Clarkson University fell into an early hole against the US Under-18 team and could not recover, falling 6-2 in a penalty-filled exhibition contest before 3,248 fans at Cheel Arena on Saturday.
US relied on strong specialty teams play to open the game, taking a 4-0 lead midway through the first. The Under-18 team’s leading scorer James vanRiemsdyk started things off with an unassisted shorthanded marker at 2:40, followed by an unassisted power-play goal by Ryan Hayes at 5:41. US added to its total with a goal by Brennan Vargas at 6:11 and a power-play tally by Colin Wilson at 13:37.
The Knights got back into the game with a pair of goals 18 seconds apart to make it 4-2 after the opening 20 minutes. Junior Shawn Weller (South Glens Falls, NY) connected off assists from classmate Steve Zalewski (New Hartford, NY) and freshman Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT) at 17:39. At 17:57 sophomore Chris D’Alvise (Mississauga, ONT) snuck in a wrap around shot to close the gap to two goals.
vanRiemsdyk answered back, however, early in the second period with his second goal of the game and team-high 11th of the season at 2:01 to put the Under-18 team up 5-2 after two periods. Kevin Shattenkirk closed out the scoring at 9:48 of the third for the final 6-2 score.
Clarkson out shot the US squad 29-22. Josh Unice finished with 27 saves for the visitors. Freshman Matt Smith (Mississauga, ONT) saw his first action in goal for the Knights and made eight saves on 12 shots in the first period. Junior David Leggio (Williamsville, NY) played the final 40 minutes in the Clarkson net and recorded eight saves while allowing two goals.
A total of 52 minutes in penalties were called in the game with the Under-18 team going 3-of-12 on the power play, while the Knights went 1-of-11 with the man advantage.
Clarkson, with a 4-1-1 overall record, returns to NCAA play next weekend when it opens ECAC Hockey League action at Harvard and Dartmouth.
