Looking to secure its position among the top four teams in the ECAC Hockey standings and remain in the race for the league regular-season title, Clarkson takes to the road this weekend for the always-challenging trip to Central NY. 

Ranked 7th in the national polls, the Golden Knights, guided by 12th-year Head Coach Matt Desrosiers and assistants Britni Smith and Tony Maci face off against conference front-runner and 4th-ranked Cornell in Ithaca on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and then battle Colgate in Hamilton at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Clarkson has won four of its last five games and is coming off a dominant weekend at Cheel Arena where the Green and Gold skated by Dartmouth, 5-1, and shut out Harvard, 4-0. The Knights stand at 18-4-4 overall and are tied for fourth in the ECAC Hockey standings, owning a 9-3-2 league mark with eight games remaining.
 

• Clarkson vs. Cornell/Colgate Weekend Release 
• ECAC Hockey 
• NCAA Pairwise
• USCHO.com Poll
• USA Today Poll
• Coaches Corner with Mike Vaillancourt, B99.3 radio 

• Clarkson leads the all-time series against Cornell 22-14-5. The Knights are 7-1-1 against the Big Red over their last nine meetings, including victories in the 2017 (1-0) and 2019 (4-1) ECAC Hockey Tournament Championships games. Clarkson handed Cornell one of the few blemishes on its 18-1-2 record this season with a 1-1 tie in Potsdam on November 9.
• The Knights own a 23-11-4 advantage over Colgate, including a 2-1 victory at Cheel on November 8. Clarkson shut out the Raiders 2-0 in the ECAC semifnals last March.
• The Knights are 6-4-2 in road games this season.
• Offensively and defensively, the Green and Gold have been strong. Clarkson is ranked third in the nation defensively, allowing just 1.58 goals per game, while scoring 3.35 GPG (7th). 
• Clarkson is two victories shy of posting its ninth straight 20-win campaign.
• Selected ECAC Hockey Player of the Week for the second time this season and named NCAA 1st Star, Elizabeth Giguere continues to live up to her billing as one of the top players in the country. The junior right wing tallied twice in Friday's 5-1 win over Dartmouth to give her a nation-leading 25 on the season, and also added a pair of assists, one of which was chosen NCAA Hockey.com Play of the Week. She set up two more scores in the 4-0 shutout over 10th-ranked Harvard. Giguere has 47 points (25-22) overall through 26 games and 25 points (13-12) in 14 ECAC Hockey contests. A two-time All-American and a 2019 Top 10 Patty Kazmaier Finalist, Giguere has already amassed 191 points (78-113) through 107 career games, and trails only 2019 Patty Kazmaier Award winner Loren Gabel '19 (213 points) on the Green and Gold's scoring charts.
• Sophomore Marie-Pier Coulombe ranks among the nation's best goaltenders with a 1.26 GAA (3rd) and a .943 save percentage (3rd) en route to an 16-4-3 record. She is is tied for fifth in the country for shutouts with five.
• Gabrielle David leads the nation in points for freshman with 30 on 11 goals and 19 assists through 26 games and his second among rookies in plus/minus at +20.
• Michaela Pejzlova broke out of a four-game drought without a point with two assists in the win over Harvard to give her 101 career assists.  The senior center has 21 points (6-15) this season and 163 (62-101) through 143 career games.
• The Knights are 9-0-2 when leading after the first and 16-0-1 when holding the advantage through 40 minutes. 
• The Knights are 15-0-1 when scoring three-or-more goals.

Series Cornell: Clarkson enters the weekend with a 22-14-5 edge over Cornell in the all-time series and has won seven of the last nine meetings (7-1-1). After falling to the Golden Knights in the ECAC Championship last year at Lynah Rink, the #3 ranked Big Red came to Cheel in November and fought to a 1-1 tie against the #6 Knights. After relenting a goal early in the third, Elizabeth Giguere scored a power-play tally to tie up the contest. Clarkson has only lost once on the road since the 2014-15 season, unfortunately that loss was last year when Cornell won 3-1 in the first half of the season. Giguere has been stellar in big games against Cornell tallying 10 points on one goal and nine assists in only six games. Michaela Pejzlova has scored twice and assisted on seven other goals in her 10 games against the Big Red. Marie-Pier Coulombe was outstanding in her first game against Cornell stopping 28 of 29 shots for a .966 save percentage and a 0.92 goals against average in 65 minutes of action. 

Series Colgate: The Golden Knights have a 23-11-4 record over Colgate in the all-time series. Clarkson and Colgate are used to playing in big games over the last few years, this will be no different with important league points on the line.  The Knights have only lost five games over the last nine seasons against the Raiders, and only one of those losses came on the road. That road loss came in the 2018-19 season when Colgate exacted a small measure of revenge beating Clarkson 4-1 in their first matchup after the National Championship game between the two. The Golden Knights won the first matchup this season 2-1 at Cheel Arena. Elizabeth Giguere has been sensational against Colgate tallying 13 points on five goals and eight assists. One of those goals was the overtime winner to give Clarkson its third National Championship. Marie-Pier Coulombe stopped 23 saves in the first game against Colgate this season to help secure the win for the Knights. 

Scouting Cornell: Cornell is in the midst of a phenomenal season sitting atop the ECAC with a 12-0-2 conference mark. The Big Red are 18-1-2 on the year and are on an 11-game unbeaten streak (10-0-1). The lone loss this year came on the road against Ohio State, 3-1. Cornell would come back to beat the Buckeyes 5-1 the next night. As always Cornell is led offensively and defensively by Jaime Bourbonnais. Bourbonnais leads the team in scoring with 28 points, a nation-high among defensemen, on five goals and 23 assists. The Big Red forwards are led by the experience of Maddie Mills and Kristin O'Neill, who were Cornell's leading scorers last year. Mills has 25 points on 11 goals and 14 assists while O'Neill has a team-high 14 goals and 10 assists for 24 points. Lindsay Browning has proved to be one of the best players in the country in net for the Big Red. Browning has had the benefit of strong defensive zone coverage only facing 389 shots (18.52 per game). Browning leads the nation in goals against average (0.72), save percentage (.961), winning percentage (.905), and shutouts (8).

Scouting Colgate: Colgate is facing an important weekend as they are right in the middle of the ECAC pack with a 7-6-1 record in conference play. Colgate is 13-11-4 on the season and is entering the weekend on a two-game losing streak after getting shut out by Cornell in back-to-back games this past week. Like most young teams the Raiders have been great at home with a 9-3-2 record, but have struggled away from Hamilton to the tune of a 3-6-1 mark. Leading the youth movement is freshmen Danielle Serdachny and Sammy Smigliani who have each already eclipsed the 20-point mark. Serdachny leads the team in points with 22 on seven goals and 15 assists, while Smigliani has a team-high 11 goals along with nine assists. Smigliani and defenseman Shelby Wood have been great while on the ice with a +11 and +12 plus/minus respectively. Liz Auby has been good in net for Colgate despite her record of 11-10-4.  Auby has a 2.05 goals against average and a .922 save percentage and also has four shutouts on the year.