Sophomore Chris D’Alvise (Mississauga, ONT) scored a shorthanded goal and added one assist as Clarkson University rallied in the third period to pull out a hard fought 5-2 victory over Division I newcomer Rochester Institute of Technology before 2,050 fans in non-league action at Cheel Arena on Friday night.
Clarkson, which snapped a three-game winless stretch (0-2-1), improves its record to 11-6-2. The Golden Knights, ranked 18th in the country, play archrival St. Lawrence University in a non-league game at the Corel Centre in Ottawa, ONT on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers of RIT, who are playing as a Division I independent this season before joining Atlantic Hockey in 2006-07, own a 5-13-2 record. RIT will be out to snap a four-game winless skid (0-3-1) at defending ECAC Hockey League champion Cornell on Saturday.
The Golden Knights broke a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes with three third-period goals to pull away from a stubborn RIT squad. Sophomore Matt Isbister (Calgary, ALB) tallied the game-winner with his first collegiate goal when he tipped in a shot from the top of the crease off a pass out of the corner by freshman Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) at 6:05. D’Alvise put Clarkson on top 4-2 with his fourth goal of the season, a shorthanded breakaway marker off a pass from rookie defenseman Philippe Paquet (Quebec City, QUE) at 11:42. With 18 seconds remaining, the Knights’ leading scorer, sophomore Nick Dodge (Oakville, ONT) sealed the Green and Gold’s first win since December 9 with an empty-net marker, his 10th goal of the year.
Clarkson wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard against the Tigers opening the scoring 82 seconds into the contest. Junior Brodie Rutherglen (Trail, BC) picked up his first goal in seven games when he knocked in a rebound at off a shot by D’Alvise while crashing the net for his fourth goal of the season. Freshman defenseman Adam Bellows (Lancaster, NY) also assisted for his collegiate point. The Knights finally took advantage of a string of RIT penalties midway through the first to make it 2-0. Junior David Cayer (Longueuil, QUE) snapped a six-game goalless stretch by connecting for his sixth goal of the year during Clarkson’s fourth power play of the stanza, a 4-3 man advantage at 10:47. Dodge and junior Mike Sullivan (Stouffville, ONT) assisted.
RIT took advantage of the man advantage in the second period scoring a pair of power-play goals against the Knights’ highly-touted penalty kill. Darrel Draper connect at 6:31 off assists from Simon Lambert and Steve Pinizzotto to snap Clarkson’s penalty-kill streak at 21. The Tigers came right back 3:14 later with Lambert’s power-play marker and team-high 11th goal of the season to tie the game 2-2. Brennan Sarazin and Marc Hyman assisted.
The Knights out shot RIT 41-17. Clarkson sophomore David Leggio (Williamsville, NY) extended his unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1) behind a 15-save effort. Jocelyn Guimond posted 36 stops for the Tigers.
Clarkson was 1-of-7 on the power play, while the Tigers were 2-of-6 with the man-advantage.
