Juniors Steve Zalewski (New Hartford, NY) and David Leggio (Williamsville, NY) helped the Clarkson University Hockey team complete its first ECAC Hockey League weekend sweep on the road in over four years with a 6-3 victory over Dartmouth in a penalty-filled contest at Thompson Arena in Hanover, NH on Saturday night.

 

On Friday, the Golden Knights defeated Harvard 5-2 in Cambridge, MA. Clarkson, which is off to its best start since the 1991-92 campaign, owns a 6-1-1 overall record and stands in a tie for first place in the league with a 2-0-0 ECACHL mark.

 

Five players scored goals in another balanced offensive effort for the Knights led by Zalewski’s two goals. Clarkson’s leading scorer also assisted on two goals to complete his second career four-point game. Sophomore Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) and freshman Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT) recorded one goal and two assists apiece. Leggio posted 34 saves, including 16 second-period stops, to backbone Clarkson to its first win in Hanover since late in the 2000-01 campaign.

 

The game was dominated by specialty teams play with a total of 73 minutes in penalties called. Clarkson was 3-of-8 on the power play while Dartmouth went 3-of-16 with the man advantage.

 

After opening the game by killing off two straight Big Green power plays, including 53 seconds of 5-on-3 play, the Knights went on top 3-0 in the first. Junior defenseman Grant Clitsome (Gloucester, ONT) began the scoring while killing off a penalty when his shot from center ice bounced past Dartmouth goaltender Mike Devine for a shorthanded goal at 6:50.

 

Guthrie finished off a pass from sophomore defenseman Adam Bellows (Lancaster, NY) for his first goal of the season at 8:32. Sophomore defenseman Tyrell Mason (Dawson Creek, BC) also assisted. While skating on a 5-on-3 situation, Zalewski converted passes from Guthrie and Beca for a power-play marker at 11:17.

 

Dartmouth got on the scoreboard to start the second with a power-play goal at 5:27, but the Knights came right back at 7:53 when Zalewski and Guthrie set up Beca for a highlight reel power-play goal and a 4-1 lead.

 

The Big Green connected again with the man advantage at 14:32 to make it 4-2 after two periods.

 

Clarkson took a commanding 6-2 lead early in the third period with an unassisted power-play goal by sophomore Chris D’Alvise (Mississauga, ONT) at 1:17 and Zalewski’s team-high 8th goal of the season at 3:44. The Big Green closed out the scoring with another power-play marker at 13:03.

 

Dartmouth out shot 37-24.