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

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Hi Nick. I don't know if you're heard of us. We're kind of a big thing around here.

The Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes selected Nick Dodge with the 183th pick in yesterday's NHL Draft. Dodge, the last player to go in the sixth round, was Clarkson's MVP last year and will be captain this year. He lead all Golden Knight skaters with a 16-25-41 line, and in a couple of years, we might see him zipping around the ice with Erik Cole. One thing about Carolina, they sure know where to pick up good young hockey players.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Carolina, Cole Win Stanley Cup



Congratulations go out to former Clarkson Golden Knight, Erik Cole, who will be immortalized on the Stanley Cup after the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Cole, who returned to the ice after being out 3 1/2 months with fractured vertabrae, made his presence felt. Buzzing around the ice and creating scoring chances, he lead all Game 7 players in hits with a whopping nine, and was tied for the hits lead in Game 6.

Erik will get his day with the Cup, and perhaps we'll even see it take a jaunt through Oswego, up 81, and into the North Country for all to see.

I told you so. Kinda.

So I didn't flat out go out on a limb and call Peter Laviolette out last week when talking about the potential of Erik Cole playing, at least in the blog (I did on some message boards...) But I did float the idea that Laviolette was being a sneaky punk and masking Erik Cole's status for a surprise return, either as an emotional boost and/or getting 10-15 solid minutes of playing time out of him, and I was right. Except for the emotional boost part, because he totally blew that one.

Sure, the Carolina crowd is going to be excited to see Erik take the ice. In fact, instead of Cam Ward being introduced last they'll probably introduce him last for extra effect. But now they KNOW he's going to be there.. There's no surprise. I'm sure the Edmonton crowd raised their eyebrows when they saw him hit the ice, and the team was pumped. There's no doubt in my mind that RBC Center is going to be basically shaking when he walks out of the locker room, but something says to me this could've been even more..

It's great to see Erik return, it all seemed kind of weird that Carolina had ended his season three weeks ago when he was targetted to return at the beginning of the Playoffs, fortunately for Clarkson fans, that whole season ending thing, it never happened.

Friday, June 16, 2006

Draft Notes

In this article by Hockey's Future, Clarkson captain Nick Dodge was the 32nd ranked undrafted college prospect. Dodge has been passed over the past two years but a solid sophomore year has turned some heads. Clarkson currently has 8 drafted players on the roster.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Cole Wants In

Former Clarkson star Erik Cole mentioned in a pre-game skate that he hoped to get into game six or game seven of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and that he feels like he's ready to go. His coach pretty much quashed that immediately saying that based on tests taken three weeks ago, that his season was over, but rumor is spreading that he's set to undergo another round of tests in the next day or two. If he clears those and gets medical clearance, there's still an outside chance of him hitting the ice during the Stanley Cup.

It's always tough to read hockey coaches because unlike football, it's part of the game to mask injuries and progress to protect their players, but Laviolette seems adamant that Erik won't be on the ice again this season. Still it'd be nice just to see him take an opening faceoff in front of an insane crowd.

Friday, June 09, 2006

***New Recruits***

Clarkson added two new forwards for the 2007-2008 season. David Cayer's younger brother Julian and left winger Brandon DeFazio has shown up on Chris Heisenberg's recruit page. Julian Cayer is listed as a recruit for 2007 or 2008 and DeFazio will most likely be playing another year in Milton (OPJHL) where he had 10 goals and 6 assists in 36 games last winter.

EDIT - It looks like DeFazio was traded to Oakville late last season and had a very strong showing for the Blades in the playoffs. Posting a 6-13-19 line in 23 playoff games.

***UPDATED WITH PROFILES 6/12/06***

Monday, June 05, 2006

Women's Schedule Announced

The Women's Hockey Team will take to the ice on September 29th at Cheel Arena this year. Hockey in September? Spectacular! The team, which will be entering their fourth season, will be stacked with experienced players, along with the addition of some solid recruits, and yes, they are NCAA eligible. You can find the entire schedule here.

Some highlights:

  • Season Openers on September 29th/30th at Cheel against UVM
  • Home and Home Series against St. Lawrence, October 20th in Canton, October 21st at Cheel.
  • OOC games against UVM, Mercyhurst, Robert Morris, Wayne State, Niagara, Boston College, and Northeastern
  • Meetings against six of the top ten teams in the country.
  • Six evening games at Cheel this year.
  • NCAA Frozen Four in Lake Placid (where all tournaments should be...)

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Beausoleil Transfers

Senior defenseman Nathan Beausoleil has left Clarkson to play for St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 3 years at Clarkson Nathan played in 43 games, scoring 2 goals and registering 9 assists. Best of luck to Nathan and to St. Mary's.