Canton, NY - Another Saturday night comeback came up just short for the Clarkson University Hockey team as the Golden Knights fell to arch-rival St. Lawrence University 5-4 before 3,200 fans at Appleton Arena. Trailing 5-1 late in the second period, the Green and Gold mounted a furious rally with three unanswered goals, but could not come up with the equalizer despite some intense pressure at the end.
St. Lawrence opened the scoring at 9:08 of the first, but Clarkson answered back with a 5-on-3 power-play tally at 16:53 when junior Chris Blight (Cambridge, ONT) knocked in a rebound at the top of the crease for his team-high 13th goal of the season. Linemates, junior Mac Faulkner (King City, ONT) and freshman Mike Sullivan (Stouffville, ONT) assisted.
Things unraveled for the Knights early in the second period as St. Lawrence rattled off four straight goals in the opening 8:26 of the stanza to take a 5-1 lead. The Saints connected on back-to-back power plays 1:55 apart to go on top 3-1 at 3:56. St. Lawrence added two more goals in a 17-second span to hold a commanding four-goal advantage less than 30 minutes into the game.
Clarkson began to rally late in the middle frame. Junior Jay Latulippe (Saratoga Springs, NY) won a faceoff deep in the Saints’ zone back to senior co-captain Rob McFeeters (Woodville, ONT), who scored on a wrist shot for his 5th goal of the year at 16:28, giving the Knights momentum going into the third.
At 10:47 of the final period, Mike Sullivan scored a power-play marker for his 7th goal of the season off assists from Faulkner and sophomore defenseman Chris Brekelmans (London, ONT ) to cut the Saints’ lead to 5-3. The Knights pulled to within one as freshman Brodie Rutherglen (Trail, BC) scored his third goal of the season, and second in two games, during a scramble in front at 12:39. Senior co-captain Tristan Lush (North Andover, MA) and Latulippe assisted.
Clarkson controlled play for the remainder of the period and pulled goaltender, freshman Kyle McNulty (Wakefield, RI) for the extra skater with 70 seconds left, but failed to convert for their fifth goal.
The Saints out shot the Knights 35-32. Sophomore Dustin Traylen (Kirkland, QUE) started in the Clarkson goal and made 18 saves through 28 minutes of play before leaving after St. Lawrence’s fourth goal. McNulty came on in relief, and after giving up a goal on the first shot he faced, settled down and finished with 12 saves, including eight in the third period. His best save was a stop on a breakaway with 3:32 left to play and the Knights trailing by one goal.
The Knights were 2-of-9 on the power play, while St. Lawrence was 2-of-8 with the man-advantage.
Clarkson, at 10-9-5 overall and 5-5-2 in the ECAC hosts Princeton and Yale next weekend at Cheel Arena.
