Athlete of the Week: Dan Clarke

Athlete of the Week: Dan Clarke

By Ben Dias, QBSN Staff Writer

This week’s QBSN athlete of the week honors are awarded to Dan Clarke (Belleville, Ontario) of the men’s ice hockey team.

The senior goaltender came into the Bobcats’ 6-3 loss against Harvard on Friday, Feb. 3 after junior goaltender Eric Hartzell (White Bear Lake, Minn.) was pulled after allowing the fourth goal to the Crimson. That is when Clarke got has chance to play, turning away seven-of-eight shots on goal in the third and final period.

Clarke earned his first start the following evening Saturday, Sept. 4 against Dartmouth. It was Clarke’s first start between the pipes since Dec. 9 against Sacred Heart, which was a 6-1 Quinnipiac win. Against the Big Green of Dartmouth, Clarke was a stone wall in net stopping 32 shots and only surrendering one goal in a 2-1 win.

Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold praised Clarke for his big day in net against Dartmouth.

“Clarke has looked good in practice lately,” Pecknold said. “He was great tonight. He made some huge saves.”

Previously Clarke had not seen any game action since the Sacred Heart win.

“I just practice hard and waited for my time, and it paid off.”

On the weekend series, Clarke was 1-0-0 with a .951 save percentage while also posting a 1.66 goals-against average after letting up two goals in 72 minutes and 28 seconds in net.

“I felt really good,” Clarke said. “It’s been a long layoff for me and obviously Hartzy [Hartzell] has done a great job in there.”

With the stellar goaltending, Clarke was given the prestigious honor of being named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week, as announced by the league office on Tuesday, Feb. 8. The honor is Clarke's fifth of his career after winning four ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Week awards as a sophomore in the 2009-10 campaign.

This season Clarke has played in 10 games including five ECAC match-ups. He is 7-3 overall on the season has also started eight games with three of those coming in conference play. Overall, he has made 194 saves while allowing only 19 goals on the season with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.

Clarke is the fourth Quinnipiac player to earn ECAC Hockey weekly honors this season after Jeremy Langlois (Tempe, Ariz.) earned player of the week honors on Oct. 18. Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) was named the league's rookie of the week on Oct. 25 and Hartzell was named goalie of the week on Jan. 10.  

The Bobcats know they can count on Clarke whenever his services are called upon and hope he will respond just like he did against Dartmouth.