Women's Hockey - Clarkson v. Wayne State

After a closely contested weekend at home against Robert Morris, the Clarkson Women's Hockey team skated away with a sweep over the Colonials, taking the Friday game 1-0, and the Saturday game 3-1. This week, the Knights head to Deeeeeeeee-troit to face the Wayne State Warriors in non-conference play.

Last weekend, Stephanie Hansen started both games in net for an injured Kira Hurley and came away with two victories, thanks to timely saves and a solid defense in front of her.. On Friday, she earned the Knights 3rd shut-out of the season, stopping all 16 shots she faced. Despite putting 36 shots on net, the only marker the Knights could tally was the game winner on a 5 on 3 power play from Ashley Shaidle. The following night was more of the same. The Colonials actually jumped on the board in the first two take a 1-0 lead, but were held to a total of eight shots on net the entire game. Clarkson opened up with 33 shots on net, and behind Genevieve Lavoie's two goal performance, took the victory which was sealed away by Carlee Eusepi midway through the 3rd.

The Warriors are coming off a wild weekend where they were pummled by Minnesota State 6-1 on Friday night, then came roaring back on Saturday for a 7-3 win. The Knights defense will need to key in on Melissa Boal who is the leading scorer for Wayne State with 16 points on 12 goals and 4 assists this season. The Boal, DiPietro, Poyton trio has made the majority of the magic happen for the Warriors with a combined 34 points on the season. The remainder of the team has 31 combined. It appears a platoon is in place between juniors Valery Turcotte and Tiffany Thompson in net, but neither has stood out, with both fielding GAA's in the 3.00+ range and save percentages in the mid to upper .800's. It would not surprise me to see both in net this weekend.

For the Knights the score sheet is topped by youth right now. freshman Britney Selina leads the team in scoring with ten points, Lavoie and sophomore Marie Jo-Gaudet close behind. Melissa Marshall is certainly making the most of her Senior year as well with two goals and five assists. Every Knight skate has a point this season, and everyone is contributing.
This weekend the Knights will likely be without All-American Hurley again who is apparently recovering from a post-concussion injury that was recently aggravated. The Knights hope to have her back for conference play next week against Cornell and Colgate but in the meantime it appears Stephanie Hansen will get the call against the Warriors.

If there's any upside to this, it's that the defensive unit is really baring down to the level they were at last year. It's hard not to get the win when you only allow eight shots on net. Hansen has proven herself capable over the past few years and Clarkson fans should feel pretty confident that the majority of those shots that are put on on net don't go in. Wayne State falls in the same dangerous category as Robert Morris. They nearly upset St. Lawrence in Canton early in the season after taking a 4-1 lead early in the second behind several power-play goals. St. Lawrence ended up coming back to take that game 5-4, but the point is, if you make mistakes, the Warriors are talented enough to make life miserable for you. The usual for Clarkson, outshoot, stay out of the box, and don't give up any scoring opportunities.

Predictions:

• Clarkson 3, Wayne State 1
  
• Clarkson 4, Wayne State 3