Top 10 Clarkson Highlights - #4 Clarkson Men's Hockey Celebrates 25th Season at Cheel With 15 Home Wins

Though the venue will be officially celebrating its silver anniversary this fall, Cheel Arena's 25th year showed that the venerable rink is still one of the toughest places to play in all of college hockey. The Golden Knights' Men's Hockey squad utilized home ice as much as virtually any other team in all of Division I, posting a 15-2-2 mark in its 19 times as host.

Thanks to an experienced and battle-tested group of upperclassmen, the Golden Knights reached the 20-win mark for the second time in three seasons and earned home ice honors in the first round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs in 2015-16. The .842 winning percentage at Cheel was the third-best home record in the NCAA and the program's best rate in 18 years (12-1-2, .867 in 1997-98), while Clarkson's 15 home victories were the most since 2007-08 (16-3-1). The winning ways of Clarkson in Potsdam, combined with an always vociferous student section, did not go unnoticed. Stadium Journey Magazine (www.scout.com/stadium-journey) chose Cheel Arena as the fourth-best hockey experience (among 59 programs) in all of NCAA Division I hockey.

The Clarkson faithful and student body had plenty to cheer about in 2015-16. Ranked as high as 17th in the uscho.com poll and earning a top 20 spot in that national poll on six occasions during the season, the Green and Gold began the season with five wins in six games and the team found a groove at mid-season with an eight-game unbeaten streak in conference play. The team eventually settled just one spot out of the top four for a first-round bye in the ECAC Hockey playoffs, but nevertheless dispatched Princeton in the first round of the playoffs to earn a 20th victory in 2015-16, one of only two teams in ECAC Hockey to reach that mark. Those two playoff wins came with shots off the stick of junior defenseman James de Haas as he buried back-to-back overtime goals against the Tigers in early March, earning NCAA Stars of the Week First Star honors on March 8th.

Both de Haas and senior Paul Geiger earned all-star notice from the league at the end of the regular season, no easy task considering the depth and volume of the 12-team league and only 18 total all-star spots up for grabs.

2015-16 Clarkson University Athletic Highlights TOP 10 List

The Top 10 Clarkson University Athletic Department Highlights of 2015-16 were carefully selected by the Clarkson Sports Information Staff. Top 10 Clarkson highlights will be posted on Mondays throughout the summer.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#2 James de Haas: D; 6' 3"; Junior

#3 Paul Geiger: D; 6' 3"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#2 James de Haas
: 6' 3"; Junior
: D

#3 Paul Geiger
: 6' 3"; Senior
: D

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

#2 James de Haas

#3 Paul Geiger

Players Mentioned

#2 James de Haas

#3 Paul Geiger