The Clarkson University Hockey team twice overcame one-goal deficits to force overtime in its ECAC Hockey playoff series game at archrival St. Lawrence University. The Saints, however, skated away with a 3-2 victory, scoring the deciding goal at 10:09 of the extra session to take the lead in the best-of-three game series at Appleton Arena in Canton.
Sophomore Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) made 47 saves in the Clarkson goal, but had only a hard-luck loss to show for his efforts. The Saints out shot the Golden Knights 50-23. Clarkson was 1-of-2 on the power play while St. Lawrence was 1-of-4 with the man-advantage
The Golden Knights, who own an 8-23-4 overall record, will battle St. Lawrence (16-13-7) again on Saturday in a 7:00 p.m. game in Canton. If Clarkson wins, the team will play a first-round series' deciding game on Sunday in at Appleton Arena beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Early in the first period, St. Lawrence capitalized on a Clarkson turnover deep in the Knights’ end and took the initial lead 40 seconds in on Brandon Bollig’s goal in front.
Late in the period, Clarkson tied the game with junior assistant captain Brandon DeFazio’s (Oakville, ONT) 11th goal of the year. DeFazio extended his point-scoring streak to four games when he knocked in a rebound off of sophomore Louke Oakley’s (Whitby, ONT) shot from the left circle at 16:48. Junior captain Scott Freeman (Whitby, ONT) also assisted.
Audio of DeFazio Goal
St. Lawrence took a 2-1 lead at 8:18 of the middle frame when the Alex Curran tallied on the power play during a scramble at the side of the Clarkson net.
Sophomore defenseman Mark Borowiecki (Kanata, ONT) broke a lengthy goal-scoring drought with his first goal in 16 games to tie the game early in the third. Borowiecki picked up loose puck 18 seconds into the Knights’ second power-play opportunity of the game and sent a wrist from the bottom of the right circle into the back of the St. Lawrence net at 6:37 for his seventh goal of the season. Senior assistant captain Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT) and junior defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Cameron, ONT) assisted.
Audio of Borowiecki Goal
Aaron Bogosian ended the game midway through the 20-minute sudden death overtime when he picked up a loose puck off the back boards and tucked in a shot on the weak side just past Karpowich for the game-winner.
