The home-opening weekend of ECAC Hockey League play did not go as plan for the Clarkson University Hockey team as the Golden Knights suffered a pair of close losses as Cheel Arena. On Saturday, for the second straight game, the Golden Knights fell behind early and could not recover as they lost to Princeton 3-2 before 2,503 fans.
Clarkson, which entered the weekend ranked 11th in the country, lost to Quinnipiac 6-4 on Friday. The Knights stand at 6-3-1 overall and 2-2 in the ECACHL. Clarkson breaks from league play next weekend with a two-game series at St. Cloud State in Minnesota.
Princeton, which had suffered four straight one-goal losses, improved its record to 1-4-1 overall and to 1-3 in the league.
After dominating the early portion of a 4-on-4 situation during the opening minutes of the first period on Saturday, Clarkson lost control of the puck at center ice where Princeton’s Grant Goeckner-Zoeller picked it up and skated in on a breakaway. Clarkson senior goaltender Kyle McNulty (Wakefield, RI) made the initial stop, but Brett Wilson gained control of the rebound and knocked in his first goal of the year at 6:41 to give the visitors the early lead.
Just 44 seconds into the second period, Princeton made it 2-0 when Lee Jubinville worked the puck free along the right boards and sent a centering pass to Kyle Hagel, who flipped in a wrist from the slot.
Senior Mike Sullivan (Stouffville, ONT) put Clarkson got on the scoreboard at 4:03 when he scored on a low backhanded shot from along the right wing after taking a pass from junior David Cayer (Longueuil, QUE). Junior Nick Dodge (Oakville, ONT) also assisted.
Princeton regained the two-goal advantage with Tyler Beachell’s first collegiate goal at 14:26. Clarkson closed the gap to 3-2 at 7:00 of the third as freshman Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT) knocked in a loose puck during a scramble in front with junior linemates Steve Zalewski (New Hartford, NY) and Shawn Weller (South Glens Falls, NY) assisting. Clarkson’s bid to tie it up in the closing minutes was hurt when the Knights were called for consecutive penalties over the final four minutes.
The Tigers out shot Clarkson 23-19. McNulty finished with 20 saves. Clarkson was 0-of-5 on the power, while Princeton was 0-of-4 with the man advantage.
