Fletcher Leaves for North Dakota

Last week, University of North Dakota announced that defenseman Kelsey Fletcher has joined the Sioux squad after her Freshman season at Clarkson. Fletcher had a one goal and three assists, with a +9 skater rating for the Knights, and will likely make a major impact for North Dakota who went 7-27-2 in 2005-2006.

Fletcher was one of Clarkson's top recruits coming in last season, and was a finalist for Ms. Minnesota Hockey. With no players graduating this season, and the battle for playing time growing more competitive this season, we're pleasantly surprised that we haven't heard more announcements like this.

We suspect we'll be hearing from Coach Rick Seeley shortly about this season's recruits. If the rumor mill is any indication, it's going to be a fun season.

Parker to Launch Carleton Program

Former Clarkson coach Fred Parker has been named the first Men's Ice Hockey coach at Carleton University. Parker, who was an assistant at Clarkson, took over the head coaching duties of the Golden Knights after Mark Morris' release during the 2002-2003 season. He'll be building the Carleton University Raven's team from scratch, starting with an 18 game exhibition schedule this season, and entering OUA / CIS play in 2007-2008. Following his stint at Clarkson, Parker was behind the bench for the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL as an assistant.

Men's Hockey Schedule Announced

Right on cue, almost immediately after e-mailing sports information guru Gary Mikel, this year's Men's Hockey Schedule has appeared on the Clarkson Athletics website.

Some of the highlights of this year's campaign include:

• Home Weekend Openers against Niagara and RIT
  
• Out of Conference Matchups against St. Cloud State, Lake Superior, UMass, Providence, Bowling Green and Miami
  
• The Badger Showdown Tournament, featuring Wisconsin, Lake Superior and Providence.
  
• Clarkson/SLU at Cheel on December 5th, at SLU on January 23rd. Both games are on Tuesday which is great for the students on campus, but sucks for anyone out of town.
  
• Two exhibitions, one against USA Under-18, the other against Western Ontario
  
• 22 ECACHL games. Opening against Harvard on November 3rd.
  

October 7th's game will be a milestone in Clarkson Hockey as the Knights will play their 2,000th game against Rochester Institute of Technology at Cheel Arena.

Cole Back on the Ice, Carlson Center

Former Clarkson standout, and Carolina Hurricanes star Erik Cole finally got a chance to hit the ice in practice after suffering a devastating injury in March. Hurricanes fans are still holding out hope that Erik will get a chance to play in the Conference or Stanley Cup Finals if the Hurricanes advance. The Hurricanes lost the opening game of their series against the Buffalo Sabres, and are down 1-0. Todd Marchant's Mighty Ducks are also down 1-0 in their series, falling to Edmonton 3-1.

I had a chance to visit the Carlson Center in Fairbanks, Alaska, home of the UAF Nanooks earlier this week for a high school graduation while visiting family. The place looks "rustic" to say the least, with the Carlson Center sign out front oxidizing away. In addition, has a bonus teal/blue color that makes the roof of Cheel and CAMP look like they're in place with their surroundings.

While the ice was not in place, you can tell that this place is probably pretty intimidating when there's a packed house, which at Carlson is about 4,600. Nothing like coming off the plane in Fairbanks, or the six hour road trip from Anchorage to show up in -40 degree weather and see a tight two-tier arena filled to the brim. Having two levels puts pretty much every seat close to the ice. It would've been great to see a hockey game up there, but alas, I'll have to settle for Gallagher instead if I can snag tickets.

It's not that we don't like hockey...

It's just that when we're not involved, there's not much to say.

Of the Clarkson Alums still vying for the Stanley Cup, only two remain, Todd Marchant of the Mighty Ducks and Erik Cole of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Cole hasn't played as he's still recovering from a fractured vertebrae from earlier in the season. With Carolina on the verge of a sweep of New Jersey, Hurricane fans are holding out hope that he'll be able to skate in the Conference or Stanley Cup Finals. He has been seen milling around the arenas during games, has moved onto a soft brace, and has been seen without the brace from time to time.

Todd Marchant appeared to not want to go to Anaheim at the beginning of the season when they tried to trade him, then ended up on the Ducks when they circumvented his no trade by having Columbus put him on waivers. It's probably not so bad now that Anaheim crushed Colorado in a sweep, with Marchant heading into the Conference Finals as well. Todd has a ridiculous +10 skater rating in the playoffs so far with a 2-6-8 line, while his former teammates are golfing right now.

No real big news on either then Men's or the Women's Teams. We have yet to see an official recruiting press release from the Women's Team, so we can only assume that Coach Seeley is putting the finishing touches on his squad for 2006-2007. We suspect that we'll be seeing schedules or at least tentative ones in the near future as well.

One last note, congrats go out to former Clarkson goalie Chris Bernard, he was named the first full-time hockey coach at Western New England College (WNEC) which is a D-III squad in the ECAC. Looks like a ton of former Clarkson guys behind the bench suddenly.