After a frustrating 110 minutes of Hockey at Dwyer Arena in Western New York over the weekend, Clarkson University was finally rewarded for its consistently strong effort in the offensive zone with a four-goal outburst late in the third period of Saturday’s game at Niagara University to pull out a 5-2 victory.
On Friday, despite out shooting the Purple Eagles 52-37, the Golden Knights lost 6-3.
In the second game of the weekend series, Niagara took a 2-0 lead early in the first by scoring on its first two power-play attempts with goals coming at 2:04 and 8:58. After that, however, the Green and Gold’s penalty-killing units tighten up and shut down the Purple Eagles’ remaining eight man-advantage opportunities.
Clarkson struggled on the power play in the early going with a 0-of-5 drought before freshman Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) made the sixth Green and Gold power play count. The heralded rookie connected off assists from sophomore David Cayer (Longueuil, QUE) and junior Nathan Beausoleil (Moose Creek, ONT) for his first collegiate goal at 9:21.
Clarkson kept it a one-goal game in the second by killing off five Niagara power-play attempts, including a five-minute major to start the stanza. Despite playing a man down for the majority of the period, the Knights generated several excellent scoring opportunities and equaled the Purple Flyers’ 11 shots in the frame.
The Knights began their late outburst at 10:38 of the final frame when senior Jeff Genovy (Kalamazoo, MI) scored his second goal of the weekend, tipping in a shot from the point by junior defenseman Mike Grenzy (Lockport, NY). Sophomore Mike Arciero (Avon, CT) followed with the game-winner as he redirected a shot from the point by rookie defenseman Tyrell Mason (Dawson Creek) while on the power play at 12:38.
At 15:36, sophomore Nick Dodge (Oakville, ONT) knocked in a rebound to make it 4-2 and classmate David Cayer (Longueuil, QUE) closed out the Clarkson fireworks with the fifth goal, to go along with his two assists, with 2:02 remaining.
The Knights out shot the Purple Eagles 30-24, including a 13-5 margin over the final 20 minutes. Junior Kyle McNulty (Wakefield, RI) posted 22 saves. Clarkson finished 2-of-12 on the power play, while Niagara was 2-of-10.
