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Clarkson Competes Against the Best at Desert Classic

DesertClassic18

Men's Hockey | 12/19/2018 2:30:00 PM

A challenging tournament closes out the 2018 portion of the schedule for Clarkson University as the Golden Knights travel out west to compete in the Desert Classic in Glendale, AZ on December 28-29. Four of Division I's top 20-ranked teams will compete in the nation's toughest holiday tournament with 19th-ranked Clarkson battling No. 13 Arizona State in the first round at 9:30 p.m. EST, while No. 8 Minnesota State takes on defending national champion, No. 3 Minnesota Duluth in the other game on Friday at Gila River Arena. Clarkson will play in the 6:30 p.m. EST game on Saturday against either UMD or Minnesota State.  As the host team, Arizona State will play at 9:30 p.m. EST on Saturday.
 
• Guided by eighth-year Head Coach Casey Jones and assistants Josh Hauge and Brent Brekke, Clarkson has won five of its last seven to stand at 9-6 entering the break. The Golden Knights are in an eighth-place tie in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 3-3 league mark, but have games in hand on all the teams in front of them except one. 
• In its last action, the Green and Gold split a home-and-home North Country series with St. Lawrence on December 7-8. Clarkson suffered its first loss in five meetings with the Saints, falling 4-2 in Canton, but came back the next night in Potsdam to shut out its archrival for the first time in over 20 years with a 3-0 whitewash at Cheel Arena. 
• Clarkson faces three unfamiliar opponents in the Desert Classic having played the other teams in just a combined 14 games. 
• Arizona State has been the Knights most recent foe among the three with the Green and Gold sweeping the Sun Devils in Potsdam (3-2, 4-1) in their only meetings on November 27-28, 2015.
• Of the tournament's three other teams, Clarkson has played Minnesota-Duluth the most times with the Bulldogs holding a 6-2 series lead. In their last meetings, UMD swept a weekend series (4-1, 4-2) at Cheel Arena on January 3-4, 2011.
• Clarkson and Minnesota State have faced off four times with each winning twice. The teams spilt a series in Mankato, MN in their last games with Mavericks winning the first night (6-3) and the Knights winning the second night (5-4) on January 5-6, 2001.
• After going 10 years without an in-season tournament title, and with just one championship in 21 seasons, prior to the 2016-17 campaign,  Clarkson has claimed the title in its past two holiday tournaments. The Knights rang the Bellpot Bell as 2017 Friendship Four tournament champions after defeating RPI (2-0) and Providence (4-2) on November 24-25 at SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 2016, the Green and Gold skated away with the Shillelagh Tournament crown after getting past Yale (2-2 tie, 3-1 shootout win) and host Notre Dame (2-0) at Compton Family Arena in South Bend, IN on November 24-25. 
• The Knights' only other in-season tournament crown in the 2000s came in 2006 when they won the Badger Showdown with victories over Wisconsin (6-2) and Lake Superior State (3-2) at the Kohl Center in Madison, WI on December 29-30.
• Prior to that, Clarkson won the 1995 RPI Invitational on December 29-30 with victories over Providence (4-3) and Illinois-Chicago (4-2). The Knights won the 1989 Syracuse Invitational Tournament on December 29-30 with wins over Northeastern (6-4) and Colgate (5-3).
• Clarkson is 6-3 in non-league games, going 2-0-0 vs WCHA (defeating Michigan Tech 3-1, 3-1), 2-1 vs Atlantic Hockey, 1-2 vs the Big 10 and 1-0 vs ECAC Hockey out-of-conference game.
• Clarkson's defensive effort ranks 10th in the NCAA, allowing only 2.20 goals per game (second lowest overall average in ECAC Hockey, behind only Quinnipiac - 1.76).
• Offensively, the Knights are averaging 3.27 goals per game, 13th in the NCAA (third best overall in ECAC Hockey, behind Quinnipiac - 3.71 and Harvard - 3.64).
• The Knights' scoring margin is 12th in the NCAA at 1.07 (second best overall in ECAC Hockey, behind Quinnipiac - 1.94).
• Clarkson began the season by scoring the opening goal in each of the first 12 games. The Knights are 9-4 when scoring first
• The Knights are 9-0-0 when leading after two periods.  Since the 2015-16 campaign, Clarkson is 55-5-6 when leading through 40 minutes.
• Clarkson starts fast and finishes strong, outscoring the opponents 14-8 in the first period and 21-9 in the final 20  minutes of regulation. The Green and Gold have been outscored 16-14 in the middle frame.
• Six different Knights have accounted for Clarkson's seven goals in the first three games of December with junior Haralds Egle leading the way with two scores.
• Through the first 15 games of the season, 16 Knights have scored at least one goal and 22 of the 24 skaters have recorded at least one point. 
• Junior co-captain Nico Sturm leads the Green and Gold in scoring with 17 points on seven goals and a team-high 10 assists. He has tallied at least one point in 13 of the first 15 games. ECAC Hockey's Best Defensive Forward last season, Sturm holds a team-high +10 plus/minus rating and shares the team lead among forwards for block shots with 11. He is Clarkson's top center at the faceoff circle, winning 57.2% (131-98) of his draws. Sturm is bidding to become the next Golden Knight to join the century Club with 75 career points (29-46) in 94 games.
• Junior Haralds Egle is second on the Clarkson scoring charts with 16 points, matching his total from last year with a career-high seven goals and nine assists. The right wing is the only Knight to record more than one goal in December, scoring twice. He equaled his career high for assists in a game by setting up three scores in the 5-1 win over Brown (Nov. 30). Egle tallied 16 points (5-11) in 30 games last season.
• NCAA's active leader in career shutouts, junior Jake Kielly posted his 13th whitewash with 15 saves in the 3-0 win over St. Lawrence in the last game before the break on December 8. He has two shutouts on the year. Starting all 15 games, Kielly posts a .922 save percentage and a 2.16 goals against average en route to a 9-6 record. Kielly owns a career record of 47-32-11 and is bidding to become the first Clarkson goaltender to record 50 career wins since David Leggio '08, amassed a career record of 59-29-12 through 103 games. Kielly was named one of the 20 Division I goaltenders to the watch list for the 2019 Mike Richter Award, which annually honors the most outstanding goaltender in the NCAA.
• Clarkson defensemen are chipping in 28.8% of the offense, recording 39 points on 11 goals and 28 assists from the blueline.  All eight of the Knight rearguards have tallied at least one point.
• The lone senior on the Clarkson blueline Aaron Thow leads the way offensively among the rearguards with 10 points on three goals and seven assists, and posts a +6 rating. He has tallied five points (3-2) over the past five games. 
• Sophomore defenseman Jere Astren's first point of the season was a big one when he connected for the game-winner in the 3-0 victory over St. Lawrence, snapping a scoreless tie against the Saints  through 37:17 of play between the archrivals.
• Junior blueline partner Shane Kuzmeski recorded his first career point in the 3-0 win over St. Lawrence by helping to set up Astren's game-winner.
• Freshman Nick Campoli, a 2017 Las Vegas draft pick, has scored three of his four points - two goals and one assist - over the last five games. 
• Clarkson's junior class (six skaters) has accounted for 44% of the scoring with 60 points on 21 goals and 39 assists. The sophomore (16-15-31 pts) and freshman (7-21-28) classes have accounted for 23% and 21% of the offense, respectively. The three-member senior class has contributed 12% of the scoring with 16 points on five goals and 11 assists. 
• Junior forwards Devin Brosseau and Nico Sturm have been named "Robert E. Empie '68 Men's Hockey Team Captains" while senior forward Marly Quince and Jake Kielly will serve as assistant captains. 

The Series:
Vs Arizona State
Clarkson will face off against Arizona State for the third time since the Sun Devils started their Division I program in 2015-16. The Knights swept Arizona State in their inaugural campaign, winning a weekend series at Cheel Arena during the 2015 Thanksgiving Holiday, 3-2 and 4-1. 
Marly Quince is the only Knight with a point in the series with one assist.

Vs Minnesota Duluth
It has been almost eight years since the Knights and Bulldogs faced off against each other, with Minnesota Duluth sweeping the Green and Gold (4-1, 4-2) at Cheel Arena on January 3-4, 2011 to increase their lead in the all-time series to 6-2.
Clarkson's last victory over the Bulldogs was a 6-3 triumph in the second-game of a NCAA Tournament total-goal series in Duluth on March 17, 1984. UMD, which won the first game of the series 6-2 the previous night, won the series by a 9-8 margin. 
UMD has won the last five meetings. The teams are 1-1 at neutral site venues.

Vs Minnesota State
The Golden Knights and Mavericks have played just four times with both winning twice. In their last meeting, Clarkson won 5-4 in Mankato on January 6, 2001. The Mavericks skated to a 6-3 victory the previous night.

Scouting Arizona State
Striving to become the first independent team to quality for the NCAA Tournament since Niagara in 2000, Arizona State is ranked 13th in the latest USAToday/USA Hockey Magazine Poll with a 14-6 record and enters the Desert Classic on a four-game winning streak. The Sun Devils closed out a six-game road trip on December 7-8 with an impressive sweep of Princeton at Hobey Baker Rink in New Jersey, downing the Tigers 4-0 and 3-2 in overtime. Playing their first games in Arizona since early November, ASU took down Colorado College 4-2 and 4-0 on December 14-15. 
The Sun Devils have been solid at both ends of the ice, ranking 11th nationally in offense (3.45 goals per game) and 13th defensively (2.30 goals allowed per game). Sophomore Johnny Walker leads the nation in goals with 17. He has tallied 23 points. Joey Daccord, an Ottawa Senators draft choice, has played every minute in the ASU crease and posts a .930 save percentage and a 2.15 goals against average while leading the country in shutouts with five.

Scouting Minnesota-Duluth
The defending national champions stand at 10-4-2 overall and hold down third place in the NCHC with a 4-3-1 league mark. After a stretch of 10 victories in 11 games, including an eight-game winning streak, the Bulldogs have gone winless in December with two losses and a tie. UMD opened the month with a 2-1 loss at home to North Dakota and then fell 3-2 at Western Michigan on December 7. The following night, the Bulldogs and Broncos skated to a 1-1 tie. UMD has been stingy defensively, allowing only 1.88 goals per game (tied for 4th nationally). The Bulldogs are averaging 3.12 goals a game (18th). Scott Perunovich, one of seven NHL Draft choices on the UMD roster, leads the team with 18 points, including 16 assists (tied for 6th in the NCAA). Hunter Shepard has started all 16 games in goals for the Bulldogs and holds a .921 save percentage and a 1.77 GAA (6th in the NCAA).

Scouting Minnesota State
A four-game winning streak ended for Minnesota State in its last games before the break with a pair of 4-1 losses at Bowling Green on December 14-15. The Mavericks stand at 14-4 overall and are in third place in the WCHA at 9-3. UMD is led in scoring by Parker Tuomie (9-13) and Marc Michaelis (11-10) with 22 and 21 points, respectively. Dryden Mckay has played 11 games in goal for UMD and posts a .914 SP and a 2.11 GAA en route to a 6-3 record. Through nine starts, Mathias Israelsson holds a .908 SP, 1.74 GAA (5th NCAA) and a 7-1 record.
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Players Mentioned

Jere Astren

#20 Jere Astren

D
6' 0"
Sophomore
Devin Brosseau

#14 Devin Brosseau

F
6' 1"
Junior
Haralds Egle

#18 Haralds Egle

F
5' 10"
Junior
Jake Kielly

#29 Jake Kielly

G
6' 2"
Junior
Shane Kuzmeski

#10 Shane Kuzmeski

D
6' 1"
Junior
Marly Quince

#23 Marly Quince

F
6' 0"
Senior
Nico Sturm

#17 Nico Sturm

F
6' 3"
Junior
Aaron Thow

#13 Aaron Thow

D
6' 1"
Senior
Nick Campoli

#19 Nick Campoli

F
5' 11"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Jere Astren

#20 Jere Astren

6' 0"
Sophomore
D
Devin Brosseau

#14 Devin Brosseau

6' 1"
Junior
F
Haralds Egle

#18 Haralds Egle

5' 10"
Junior
F
Jake Kielly

#29 Jake Kielly

6' 2"
Junior
G
Shane Kuzmeski

#10 Shane Kuzmeski

6' 1"
Junior
D
Marly Quince

#23 Marly Quince

6' 0"
Senior
F
Nico Sturm

#17 Nico Sturm

6' 3"
Junior
F
Aaron Thow

#13 Aaron Thow

6' 1"
Senior
D
Nick Campoli

#19 Nick Campoli

5' 11"
Freshman
F