Did You Know: The Clarkson Hockey program has amassed 10,001 goals since the 1920-21 season?

Friday, April 28, 2006

Women Pick Up Another?

The USCHO forums now have Ashleigh Moorehead from the Syracuse Stars joining Clarkson's Women's Hockey Team for the 2006-2007 season. Any information on Moorehead has been difficult to find. The only statistical information we could dig up was from the 2005 Empire State Games. In five games, she recorded a 5-2-7 line as Central finished with a bronze medal. Information is so sparse, I can't even tell you if she's playing the blue-line or not, but as we get more information we'll pass it along.

Currently, the only official recruit confirmation we have is on Carlee Eusepi (D). Britney Selina (F) remains unofficial.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Hockey Blog Roundtable


Our friend Chris over at Western College Hockey sent us an e-mail asking us to participate in a college hockey roundtable discussion about our team. Here is our take on the 2005-2006 season.

Give a brief summary of your team's season.

Clarkson jumped out to a 9-4-1 start with the help of ten home games in the early going , and garnered some national attention. The Knights took a road trip to Ohio to take on #3 Miami and an offensively skilled Bowling Green squad. Clarkson showed some grit in a 5-4 comeback win over Bowling Green and went toe to toe with Miami in a hard fought 2-1 loss. After a second place finish at the Catamount Cup, losing to the #3 ranked Vermont Catamounts in the championship, Clarkson looked to its biggest test of the season, a date with #1 PWR ranked SLU in Ottawa. The Knights destroyed the Saints 6-2 in one of their best games of the year and things could not look better for Clarkson. A solid 12-6-2 record and all conference games left.

Then the wheels fell off.

Seven of the next eight games were on the road, and Clarkson lost seven of the next eight, with the lone win coming at Cheel against SLU. This stretch showed us two things. One, Clarkson had trouble playing on the road and two, the team had trouble playing on the road. In the end Clarkson finished up with a 14-2-2 record at home and a 3-15-0 record on the road. The Knights had a couple bright spots in the home stretch including a 3-1 victory at home over #3 ranked Cornell and a 8-2 pasting of Brown on senior day. Clarkson swept Princeton at home in the first round of the playoffs and traveled to Lynah to take on Cornell in the quarterfinals for a third straight year. Falling in two games to the Big Red with two double OT losses.

What were your thoughts on how your team's season ended?

I think this is best summed up in the 5 stages of grief:

DENIAL - That didn't go in.
ANGER - **** that went in.
BARGAINING - Maybe that was a high stick?
DEPRESSION - Crap, they're shaking hands.
ACCEPTANCE - We'll be back.

What offseason improvements can your team make to be better next year?

Obviously road play will need to improve. Clarkson had a potent offense this year and the biggest question marks were the defense and goaltending. With the emergence of David Leggio in net the Knights had a decent chance in every game down the stretch. The defense was very young and will be expected to develop and mature and look to start shutting opposing teams down. Clarkson also needs to find that "killer instinct" that the good teams have and finish teams off in the 3rd period instead of letting them hang around. I realize that games are not all 5-2 and 4-1 affairs, but with the youth of this team coming through, one goal games were not the most pleasant of experiences for fans.


Are there any players on your team that might leave for the pros during the offseason?

Here's a list of drafted players:
Mike Sullivan - Sr. F - LA Kings
Mike Grenzy - Sr. D - Chicago
Shawn Weller - Jr. F - Ottawa
Steve Zalewski - Jr. F - San Jose
Grant Clitsome - Jr. D - Columbus
Shea Guthrie - So. F - New York Islanders
Phil Paquet - So. D - Montreal
Tyrell Mason - So. D - New York Islanders

Considering Nick Dodge is not drafted, yet. I don't anticipate anyone leaving any time soon. Weller and Guthrie are the two players who could leave early, but I think the odds of this are very slim. Next year we might see some early departures, but I think these guys are looking to prove something as a team next season.

Which player(s) will be expected to carry the load for your team next season?

On offense it is Nick Dodge. No question he will be looking to continue his strong underclassman performance and being named captain of the team, he will have the Clarkson community watching his every move. He has the potential to put up big numbers and hopefully he can.

On the blue line, look for the development of Phil Paquet to come to the forefront. Grenzy and Clitsome are solid defenders, but Clarkson needs to roll three solid lines on defense to stay competitive. Paquet is a big player and has all the skills to be a force for the Knights. I look for him to start taking some more shots this year and really become an anchor for the defense.

In net, for right now, it's David Leggio. However expect coach Roll to go with Kyle McNulty or incoming freshman Matt Smith if things get shaky. Roll used two goaltenders to his advantage in the early part of the season and while Leggio might have the job for now, we could see a repeat performance this season.

Which player will be most vital to your team's success next season?

Shawn Weller needs to be the guy that takes the focus off Dodge. Weller had 14 goals this year and will need to repeat that performance in 2006-2007. Weller has the skills to be a 25-30 goal guy and if he can hit 20 goals or more this season, the Knights will be a team to watch in the ECAC.

What is your expectation for your team next season?

2006-2007 holds a great deal of potential for the Golden Knights. Coach Roll has his full set of recruits in place. He has cleared out what he considered problems with the system and the events of the Mark Morris fiasco are starting to become distant memories in Clarkson's fanbase. The talent is there, the question is will the talent work hard enough to win. Clarkson has the potential to be a Frozen Four team next year but they need to put in 60 minutes every game and not expect to win on talent alone. As far as expectations go, Clarkson needs to earn an ECAC first round bye and get a home ice spot for the second round of the playoffs. Then let things ride from there. I fully expect Clarkson to do this and earn a spot the ECAC Final fFour in Albany, and stay in contention for an NCAA at-large bid.

Is it October yet?

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Appert in at RPI


In what will be the worst kept secret in college hockey, RPI will announce Friday the hiring of Denver assistant coach Seth Appert as the new head coach. Appert is a 1997 grad from Ferris State and has been with the Pioneers since 1997 first as the volunteer assistant coach then he was promoted to a full time assistant coach in 1999. Ken Shcott's article is can be found here.
Appert's DU page can be found here.

Our friends at letsgodu are on offseason vacation. I'm sure something witty from them will be coming when they re-open.

***UPDATE***
RPI has made it official.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Big Addition for Women

The USCHO forums, which are usually pretty spot-on in regards to recruiting, have been a-buzz about LW Britney Selina, who according to posts has commited to Clarkson. The power-forward had a 27-12-39 line for Etobicoke in the PWHL in 28 games, which included four hat tricks. Selina was also on Team Ontario Red squad which won the U-18 National Championship, along with incoming defenseman Carlee Eusepi. If it pans out, another huge pick up for a talented squad, already expected to be a strong team going into 2006-2007.

Also, congratulations go out to assistant coach Shannon Smith who completed her first ever Boston Marathon yesterday running a blistering 3:10:27, easily beating my trip into the city on the T by a solid half an hour.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Hard Hat Required


Two fellow ECACHL members are making significant changes to their hockey arenas. Over at Cornell work began on the renovation of Lynah Rink after the last home game. Progress can be monitored on the Lynah Faithful Blog. Quinnipiac is nearing completion on the TD Banknorth Sports Center which will feature a basketball and hockey venue. Photos and info can be found here. From what can be seen it appears Quinnipiac's arena will be very similar in size and sight lines to Cheel.

We're expecting an announcement on RPI's new head coach any day now, and when the news breaks we'll be the fourth or fifth outlet to break it to you, cause that is the type of service we deliver.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Somewhat Breaking News


Clarkson Hockey Fans is reporting that USCHO is reporting that the New Haven Register is reporting that Keith Allain has taken the job at Yale. You can read all about him here, as we have no idea who this guy is. However our lack of knowledge does not prevent us from welcoming him the the ECACHL.

Hi, we're the Replacements.


According to this article by Ken Schott the RPI coaching vacancy is down to the final three. Perennial candidate Stan Moore was removed from consideration earlier this week and is expected to stay at Providence. Expect RPI to pick between Boston College assistant, Mike Cavanaugh, Ohio State assistant, Casey Jones and former Clarkson coach, Mark Morris, within the next week.

In New Haven the final four have been announced. Yale's timetable seems a bit more unstable and an announcement could be a little ways off.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Most Impressive.

I took in a good portion of the Boston College / Wisconsin game and it was a lot of fun to watch. The final two minutes were fairly insane, and for it to end with a shot ringing off the post with a second remaining was amazing. A big thumbs up to the officiating crew, who decided to go to the replay despite the fact that the Wisconsin bench had emptied to celebrate. Best to make sure that the game was decided properly as Buffalo Sabres fans will point our regularly. Of course, congratulations to the Wisconsin Badgers on the Championship Season.

So with Hockey Season over where does this leave us?

Brett and I will be doing our best to update the site a couple of times a week with:


  • Updates on Clarkson Alumni in the NHL
  • Recruiting Updates for both the Men and Women
  • Random interviews whenever we can snag them.
  • Musings about hockey in general, both college and pro.
  • Complaining or unnecessary praise for the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox
  • Links to other college hockey blogs.
  • and uh.. much much more!

Friday, April 07, 2006

Last Game of The Season

What gives?! Having the opening round of the Frozen Four on a Thursday is pretty ridiculous. It turns out I missed a pretty high scoring affair between Boston College and North Dakota, which BC won 6-5. All accounts of the game were pretty lopsided in favor of BC, as they busted out to 5-2 and 6-3 leads in the second and the third. Despite this, North Dakota made a hell of a game out of it, scoring a short handed goal with about four minutes left in the game, and then an extra-attacker notch with thirteen seconds left. I couldn't imagine how devastating it would've been had UND found a way to tie it up.

I did catch a good portion of the night cap, that had Wisconsin doing just enough to stay ahead of Maine the entire way. It looked like Maine was going to try to mount a come back after cutting the deficit down to 3-2 in the third, with some really intelligent goaltending by Ben Bishop. Bishop continued keeping the puck alive, and the action brisk, which finally broke down Wisconsin and provided Maine some good scoring opportunities, one of which hit the back of the net. Wisconsin was able to respond immediately though giving them a two goal cushion, and an empty netter at the end of the game finished the deal.

So it's Hockey East / WCHA tomorrow at 7:00 on ESPN. I'm not sure if it's the camera angles or what, but these guys are all flying out there. The pieces of it that I've had the opportunity to watch have been top quality, and it should be an awesome game. I'm still annoyed that they would choose to have the Frozen Four on a Thursday/Saturday as opposed to Friday/Sunday. Is ESPN showing the NCAA Gymnastics championship on Sunday or something? While the Frozen Four is not March Madness, it's always a sell-out draw come finals, and a lot of fun to watch on television. Combine this with having some top tier commentators, and it becomes even better. Why leave a bunch of hockey fans out to dry by having the games on Thursday, especially when you're out west. In the future, go 5:00p/8:00p and on Friday/Sunday so we can all watch!

Monday, April 03, 2006

Nick Dodge Named MVP, 2006-2007 Captain

Clarkson sophomore forward Nick Dodge was named the Golden Knight's team MVP, and the Captain for the 2006-2007 season at the booster banquet held on April 1st, at Sergi's in front of a fine spread that included pizza rolls no doubt. Dodge had a 16-25-41 line on the season. He led the league in short-handed goals in four, and had a +9 skater rating for the season. No assistants were named at the banquet.

Other Award Winners:

  • Chris Brekelmans - Mike Morrison Coaches Award
  • Jeff Genovy - Unsung Hero Award
  • Jamie McKinven - Fran Neragin Award
  • Matt Curley - Knight Club Award