Potsdam, NY – Junior David Leggio (Williamsville, NY) made 23 saves and senior Brodie Rutherglen (Trail, BC) scored a career-high two goals along with one assist as the Clarkson University Hockey team broke out of a four-game losing skid with its first shutout of the season, a 5-0 victory over Bowling Green in non-conference action before 2,109 fans at Cheel Arena on Friday night.
The Golden Knights, who own a 7-5-1 overall record, will host 3rd-ranked Miami on Saturday. Bowling Green, which has lost five straight, falls to 3-9-1. The Falcons play at St. Lawrence on Saturday.
The Knights wasted little time getting back on track after losing their previous four games, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the opening three minutes en route to a 3-0 first period lead. At 2:14, senior Mike Sullivan (Stouffville, ONT) completed a rush down the right wing when he cut to the slot and fired a shot that found its way through traffic putting the Green and Gold on top for the first time in 242 minutes of play. Sophomores Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) and Adam Bellows (Lancaster, NY) assisted.
Just 44 seconds later, Clarkson made it 2-0 at the three-minute mark when Rutherglen picked up a loose puck at the side of the Falcons’ goal and calmly tucked in an easy shot into an empty net. Rutherglen connected for his third goal of the season, a power-play marker at 15:24, knocking in a rebound off junior defenseman Grant Clitsome’s (Gloucester, ONT) shot from the point. Junior captain Nick Dodge (Oakville, ONT) also assisted.
The Falcons came out strong in the second period, but Leggio turned aside all nine shots he faced in the middle frame to keep Bowling Green off the scoreboard. Leggio made four more saves over the final 20 minutes to post his second career shutout.
Junior David Cayer (Longueuil, QUE) and Dodge scored within a span of 2:08 midway through the third to complete the scoring. Cayer picked up his seventh goal of the year, at 12:16, during a 4-on-4 situation, scoring from in close with assists going to senior Michael Grenzy (Lockport, NY) and Dodge. At 14:24, Dodge found the back of the net after taking a pass from Rutherglen for his fifth score of the year.
Bowling Green, which was 0-of-8 on the power play, held a slight 23-20 shot advantage. Clarkson was 1-of-5 with the man advantage.
