Ben Barr knocked in a rebound with 1:30 left in sudden death overtime while Rensselaer was skating on a 5-on-3 power play to lift the Engineers to a 4-3 victory over Clarkson University in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) opener for both teams before 2,503 fans at Cheel Arena Friday night.
Rensselaer, which improved its record to 3-2-1, was 1-of-9 on the power play, while Clarkson, which fell to 3-2-2, was 2-of- 5 with the man-advantage.
Trailing 2-1 after two periods, Rensselaer, which won for the first time in Potsdam in four years, scored twice in a 65-second span midway through the third period to grab a 3-2 lead. Kevin Croxton scored his first of the season at 9:14 to tie the game and then Kirk MacDonald put the visitors on top 3-2 at 10:19. Clarkson, which saw its three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) come to an end, forced overtime when freshman defenseman Matt Nickerson (Old Lyme, CT) tallied his third goal of the year, a power-play marker with 2:22 remaining in regulation.
Nickerson, however, was assessed 25 minutes in penalties, including a five-minute major with 50 seconds left in the third to put the Knights down a man entering overtime. Clarkson’s senior Trevor Edwards (Carleton Place, ONT) was penalized two minutes for kneeing at 3:15 in overtime putting the Knights down two men, which eventually led to Rensselaer’s game-winning goal.
Clarkson took advantage of early Rensselaer penalty trouble to take a quick 1-0 lead. Senior Jean Desrochers (Dalhousie, QUE) tallied on the power play 2:49 into the opening period as he one-timed a shot at the bottom of the right circle after junior Jay Latulippe (Saratoga Springs, NY) fed a pass out front from behind the net. Freshman Max Kolu (Tuku, Finland) also assisted.
The Knights had an excellent opportunity to add to their lead when junior Chris Blight (Cambridge, ONT) was pulled down on a breakaway attempt, but on the ensuing penalty shot Rensselaer goaltender Nathan Marsters made a stick save on Blight’s shot to keep the game 1-0.
With 27 seconds left in the first, Conrad Barnes evened the score with his second goal of the season after taking a pass in front from RPI’s leading playmaker, Croxton, who picked up his seventh assist of the season.
Just 28 seconds into the second period, Clarkson regained the lead when Blight tallied his third shorthanded goal of the season, picking up a shot off the boards by line mate, junior Max Faulkner (King City, ONT) and slipping in a shot at the side of the net.
