The Clarkson University Hockey team fell behind 2-0 in the first period and could not recover as St. Lawrence University held on for a 3-1 victory over the Golden Knights in the first meeting of the season between the North Country rivals on Wednesday night at Appleton Arena in Canton.
The Golden Knights, who stand at 3-7-1 overall and 1-3-1 in the league, are now off until after Thanksgiving when they host Brown and Harvard at Cheel Arena on November 26-27.
St. Lawrence opened the scoring at 5:19 with both team skating four-on-four when a slap shot from the point found its way through a screen in front and past Clarkson’s junior goaltender Dustin Traylen (Kirkland, QUE). The Saints added to their lead with 2:40 left in the period on a tip-in in front. St. Lawrence, which benefited from four power-play opportunities to start the game, dominated the opening 20 minutes out shooting the Green and Gold 16-4.
Clarkson began to show some life in the middle frame and finally found the back of the net with 61 seconds left in the stanza. Moments after the Knights could not covert on a lengthy 5-on-3 power play, freshman Steve Zalewski (New Hartford, NY) finished off a passing combination from classmate Shawn Weller (South Glens Falls, NY) sophomore Brodie Rutherglen (Trail, BC) during a scramble at the top of the crease for his third collegiate goal.
The Knights continued to pressure in the third with their best opportunity coming with 3:20 left when freshman Mike Arciero’s (Avon, CT) shot hit the post and bounced behind the Saints’ goaltender and through the crease. St. Lawrence held off the Knights, who pulled Traylen for the extra skater with 61 seconds to go, and sealed their fourth straight victory over Clarkson in Canton with an empty-net goal with just three seconds remaining.
St. Lawrence out shot the Knights 41-27. Traylen, who earned ECACHL and USCHO.com honors earlier in the week, finished with a season-high 38 saves, including 30 over the first 40 minutes. Clarkson was 0-of-7 on the power play, while St. Lawrence was held without a goal in its five man-advantage opportunities.
