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Clarkson University Athletics

JacomeRPI19
photo by Schuyler Meyer

Men's Hockey Opens New Year Hosting RPI & Union

12/31/2019 10:45:00 AM

After a 19-day layoff Clarkson will look to regain the momentum generated from a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) it took into the exam/holiday break. The 4/6th-ranked Golden Knights, guided by ninth-year Head Coach Casey Jones, Associate Head Coach Josh Hauge and Assistant Coach Mike Towns enter the New Year with a 12-3-2 overall record and a 6-1 ECAC Hockey mark, good for second place in the 12-team league standings, just two points shy of first. 

The Green and Gold, who closed out 2019 with a 2-2 tie and a 4-2 win in a key non-league series at Michigan Tech on December 13-14, open a four-game home stand at Cheel Arena this weekend, hosting Capital District rivals Rensselaer and Union as they return to ECAC Hockey play.

Both games can be viewed live streamed on ESPN+ (US) and StretchInternet (international).

Clarkson opened conference action on November 8-9 with a road sweep of Union and RPI. The Knights skated past the Dutchmen for the fourth time in the past five meetings with a 5-1 win in Schenectady, and edged the Engineers 2-1 for their eighth straight win in their series.
• The Knights enjoyed one of their best first halves of the 2000s with 12 victories and a .765 winning percentage. Clarkson's three losses have come against Providence (ranked 12th at the time), 4-2 on October 19; at Wisconsin (ranked 6th), a last second 4-3 defeat in Madison on October 25; 4-2 ECAC setback to Cornell (ranked 3rd) on November 15.
• Stingy defense and solid specialty-teams play led the way for the Green and Gold in 2019.
• Clarkson ranks sixth nationally in scoring defense, allowing only 1.82 goals per game. The Knights have not allowed more than two goals in a game over the past 6 contests since November 16.
• Clarkson is second in the country in combined special teams play (81-137, 59.1%).
• Strong throughout the first semester, the Knights' shorthanded unit ranks sixth, killing off  90.1% (64-71) of opponent power plays.
• The Knights' power play really kicked into gear as the first half came to a close, hitting for seven goals in 15 man-advantage attempts over the last three games (46.6%). Clarkson set a record for consecutive power-play goals, connecting for three in a 53-second span in the come-from behind 4-2 win at Michigan Tech in the final game before the break. Overall the power play is ranked sixth in the nation, clicking at 25.8% (17-66).
• Offensively, the Green and Gold are ranked 19th in Division I, averaging 3.06 GPG.
• The Knights have outscored their opponents 20-8 during the current six-game unbeaten stretch.
• Five Clarkson players are scoring in double figures, led by Devin Brosseau with 23 points. The Knights' captain, Brosseau is second in the nation in points per game (1.53). Through 15 games, the left wing has tallied seven goals and 16 assists. Brosseau, a graduate student, has amassed 106 career points (39-67) through 131 games. 
• Senior right wing Haralds Egle is second in scoring for the Knights with 20 points on seven goals and 13 assists playing in all 17 games. He has tallied eight points (3-5) over the past four games. Egle is bidding to become the next Clarkson player in the century club with 93 career points (37-56) through 120 games.
• Frank Marotte has played every minute in the Clarkson goal and is rated among the top goaltenders in the country. The graduate transfer posts a .939 save percentage (7th), a 1.75 goals against average (7th) and a .765 winning percentage (5th) on an 12-3-2 record. He started his Clarkson career with six consecutive 30+ save outings, including a season-high 38-save effort in 4-0 shutout over Wisconsin (ranked sixth in the country at the time) in Madison on October 25. He posted 37 stops in the 2-2 tie at Michigan Tech, including 17 in the third period, Marotte, who starred at Robert Morris the previous three years, has twice been selected ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week (10/14, 11/25) and was named conference Goaltender of the Month for October.
• After being outshot in each of their first six games, the Knights have held the shot advantage in nine of the last 11 games.
• Twenty-one of the Knights' 22 skaters have recorded at least one point and 16 players have scored at least one goal. 
• Ten different Knights have accounted for the 11 game-winning goals with junior Connor McCarthy and sophomore Chris Klack leading the way with two deciding goals.
• McCarthy leads the Knights' blueline in scoring with five goals (all on the power play) and five assists. Eight of his career nine goals have come on the man-advantage. He has tallied five points (4-1) over the past four games.
• Freshman forward Mathieu Gosselin was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week (12/16) after recording an assist in each game at Michigan Tech. He has four points (1-3) through 16 games.
• Sophomore center Josh Dunne shares the Clarkson goal-scoring lead with Brosseau and Egle with seven. The assistant captain also has eight assists for 15 points. 
• Brosseau, Egle and Dunne share the team plus/minus lead at +8.  
• Zach Tsekos is making a significant impact up front in his first season on the ice with the Golden Knights. The junior transfer, who starred at Sacred Heart (2016-18), has 13 points (5-8), including six (2-4) in the past five games. 
• Junior defenseman Jere Astren, who missed 13 of the first 14 games because of injuries, scored his first goal in over a year with the Knights' second power-play goal goal during the 53-second burst in the come-from-behind 4-2 victory at Michigan Tech. Astren missed the final 22 games last season due to an injury. 
• Right wing Anthony Romano leads the Clarkson rookies in scoring with four goals and two assists.  He is a 2019 Arizona Coyotes draft choice (6th round, 176 selection). 
• The Knights are 10-0-1 when leading through two periods this season and 53-2-4 when holding the lead through 40 minutes since the 2017-18 campaign. 
• Clarkson has gotten off to solid starts, netting the first goal in 10 of 17 games while outscoring the opponents 15-8 through the opening 20 minutes.  The Knights are  9-0-1 when scoring first.

Scouting Rensselaer
Rensselaer owns a 6-10-1 overall record and stands in eighth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 3-5-1 league mark. The Engineers closed out 2019 with a hard-fought game against Top-10 ranked Massachusetts on Sunday, falling 5-3 after the Minutemen scored twice in the third period to gain the win in Troy, NY. RPI's last victory was a 2-1 overtime triumph against Brown at Houston Field House on December 7. The Engineers went 3-7-1 over the final two months of 2019. RPI is 3-6 at home and 3-4-1 in road games. RPI has been outscored 55-44 through its first 17 games.

Scouting Union
Union, which plays at St. Lawrence on Friday, enters the North Country with a 5-13-1 overall record and a 3-5 conference mark, tied for ninth in the ECAC Hockey standings. The Dutchmen are coming off a 1-1 tie against nationally-ranked Providence on Sunday in the second round of the Catamount Cup. Union lost to host Vermont 2-0 in Saturday's first-round action. Union edged Merrimack 3-2 in Schenectady on December 13 for its last win. After opening the season with seven straight losses, the Dutchmen have gone 3-2-1 since mid-November. Union is 3-6 in road games and 2-7 on its home ice at Achilles Arena.

The Series
Clarkson has won eight straight over Rensselaer and leads the overall series, which dates back to the 1924-25 campaign, 98-51-11. Clarkson has won 11 of the last 12 over the Engineers. The Knights have outscored RPI 24-3 in their last six meetings. 
Clarkson won 2-1 in Troy on November 9 in their first meeting this season. Last year the Green and Gold won 6-0 at Houston Field House in early November and 5-2 at Cheel in mid-January. The Engineers snapped a scoreless stretch to the Knights of 279:07 in that loss. The Engineers' last win over Clarkson was a 2-1 victory at Cheel on January 28, 2017.  Haralds Egle has 12 points against RPI on five goals and seven assists.  

The Knights hold a 34-27-5 advantage in their all-time series against Union. After a strong surge by the Dutchmen over the last 10 years, the Green and Gold have reclaimed the advantage in the series and have won six of the last eight meetings, including a 5-1 in Schenectady on November 8 to open the ECAC Hockey campaign. The teams split last season with each winning on its home ice. Union edged the Green and Gold 3-2 in Schenectady on November 3, 2018 while Clarkson skated to a 5-1 triumph in Potsdam on January 11. Clarkson swept the series in 2017-18, winning 3-2 at Cheel on November 17, 2017 and 4-1 at Messa Rink on January 12, 2018.  Devin Brosseau (3-3) and Jack Jacome (2-4) have a team-high six points in the rivalry. Haralds Egle has four points and two goals. 
 
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