Weekly Clarkson Notes

Our first edition of Clarkson notes ran today.

Here's some extra stuff:

A closer look at Brown - Brown was 6-21-4 last year and went 6-13-3 in ECAC Hockey games. The Bears lost their leading scorer in Jeff Prough and were picked 12th in the preseason polls by just about every organization or group that made picks.
Brown is hoping to get off to a stronger start this season after playing 11 of its first 13 games on the road last year. So far, counting a 1-0 exhibition win against Trois-Rivieres, Brown has scored just five goals in three games and given up 10.
One thing which may help offset the loss of Prough to graduation is the return of junior defenseman Jeremy Russell. Russell won't replace Prough's offense, of course, but he was a valuable member of the team in the 06-07 season and missed all of last year to an injury. Brown's defense could use the help as well as it allowed an average of 3.48 goals-per game in ECAC Hockey contests, the worst in the league.

A closer look at Yale - The Bulldogs are a program on the rise under new coach Keith Allain, a former coach of Clarkson All-American Craig Conroy's in the NHL. Yale was 16-14-4 last year and finished tied for sixth in ECAC Hockey with a 9-9-4 record. The coaches and media both picked Yale to finish seventh, while US College Hockey Online has them picked third.
One reason for Yale's success last year was goalie Billy Blase, who had a .910 save percentage and a 2.51 goals-against average.
Yale's only game prior to this weekend was a 6-3 win over Brown in a nonconference contest last weekend. The Bulldogs also picked up a 3-1 win in an exhibition game over Ontario IT.

Odds and Ends
*Clarkson did lose its last two ECAC Hockey playoff games to Colgate in Cheel Arena last year, but the Golden Knights went 10-0-1 at home in regular-season conference contests. Clarkson also went 5-0-4 at home down the stretch in the 06-07 season, so Clarkson has a 20-game unbeaten streak on home ice in ECAC Hockey regular-season games (15-0-5).
*Despite missing one game due to a suspension, senior Chris D'Alvise still leads the team in shots with 13. Equally impressive is D'Alvise has scored on 30.8 percent of his shots this season. Julien Cayer, who also missed a game due to injury, is tied with Matt Beca for second on the team with 10 shots. Both players have one goal.
Overall Clarkson has been outshot 143-116 so far this season, but the Golden Knights have scored on 10.3 percent of their shots while opponents have scored on just 7.7 percent.
*Brandon DeFazio is the early leader in the plus-minus category at plus-four. Matt Beca and Mark Borowiecki rank at plus-three while Phil Paquet is at plus-two.
*Sophomore Scott Freeman has scored at least one point in every game so far this season and leads the team with one goal and five assists. Lauri Tuohimaa has a goal in all but one game and DeFazio has picked up a point in every game but one as well.