Four different Golden Knights provided the goals and senior David Leggio (Williamsville, NY) made 25 saves to record his 50th career win as the Clarkson University Hockey team defeated Cornell 4-2 at Lynah Rink in Ithaca Sunday afternoon in a game televised live on ESPNU.
The win, Clarkson’s first regular season victory at Lynah since March 6, 1999, capped off a three-point weekend in Central NY for the Green and Gold and moved the Knights into first place in ECAC Hockey. Clarkson, which gained five of eight points during the four-game road trip, holds an 8-3-1 league mark, owning a conference-high 17 points, one ahead of second-place Princeton. Ranked 12th in the nation entering the weekend, the Knights post a 13-7-2 overall record. Clarkson returns to Cheel Arena next weekend to host Rensselaer and Union.
A three-goal spurt in a five-minute span midway through the first period, gave the Golden Knights a commanding lead and the early momentum against Cornell.
Junior Chris D’Alvise (Mississauga, ONT) started the outburst with his seventh goal of the season. D’Alvise finished off strong play down low by classmate Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) and freshman defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Cameron, ONT) when he flipped the puck behind Cornell’s Ben Scrivens from the side of the net at 7:32.
Three minutes later, senior assistant captain Steve Zalewski (New Hartford, NY) connected for his team-high 14th goal of the year, finishing off a cross-crease pass by sophomore Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT). Freshman Lauri Tuohimaa (Helsinki, Finland) also assisted.
At 12:08, Clarkson made it 3-0 with Guthrie’s fifth goal of the season. Guthrie stick handled through the Big Red defense and slipped a low shot underneath the pads of Scrivens, chasing the Cornell netminder from the game. D’Alvise and senior defenseman, assistant captain Grant Clitsome (Gloucester, ONT) assisted.
After putting just three shots on the Clarkson goal in the first period, Cornell (8-7-2, 6-4) came out with a stronger effort in the middle frame, but Leggio turned aside all eight shots he faced in the stanza to preserve the Knights’ three-goal lead.
Cornell, benefiting from two power plays to start the third, fought its way back into the game. The Big Red tallied their first goal with just two seconds remaining on a man advantage when Topher Scott scored at 5:09. Scott scored again at 12:42 to make it a one-goal contest.
Cornell continued to pressure, but Leggio stood tall, and then with 45 seconds remaining, sophomore Tim Marks (Brownville, NY) sealed the win with his sixth goal of the season, with an empty-net score.
