Unbeaten in 10 consecutive games, third-ranked Clarkson will look to stay hot as it welcomes Quinnipiac and Princeton to Cheel Arena this weekend for a pair of crucial Eastern College Athletic Conference games. The Bobcats come to Potsdam on Friday, followed by the Tigers on Saturday afternoon.
Guided by sixth-year co-head coaches Matt and Shannon Desrosiers, and assistant coach Matt Kelly, the Golden Knights currently stand at 21-4-3 (12-2-2) and sit two points behind Harvard, with a game in hand on the Crimson, for first place in the conference. With six games to play in the regular season, points are at a premium as the Knights try to secure the top spot.
Friday evening will be a top-10 matchup as Quinnipiac enters the game ranked eighth in the country. The Bobcats are in fourth place in the conference with a record of 17-4-7 (8-3-5) and are fighting with St. Lawrence for the four-seed and the right to host the quarterfinals in the ECAC playoffs.
Princeton enters the weekend desperate for points as well, as it is 11-9-3 (7-7-2) and currently in sixth place. A string of victories could move the Tigers into hosting a quarterfinal matchup, while a cold streak could keep them out of the tournament all together.
Senior Jamie Lee Rattray extended her points lead versus everyone else in the country as she posted her second consecutive six-point weekend in wins against Union (N.Y.) and Rensselaer. Her performance earned her a second consecutive and third overall ECAC Player of the Week award and she now has 48 points, four more than any other skater in the nation, and an NCAA-high 25 goals. She is also tied for the national lead in power-play goals with seven on the year.
Aiming to reach the century mark, senior Brittany Styner stands two points shy of 100 for her career and will look to be the eighth Golden Knight to hit the milestone. She would join classmates Rattray and captain Carly Mercer as active 100-point skaters.
Slap shots
Shannon Stewart is coming off a five-goal weekend for No. 1 Plattsburgh State, which plays at No. 3 Elmira this weekend. ... Ashley Ryan brought her points per game average to 1.74 with four points last weekend for Elmira. ... Norwich senior Tori Charron leads the Cadets with 19 goals this season. ... St. Thomas (Minn.) goalie Alise Riedel stopped 91 of 93 shots in three victories last week and now is 11-0-3 in her past 14 games.
With a week to go before hosting top-ranked Minnesota, Wisconsin leads the nation in scoring defense, giving up an average of 1.00 goals per contest. ... Cornell has won the past 11 games against Colgate. ... Five players have scored at least 17 points this season for Harvard. ... Rebecca Vint has a hat trick in two of Robert Morris' past three games. ... Minnesota's power play leads the nation at 29.2 percent (33-for-113).
