to take the two-hour drive down to Syracuse to catch their flight. Clarkson will make a stop in Detroit and land in Minneapolis and will catch another two-hour bus ride to Duluth.

Today's notes will be abbreviated because I was not able to make my usual weekly visit to practice. I had to go to SUNY Potsdam and talk with former Clarkson goalie Chris Bernard, the new head coach of the Bears' men's program. That season preview will run Friday in our paper.

Saturday Recap

Because video was posted Saturday night the usual post-game recap was not done. I did not forget, I just wanted to have the video be the only post for a few days.

Here are Saturday's three stars:

No. 3: Bryan Rufenach: Rufenach had one goal and one assist and took seven shots. He also was even in the plus/minus department on defense.

No. 2: Nick Tremblay. The sophomore's quick wrist shot over the glove of Saints goalie Alex Petizian gave Clarkson a 3-1 lead and seemed to zap some of the energy from the Saints.

No. 1: Paul Karpowich. Clarkson's goalie stopped 30 of 31 shots, including 11 during power-play chances, to lead the Golden Knights to the win.

Quotes from Saturday

George Roll

"We had some timely goals on the power play and Paul was big in the net on the penalty kill. He made some big saves. When your goaltender is on like that, it makes your penalty kill look better. He was the difference tonight. He looked in control all night. He covered pucks up and he steered pucks to areas we couldn't get hurt in. It was clearly his best game."

Brandon DeFazio

"It's really exciting. It was a great game out there against SLU. I thought we came out prepared and ready to go. We knew they were going to come hard at us. We just crashed the net. It was old-time hockey."

Paul Karpowich on this weekend's road trip

"It's a chance to redeem myself. We didn't play our best hockey at Michigan State. Hopefully this weekend we can turn it around."

Final Note

There's a new ex-Golden Knight in the coaching profession. Madrid native Matt Curley, an assistant captain on Clarkson's 2007 ECAC Hockey championship team, is now working as an assistant coach at the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid.

This week's edition of Pro Hockey Notes is focusing on Clarkson alums playing in leagues other than the NHL and AHL.

NOTE: It's hard to find everyone, so if you notice someone is not showing up in my list, please email me at ccarey@wdt.net with the name and team of the person missing. Also, if possible, include some link I can check to verify where this person is playing.

Now, on to this week's notes:

Leggio Big Hit in Finland

After spending one year playing minor league hockey in the U.S., goalie David Leggio has taken his game to Finland this season, where he's been reunited with his former Clarkson teammate Max Kolu.

Leggio and Kolu both play for TPS Finland and as of early last week Leggio had a 6-2 record with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage.

"Things are going well over here in Turku," Leggio said. "It has been a good experience so far and the hockey is very good. The hockey is more possession and skill oriented. There is not a lot of dump and chase and more stick handling and passing."

Leggio also received another honor last week when he was chosen as one of the two goalies on the 2009 U.S. Men's Select Team, which will compete for the Deutschland Cup Nov. 6-8 in Munich, Germany.

The other goalie on the roster is former Cornell goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier.

Leggio is also learning the Finnish language, as this clip from a post-game interview shows:

Stats

One note before the stats: goalie Tim Potter, who left Clarkson midseason last year and played at SUNY Oswego, recently signed with the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors.

(All stats will be games goals-assists points for forwards and W-L-T, GAA and save Percentage for goalies..Some players stats are not available).

ECHL

Shea Guthrie (Utah) 3 2-0 2

Chris D'Alvise (Stockton) 5 2-2 4

Phil Paquet (Florida) no games yet

Tim Potter (Bakersfield) no games yet

Shawn Weller (Bakersfield) 5 1-5 6

CHL

Mike Willemsen (Texas) 1 0-0-0

Tyrell Mason (Texas) no games yet

Kyle McNulty (Arizona) 0-2-1 3.32 .873

IHL

Jean Desrochers (Quad City) 2 0-2 2

Matt Syroczynski (Fort Wayne) 4 4-2 6

France

David Cayer (current team and stats unavailable)

Finland

David Leggio (TPS Turku) 6-2 2.43 .915

Max Kolu (TPS Turku) 8 0-1 1

Germany

Mike Sullivan (Lausitzer) 14 3-7 10

Chris Blight (Ravensburg) 6 2-2 4

Rob McFeeters (Kaufbeuren) 10 2-10 12

Chris Bahen (Munich) 2 0-0 0

Dave Reid (Munich) 12 2-4 6

Kerry Ellis-Toddington (Ravensburg) 14 2-7 9

Italy

Mac Faulkner (Alleghe) 8 4-3 7

Wales

Jay Latulippe (Cardiff) 16 5-11 16

This Week's NHL Videos

This week's clips feature one hard hit and two goals.

First, the hard hit by Clarkson alum Willie Mitchell on Chicago's Jonathon Toews from last Wednesday (Toews has not returned to action yet):

Now, onto this week's goals:

Chris Clark vs. Atlanta on Thursday

Todd White vs. San Jose on Saturday

Here's a video look at tonight's Clarkson 4-1 win over St. Lawrence University at Cheel Arena:

Saints Pregame

Clarkson Takes The Ice

Warmups

Introductions

On-Ice Action

Student Section Counting Goals

View If You Didn't Have a Seat

Postgame

Clarkson and St. Lawrence meet for the 179th time tonight at 7 at Cheel Arena. It will be the only nonconference meeting for the teams this season. They'll play ECAC Hockey contests against each other on Dec. 4-5.

The Golden Knights (2-2 overall) opened their season with a pair of road losses at Michigan State, but rebounded by sweeping Niagara and RIT at home last weekend.

SLU (3-1) dropped its opener to UMass.-Lowell in the IceBreaker Invitational in Omaha, Neb. The Saints responded with three straight victories over Army, RIT and Niagara.

Clarkson Coach George Roll on SLU

Stat of the Night

It's too early to read too much into team stats this season, but Clarkson has done well early in games while the Saints have done well later. The only period where Clarkson has outscored its opponents is the first (6-3). SLU has played even with opponents in the first and second periods, but has outscored the opposition 5-2 in the third.

Who to Watch

Clarkson

Senior Matt Beca, who already has scored five goals this season, had been dominant against the Saints. Beca has six goals and four assists in nine career games against SLU. Junior Scott Freeman has one goal with six assists in seven games against the Saints. Both of Clarkson's goalies have faced SLU. Paul Karpowich is 1-2 with a 2.96 goals-against average and an .895 save percentage while Richie LaVeau is 0-0-1 with a 2.37 GAA and a .940 save percentage.

St. Lawrence

Senior forward Mike McKenzie has enjoyed the most success against the Golden Knights, with one goal and seven assists. Junior Jared Keller has two goals with one assist and senior Alex Curran has one goal with two assists. Goalie Alex Petizian is 3-3-1 against Clarkson with a .901 save percentage.

Last Meeting

Clarkson finished 1-0-1 against the Saints in conference play with a 3-1 win at Cheel Arena on Feb. 7. The Golden Knights received first-period goals from Chris D'Alvise and Nick Tremblay and upped the lead to 3-0 with a goal from Scott Freeman in the third. Mike McKenzie scored with 5 minutes, 33 seconds left for SLU.

Stats and Notes

SLU only picked up one out of a possible four points in conference games against Clarkson last year, but did sweep two nonconference contests against the Golden Knights. ... Clarkson has a huge lead in the overall series - 109-61-8 - but the Saints have played even in this decade at 12-12-1. SLU is 3-1-1 in the last five games. ... SLU is only 5-17-1 in Cheel Arena. ... Clarkson has a 57-game unbeaten streak in games it leads after two periods (53-0-4). ... Clarkson coach George Roll is 7-8 against the Saints while SLU's Joe Marsh is 25-37-2 against Clarkson. ... Tim Marks is 24-15 (.615) on faceoffs this season. ... SLU is scoring on 25 percent of its power-play chances so far this season.

Whether Rensselaer finally turns its program around this season is a big question.

The Engineers, in their fourth year under coach Seth Appert, are 1-2-1 after four games, including an impressive 3-1 home win over national power New Hampshire.

RPI went all the way to Alaska last weekend and finished 0-1-1, losing 3-0 to Alaska Anchorage and tying Alaska 1-1.

But Ed Weaver of the Troy Record sees this weekend's home series against Atlantic Hockey schools Sacred Heart and American International as must-win games for the Engineers.

"Beating teams from the Atlantic Hockey conference is crucial to meet that goal (of improvement)," wrote Weaver this week. "Winning these two games, and downing Army on homeice next weekend, and scoring at least 13-15 goals in the process, is virutally mandatory for the Engineers, who've won just a total of 31 games the past three seasons - 28 during the regular season."

Bobcats Undefeated

Expectations were not high for Quinnipiac this season, but nobody has told the players.

The Bobcats made their way into the national rankings this week after a 3-2 overtime win over Bentley Saturday in the team's home opener.

Sophomore Scott Zurevinski scored the game-winner 29 seconds into the extra period on a rebound.

Quinnipiac opened the season with two road wins at then No. 17 Ohio State.

"(Bentley) just outworked us," Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold told the Quinnipiac Chronicle. "We stole a win tonight. I thought our energy level was terrible tonight. I thought Bentley was the better team. I thought they played hard and competed, and I thought our guys just did not prepare well for the game tonight."

Players of the Week

Player of the Week:Matt Beca (Clarkson). Beca scored three goals last week, including the game-winner in overtime in Friday's 4-3 win over Niagara.

Rookie of the Week:Kyle Flanagan (SLU). Flanagan scored two goals with two assists in SLU's 4-3 win over Niagara. He also had the game-winner in that contest.

Goaltender of the Week:Robby Moss (SLU). Moss made 42 saves in a 3-1 win over RIT on Friday and stopped 21 of 24 shots in the game against Niagara.

ECAC in the Polls

Cornell, which has yet to officially start its season, remains the top-rated conference team in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll at No. 5 this week.

Yale is No. 8 and Princeton is No. 10. Neither of those teams have played yet, either. Quinnipiac, which has opened 3-0, is the No. 20 team this week.

Union and SLU received votes in this week's poll.

Last Week's Scores

Friday

Alaska Anchorage 3, RPI 0

St. Lawrence 3, RIT 1

Clarkson 4, Niagara 3 (OT)

Colgate 1, Nebraska-Omaha 1 (OT)

Union 3, St. Cloud State 3 (OT)

Saturday

Quinnipiac 3, Bentley 2 (OT)

St. Cloud State 3, Union 1

St. Lawrence 4, Niagara 3

Nebraska-Omaha 4, Colgate 1

Clarkson 5, RIT 3

RPI 1, Alaska 1 (OT)

This Weekend's Games

Friday

Colgate at UMass.-Lowell, 7 p.m.

McGill at Harvard (ex), 7 p.m.

Sacred Heart at RPI, 7 p.m.

American Int'l at Union, 7 p.m.

Windsor at Cornell (ex), 7 p.m.

Morrisville at Princeton (ex), 7 p.m.

Saturday

St. Lawrence at Clarkson (NC), 7 p.m.

McGill at Dartmouth (ex), 7 p.m.

American Int'l at RPI, 7 p.m.

Sacred Heart at Union, 7 p.m.

U.S. Under-18 at Cornell (ex), 7 p.m.

Sunday

Windsor at Princeton (ex), 2 p.m.

U.S. Under-18 at Colgate (ex), 7 p.m.

NOTE: There will be no blog post Friday because Clarkson only has one game this weekend.

This week's Clarkson Notes is an all-video edition courtesy of new flip camera's the Watertown Daily Times has purchased.

(Keep in mind I am not a trained cameraman, nor ready for ESPN, as you view these clips!)

I also hope to include some bonus behind-the-scenes type footage of Saturday's game against St. Lawrence University that will be posted sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Coach George Roll Interview

Matt Beca: ECAC Hockey Player of the Week

Freshman Adam Pawlick

Team Skate Before Practice Wednesday

(A view from the bench)

Today's edition of Pro Hockey Notes will deal with Clarkson's alumni in the American Hockey League and features plenty of video clips.

There are five ex-Golden Knights on AHL rosters at the moment: Matt Nickerson (Springfield), Randy Jones (Adirondack), Nick Dodge (Albany), Grant Clitsome (Syracuse) and Steve Zalewski (Worcester).

Also Clarkson's all-time winningest head coach, Mark Morris, is leading the Manchester Monarchs.

(One note: Instead of the stat box that traditionally will follow every player, I will be mentioning their stats in this mini-updates. )

Here's a brief look at every player:

Randy Jones

Jones, a defenseman,spent the last three years as a regular in the National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers, scoring 13 goals with 56 assists in 217 games.

He's beginning this season with the Flyers' AHL affiliate in Glens Falls, but that is more due to budgetary concerns. Jones is likely to be traded to an NHL team sometime in the near future.

So far in five games with Adirondack he's picked up one assist and has a minus-two rating.

By sending Jones to Adirondack the Flyers removed $2.75 million from their salary cap.

Steve Zalewski

Zalewski, a forward, had a brief two-game stint with the San Jose Sharks last weekend, but was sent back to Worcester Friday.

He made an immediate impact scoring two goals with one assist on Saturday in a 7-5 loss to Lowell (see video highlights of that game below, including his final goal at 2:34 of the clip)

Zalewski has two goals and two assists in five games for Worcester this season.

Nick Dodge

Dodge, a forward and former two-year Clarkson captain, had a goal of helping Albany get off to a better start this season.

The Carolina Hurricanes AHL affiliate finished last year 33-40-3-4 but so far the River Rats are 4-2 this season and lead the East Division.

"Nobody is thinking about last year anymore," Dodge told the Albany Times-Union. "Last year is last year. We got off to such a bad start, we were out of it 20 games into the season."

Dodge has two goals in the first six games for Albany and here's a clip of him speaking prior to the first day of training camp:

Grant Clitsome

Clitsome, a defenseman, got a long look by the Columbus Blue Jackets in training camp but is starting the season in Syracuse.

He has two assists and a plus-five rating after six games with the Crunch.

One preseason highlight for Clitsome came in a 5-2 win on Sept. 24 against the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

"Guys are getting a chance to play against teams who are playing full NHL rosters, or close to it," Clitsome told the Columbus Dispatch. "It's a great teast for some of the young guys."

In that game Clitsome played several minutes on the power play and had an assist and a plus-two rating.

He also got into a fight with Petr Kalus of the Minnesota Wild on Sept. 22. Here's a clip of that shot from the stands. The actual fight is a ways away, just watch the big guy in the blue jersey making a tackle that would make any NFL defensive coordinator proud.

Matt Nickerson

After spending the last two years playing in Europe, mostly Finland, Nickerson, a defenseman, is back in North America.

He was signed by the Edmonton Oilers in the offseason and has played in one game for their AHL franchise, the Springfield Falcons.

Nickerson had 179 penalty minutes in 38 games in his only season with Clarkson (2003-04) and had 145 and 156 minutes in his two seasons with Ilves Tampere of Finland.

Here's an interesting clip shot from Finland two years ago (watch the guy in the red No. 50 jersey).

Believe it or not, off the ice Nickerson actually is a nice guy.

NHL Goal Update

There was another Clarkson goal scored in the NHL this week, this one courtesy of Hobey Baker finalist Todd White of the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday:

This Day in Clarkson History

And, to wrap up this long post of videos, exactly two years ago today this moment happened in Cheel Arena as former St. Lawrence equipment manager George Frank was attempting to take a bunch of sticks to the Saint bench about an hour before gametime:

Clarkson gained a weekend nonconference sweep with a 5-3 win over the Rochester Institute of Technology Saturday before a sellout crowd of 3,310 at Cheel Arena.

Matt Beca scored a goal for a fourth straight game and added another goal in the third period to give him five already this season, tying him for the national lead.

Scott Freeman gave Clarkson the lead for good with a shorthanded goal at 14 minutes, 47 seconds of the first period.

Freshman Adam Pawlick scored a goal for a second straight night as did Brownville native Tim Marks.

RIT outshot Clarkson 45-29, but 16 of the Tigers shots came on power plays. Cameron Burt led RIT with two goals.

Three Stars

No. 3 Cameron Burt, RIT: two goals, including a power-play goal. Took seven shots.

No. 2 Scott Freeman, Clarkson: go-ahead shorthanded goal in first period.

No. 1 Matt Beca, Clarkson: two goals giving him five on the year. Finished at plus-two.

Bonus Quotes

Clarkson coach George Roll

"We did a lot of things well tonight and won a lot of battles along the wall."

On Beca, "He's not one of those guys that's going to wow you and be flashy, but he does so many little things well."

On Louke Oakley, "He's been very good. He's killing penalties and on the power play. He's been doing a very good job and using his speed to his advantage. He's a different player than he was last year. He's playing with a lot more confidence."

Brandon DeFazio

On his linemates, Beca and Julien Cayer: "I'm a grinder player. I'm a power forward and I know that's my role and that's what I have to do to help my teammates. Matt's a playmaker and Julien's a shooter."

Bonus Note

Clarkson coach George Roll and Bowling Green coach Wayne Wilson, former teammates at Bowling Green, talk about facing each other:

Roll"We were pretty good friends in college. I have a lot of respect for Wayne. It's a good rivalry right now."

Wilson"We've been going at it for a while. It's great to be able to play and great to see some of the former players as coaches. A lot of them have moved on into coaching. I guess Jerry York did a pretty good job."

Last Night

Clarkson 4, Niagara 3 (OT)

Matt Beca scored with 43.4 seconds left in overtime to end a strange game. Clarkson dominated the game in the first 10 minutes, scoring 3 minutes, 30 seconds in on a goal from Tim Marks. But the Golden Knights couldn't get a second goal past Niagara's Adam Avramenko. The Purple Eagles took a 2-1 lead in the second period, dominating play, only to see Clarkson score twice in 38 seconds on goals from Adam Pawlich and Bryan Rufenach to take a 3-2 lead. Niagara tied the game with a breakaway goal from Sam Goodwin in the third. Niagara outshot the Golden Knights 37-34, but Clarkson had a 15-7 edge in the third period and overtime. Neither team scored on the power play. Niagara had three chances and Clarkson two.

St. Lawrence 3, RIT 1

The Tigers have taken 74 shots on goal this season and scored just three times. Last night RIT had a 43-20 edge on SLU, but lost 3-1. The Tigers outshot the Saints 23-5 in the third period but only beat Saints goalie Robby Moss once, on a goal from Adam Hartley in the first period. RPI's Cameron Burt had the most frustrating night, taking eight shots with no points.

Clarkson Coach George Roll on RIT

"I thought they played very well against us last year and outshot us. Overall they had the better of the play, but (goalie Paul Karpowich) had an outstanding game. They are awfully agressive in all areas of the ice, especially on their penalty kill. They are the type of team you have to match their work ethic. They will bring it and put a lot of pucks on net."

Stat of the Night

Neither of these teams has had much success on the power play so far this season. Clarkson is 2 of 17 (11.8 percent) in its first three games and the Tigers are 0 of 8 after two games.

Who to Watch

Clarkson: As mentioned above, sophomore goalie Paul Karpowich played well against the Tigers last year, even if his save percentage stat was only .897. He made 35 saves and gave up four goals in a 6-4 win. Junior Brandon DeFazio has three career assists against RIT. Senior Matt Beca, who has a three-game, goal-scoring streak, has one goal and one assist. Senior Tim Marks and Junior Lauri Tuohimaa also have goals against the Tigers. Junior Scott Freeman has two career assists.

RIT:Tyler Brenner and Stevan Matic are the only two players on RIT's roster with career goals against the Golden Knights. Taylor McReynolds, Brent Alexin, Tyler Mazzei and Dan Ringwald all have assists against Clarkson. None of the Tiger goalies have faced Clarkson.

Last Meeting

Clarkson played its first game at RIT's Ritter Arena since the Tigers became an NCAA Division I program last season and came away with a wild 6-4 win. RIT led 2-0 after the first period, but Clarkson dominated the second, outscoring RIT 4-1 to take a 4-3 lead into the third. The Golden Knights added two more goals in the third and won despite being outshot 39-25.

Stats and Notes

Clarkson has won six straight games against RIT and is 2-0 against the Tigers in Cheel Arena. The Golden Knights have a 9-2-1 overall recodr against the Tigers and their last loss to RIT came in 1986 in a game played in Syracuse. RIT's last win in Potsdam over Clarkson was a 5-4 overtime victory at Walker Arena on Oct. 26, 1985. ... Although he is 3-0 against RIT since they became a Division I program, Clarkson coach George Roll actually has a losing record against the Tigers. Prior to arriving at Clarkson Roll coached NCAA Division III SUNY Oswego, and went 4-9-1 against the Tigers at that level. ... RIT head coach Wayne Wilson was a teammate of Roll's at Bowling Green. ... Clarkson is a minus-three in special teams this season. That stat counts power-play goals and subtracts opposing power-play goals. ... Clarkson has scored first in two of its three games this season. Last year Clarkson scored first 19 times and went 9-5-5. When the opposing team scored first a year ago the Golden Knights were just 1-14-2.

Clarkson survived a wild game and kept its unbeaten streak in games it leads after two periods alive on Friday night.

The Golden Knights defeated Niagara 4-3 in overtime before a crowd of 3,135 in a nonconference game at Cheel Arena.

Matt Beca scored with 43.4 seconds left in overtime to give Clarkson the win. The win also extended Clarkson's streak with two-period leads to 56 games (52-0-4).

Here are my three stars:

No. 3. Niagara's Sam Goodwin: game-tying goal in third period on a breakaway.

No. 2. Clarkson's Bryan Rufenach: one goal and one assists, eight shots on goal, plus-two.

No. 1. Clarkson's Matt Beca: game-winning goal in overtime, four total shots.

Leftover Quotes

Niagara coach Dave Burkholder"It had to be an entertaining game from a fan's perspective."

Clarkson coach George Roll"We didn't play our A-game, but we played well enough to win."

Clarkson's Tim Marks"When everyone got home (from Michigan) Sunday Night, I could tell everyone was down a little bit. After tonight's game it kind of feels like a couple years ago. Everyone's fired up to play. Everyone can't wait to skate tomorrow."

Bonus Note

I mentioned in the game preview that Clarkson struggled on faceoffs last weekend. Tonight the Golden Knights were 42-32. Marks led the way, going 14-5. Louke Oakley went 14-9.

Marks explained after the game why he has improved: "I know last year I struggled on faceoffs. This summer I worked on faceoffs a lot. When you are taking faceoffs against Craig Conroy every day you are going to get a little better. We'd do a best of five and he'd usually win four. I'd get the odd one in there if the puck bounced the wrong way. It helps me a lot. The pointers he gives me, like to get my hand a little lower and use my power. Most centers are smaller. If I get down and use my center of gravity, it's a little easier to get the puck."

Clarkson will host its 19th home opener at Cheel Arena at 7 tonight against College Hockey America's Niagara University.

The Golden Knights are 10-6-2 in home openers at Cheel and have a lifetime record of 210-81-32 in the building. Clarkson went just 5-7-5 at home last year, however.

The Golden Knights (0-2) opened the season on the road at Michigan State last weekend, losing 6-1 and 4-3.

Niagara opened at home with a 4-4 tie against Colgate University. Niagara went 16-14-6 last year.

Roll on Niagara

"Just going over their history they've always been very good on the power play against us and that's really been the difference in the games. We struggled last week and really need to do a better job of shutting down their power play. They are a high-energy team and have had solid goaltending." Clarkson coach George Roll.

Stat of the Night

Clarkson went just 2 of 15 (13 percent) on the power play last weekend. The Golden Knights now will face one of the better teams in the nation at killing penalties. Niagara went 6 for 6 against Colgate last weekend and going back to last year's CHA Tournament, Niagara has killed 11 consecutive penalties.

In its last five regular-season games, Niagara is 18 for 20 (90 percent) on the kill.

Who to Watch

For those new to the blog, this is usually based on how players have done against the opponent, unless it's a first-time in several years type matchup

Clarkson:Senior Matt Beca and sophomore Julien Cayer each have one goal and one assist against the Purple Eagles. Junior captain Scott Freeman and sophomore Louke Oakley each have two assists. Sophomore goalie Paul Karpowich came in in relief last year and played the last 31 minutes, 4 seconds of the game. He stopped 14 of 16 shots but was credited with the loss.

Niagara:Dan Baco and Bryan Haczyk are the only active players with goals against Clarkson. Chris Moran, Egor Mironov and Tyler Gotto each have two assists against Clarkson. None of Niagara's goalies have ever faced the Golden Knights.

Last Meeting

Clarkson played at Niagara in the second game of last season and things went well for the Golden Knights until late in the second period. Niagara wound up with a 4-3 win.

Clarkson led 2-1 after the opening period on goals from Lauri Tuohimaa and Julien Cayer. Phil Paquet, who graduated last May, gave Clarkson a 3-2 lead late in the second period on a power-play goal.

Niagara responded with a power-play goal from Vince Rocco with just 43 seconds left in the second period and the game-winning goal came from Bryan Haczyk at 11:08 of the third.

Stats and Notes

Clarkson is 2-1-1 against Niagara at cheel Arena and holds a 4-3-1 overall lead in the series. ... Clarkson struggled on faceoffs last weekend, going 62-76 (.449). Freshman Pete Massar was the only player who took several faceoffs to have a winning record, going 5-4. Here are some of the other individuals: Lauri Tuohimaa (14-14), Louke Oakley (15-20), Julien Cayer (7-7) and Corey Tamblyn (8-14). ... Niagara's Chris Moran is one point shy of the 100 mark for his career.

If the first weekend of the season is any indication, the University of Maine may not be ready for a turnaround.

The Black Bears, one of college hockey's premier programs, have won just 13 games in each of the last two years and have an overall record of 26-40-7.

Maine opened this season by dropping two games in Schenectady against Union, falling to the Dutchmen 4-1 and 6-3.

It marked the first wins for Union in program history against the Black Bears.

"We just wanted to get off on the right foot, and I think we did," junior John Simpson told the Albany Times-Union. "It's great for the program. Our goal coming in was to get two wins on them, especially after they dominated us up there (5-1, 3-1 losses) last year."

Maine coach Tim Whitehead was an assistant coach on the Black Bears' 1999 national championship team with Union coach Nate Leaman.

"Obviously it was a great weekend for Union," Whitehead told the Times-Union."They did a great job. They outworked us, they won the loose pucks. I'm surprised how flat we came out in the first period after getting beat last night. Union was very impressive in a lot of aspects of the game."

Engineers Head to Alaska

Rensselaer (1-1) will make the longest road trip of the season this year when it heads to Fairbanks, Alaska, to play Alaska Anchorage and the University of Alaska in a pair of nonconference games.

RPI will have to adjust to the Olympic-size ice sheet in Fairbanks. RPI's Houston Field House has an ice sheet that is 200 feet by 85. The Carlson Center sheet is 200 by 100.

The trip will not be new for Engineers coach Seth Appert, who faced these programs when he was an assistant coach at the University of Denver.

“What I have found is the speed of the forwards will help, but more importantly, you need to play with very good team intelligence on an Olympic-size ice sheet,'' Appert told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. “If you're undisciplined in your positional play, you can really get exposed on the big ice.

“We're going to stay aggressive and use our speed to our advantage, but at the same time you need to be very disciplined in your positional play and not give up easy opportunities to your opponents.”

Day Back From Injury

Colgate forward Brian Day scored three goals during the first weekend of the season after recovering from offseason hip surgery.

Day helped the Raiders get off to a 1-0-1 start against Niagara and RIT.

"I feel pretty good," Day told the Salem (Mass.) News. "I have more mobility, but it's not a noticible difference. Mostly I have less pain. In general, I'm just excited to be back with the team, back on the ice."

Players of the Week

Player of the Week: Quinnipiac forward Eric Lampe: scored three goals with one assist in two games against Ohio State.

Rookie of the Week:Union forward Jeremy Welsh: finished with two goals and one assist and a plus-three rating in two games against Maine.

Goaltender of the Week:Quinnipiac's Dan Clarke: Made 44 saves in a 3-1 win over Ohio State, including 20 in the final two periods.

ECAC in the Polls

Cornell is the highest ranked team in this week's U.S. College Hockey Online poll. The Big Red, who have not played yet this season, are No. 6.

Defending conference champion Yale, which also has not played, is No. 8. Another Ivy League team which has not played, Princeton, is No. 10.

Quinnipiac also joins the list at No. 18 after sweeping Ohio State last weekend.

This Weekend's Games

Friday

RPI vs. Alaska Anchorage, Fairbanks, 4:35 p.m.

RIT at St. Lawrence, 7 p.m.

Niagara at Clarkson, 7 p.m.

Nebraska-Omaha at Colgate, 7 p.m.

Union at St. Cloud State, 7:07 p.m.

Saturday

Bentley at Quinnipiac, 4 p.m.

Union at St. Cloud State, 5:07 p.m.

Niagara at St. Lawrence, 7 p.m.

Nebraska-Omaha at Colgate, 7 p.m.

RIT at Clarkson, 7:30 p.m.

RPI vs. Alaska, Fairbanks, 7:35 p.m.

Last Week's Scores

Thursday

Massachusetts 5, RPI 2

Quinnipiac 4, Ohio State 2

Friday

UMass.-Lowell 3, St. Lawrence 0

Union 4, Maine 1

Colgate 4, Niagara 4 (OT)

Michigan State 6, Clarkson 1

Quinnipiac 3, Ohio State 1

Saturday

St. Lawrence 5, Army 2

Michigan State 4, Clarkson 3

Union 6, Maine 3

RPI 3, New Hampshire 1

Colgate 3, RIT 2

Patrick McEachen and Jordan Ciccarello have been suspended by Clarkson University for the 2009-10 school year according to a few sources at the school.

Clarkson's Vice President of External Relations, Kelly Chezum, said the school cannot officially release the status of the two, other than to say they are not currently enrolled as students.

"We don't share the specific disciplinary status, but they are not currently enrolled at Clarkson," Chezum said.

The duo, along with a future recruit, Demetri Sakaris, were in Potsdam Village Court in early September for a scheduled arraignment on charges of sexual misconduct and child endangerment of a 16-year-old girl. The incident occurred during Clarkson's Hockey School back in July.

Both players have the option of playing junior hockey somewhere this season.

They cannot compete anywhere collegiately, unless it's at the NCAA Division III level.

If either player wants to transfer they'll have to spend at least one year as a student at the institution before they play a game.

The trio will face legal action sometime in the future.

Fast Start for Beca

Senior Matt Beca scored one goal in both games against Michigan State last weekend.

Last year the start for Beca wasn't as good. He scored on opening night against the Rochester Institute of Technology, then went four straight games without a point.

A consistent player throughout his career, Beca came back and emerged as one of Clarkson's top scorers, finishing with 11 goals and 13 assists.

"It's nice to get a goal or two early and get the weight off your shoulders," Beca said. "The longer it goes, the more you start squeezing the stick a little bit tighter, and stuff like that."

Beca is playing with his third different set of linemates this year.

He spent the early part of his career on a line with Steve Zalewski and last year was on a line with Chris D'Alvise and Shea Guthrie.

He was on a line with Brandon DeFazio and Lauri Tuohimaa for Clarkson's exhibition game against the University of Toronto. Last weekend Peter Massar took Tuohimaa's place on the line.

"The first couple years playing with Zalewski was nice," Beca said. "Last year kind of started over with D'Alvise and this year me and DeFazio have been together. We've been rotating through centers right now, but we'll find the right combination. It helps with everyone, just in case."

Pizzo Tries Forward

With a few players missing last weekend's game for disciplinary reasons, junior defenseman Tom Pizzo found himself playing forward on Clarkson's checking line with Matt Wilson and Corey Tamblyn.

"It was a little different kind of awareness up there," Pizzo said. "Instead of trying to hit guys, guys were trying to kill you. I liked it though. It gave me a little more perspective in the game. It was good to learn more of the forward systems and it gives you more of an insight, too, on playing defense."

Early in Friday's game against Michigan State Pizzo was knocked to the ice by the Spartans Matt Crandall shortly after receiving a pass.

"That rang my bell," Pizzo said. "I was coming in and I didn't expect to get the pass. You just take your licks and keep going."

RIT Impresses

Some may have wondered how RIT would fare when it changed from the Division III level to Division I after the 2004-05 season.

But it was only one year of struggling for the Tigers, who went 6-22-2 in 2005-06. Since that point RIT has gone 63-37-10 and has come close to making the NCAA Tournament.

Clarkson coach George Roll, who was a Bowling Green teammate of Tigers coach Wayne Wilson, along with assistant coach Brian Hills, is not surprised.

"They are very good hockey guys," Roll said. "They've gone with older kids. They get a lot of 20-year-old freshmen and that makes a big difference in terms of ability to step in and play right away. They've earned their success. They are the type of guys who do their homework and are very good in the recruiting area."

Roll also competed against the Tigers in his former job as head coach at SUNY Oswego.

"They've always played with a lot of energy," Roll said. "It's always a physical game. I don't think that's changed one bit. Obviously their talent level is better now."

Zalewski Fans

Several of Clarkson's current players were on the team for the final years of Steve Zalewski's career, so his NHL debut with the San Jose Sharks on Monday night was also watched in Potsdam.

"It's awesome," said Beca, a former linemate. "I texted him and he said he was excited. We watched it on the Center Ice package. It was pretty cool watching him out there."

Said Roll, "I was excited for Steve. He comes from a great family and he was a big part of our success here. That was his goal all along from the minute he walked on campus, to get a degree and get to the NHL. It just shows you what hard work and commitment can do. It's just a great thing for a quality guy."

Time for another Tuesday report on Clarkson alums competing in professional hockey.

A few updates before I get into the main part of this entry. My tentative plan is to rotate the news, so this week will focus on the NHL players. Next week will look at Clarkson players in the AHL and the week after that Clarkson players in other pro leagues like the ECHL and overseas. There will be a cycle so after that week I'll go back to NHL. I'll also try to provide statistics each week for the players involved.

One other note: I'm hoping to be able to provide video highlights of every NHL goal scored by a Clarkson alum (or other noteworthy NHL events) regardless of whether it's an NHL week on the blog.

Now, onto this week's report:

Capitals Happy Clark's Back

The Washington Capitals are a team some expect could win the Stanley Cup this season and if they do, it will be Clarkson's 1997-98 captain Chris Clark who will get to be the first player to hoist the trophy.

Clark is now the captain of the Capitals and the team is happy to have him back on the ice after he missed most of last season with injuries.

He only played in 32 games last year after dealing with a wrist injury. He played in game seven of a playoff series against the New York Rangers and was able to compete in all seven games of Washington's playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Here's a video report on Clark's return and his impact on the team, courtesy of NHL.com:

Zalewski's Debut

This may turn out to be a short callup to the San Jose Sharks for 2008 Clarkson grad Steve Zalewski.

But the rookie right wing had a solid opener Monday night against the Phoenix Coyotes in a game the Sharks wound up losing in a shootout after skating to a 0-0 tie.

Zalewski's time was limited. He played only seven shifts (by my count from watching the game online) and had a total of 5 minutes, 26 seconds of ice time. He had no shots and the only mistake he made was going offsides once.

He played on a line with Manny Malhotra and Jody Shelley.

Surprise Leading Scorer

It's early in the NHL season so the stats are a bit misleading, but the only Golden Knight alum who has scored a goal so far is Vancouver Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell, who now has two goals and two assists.

I posted Mitchell's first goal of the season last week and here is No. 2:

The Stats

Here are the current NHL stats for Clarkson players. You may notice Randy Jones is not listed. Due to some salary cap concerns he is not on the Philadelphia Flyers roster right now, instead playing with their minor league team in Glens Falls. Jones is expected to be traded in the near future and be on an NHL roster after that transaction.

Player (Team) Games G A PTS +/- PIM

Chris Clark (Capitals) 6 0 1 1 -1 9

Steve Zalewski (Sharks) 1 0 0 0 0 0

Todd Marchant (Ducks) 5 0 0 0 0 2

Craig Conroy (Flames) 6 0 2 2 0 5

Todd White (Thrashers) 3 0 0 0 -3 6

Willie Mitchell (Canucks) 5 2 2 4 +2 5

*Erik Cole (Hurricanes) 2 0 0 0 -2 0

Kent Huskins (Sharks) 6 0 1 1 +2 4

*injured