Today was ECAC Hockey media day, which consisted of a teleconference with most of the league's head coaches. A few had assistant coaches fill in.

For a third straight year Clarkson did not receive much respect from its peers in the coaches preseason poll.

The Golden Knights, who finished seventh a year ago and were just five points out of being in position for a first-round bye, were picked to finish in 11th place. The past three years the conferences coaches have picked Clarkson to finish 11th, 12th and 11th.

Said Clarkson coach Casey Jones, "I saw where we are ranked in the polls and I'm not going to put much stock in that."

Jones said he understood why Clarkson was picked so low, because most coaches look at the scoring numbers returning and also Clarkson lost two of its best defensemen.

"In a lot of those categories we don't measure up right now," Jones said. "We have players who can produce and will produce."

Later in the day Clarkson's players gathered to get head shots taken for season. Captain Jake Morley and assistant captain Nick Tremblay spoke about the preseason rankings and the outlook of the team in general.

Jake Morley

Nick Tremblay

Here is the coaches poll (first place votes)

1. Yale (9) 117 points

2. Union (2) 107

3. Cornell 97

4. Rensselaer 85

5. Dartmouth 76

6. Quinnipiac (1) 70

7. Harvard 65

8. Princeton 51

9. St. Lawrence 45

10. Colgate 31

11. Clarkson 28

12. Brown 22

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