Potsdam, NY – Excellent specialty-teams play and strong goaltending, which led to the Clarkson University Hockey team’s downfall on Friday night, was the key to the Golden Knights' win over Lake Superior State on Saturday. Clarkson, which fell to the Lakers 5-1 to start their weekend series, rebounded to close out the two-game set with an impressive 7-1 victory before 2,468 fans at Cheel Arena. The Knights went 4-14 on the power play, while killing off eight of Lake Superior’s nine man-advantage chances, and senior goaltender Kyle McNulty (Wakefield, RI) was solid in his first action of the season with 22 saves.
Clarkson’s penalty kill, which allowed five goals on Friday, responded right from the start on Saturday as the Knights shut down the Lakers on two power-play attempts in the opening minutes, including a lengthy two-man advantage. After the successful kills, the Knights’ high-powered offense kicked into gear with three straight goals in the first.
Freshman Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT) started the offensive outburst with his second collegiate goal at 8:54 after taking a long pass from senior Max Kolu (Turku, Finland). Beca set up the second score when he intercepted a clearing pass at the Lake Superior blueline and fed a pass to junior Steve Zalewski (New Hartford, NY), who ripped in a shot from the slot at 13:05 for his fifth goal of the season. The Knights made it 3-0 when junior David Cayer (Longueuil, QUE) finished off assists from classmate Nick Dodge (Oakville, ONT) and sophomore defenseman Tyrell Mason (Dawson Creek, BC) for a 5-on-3 power play at 16:56.
Junior Shawn Weller (South Glens Falls, NY) opened the second with his second goal of the year at 5:03 with Beca and junior Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) picking up the assists on the power-play tally. The Knights connected again with the man advantage at 8:30 with Zalewski knocking in his own rebound for his second goal of the night and team-high sixth of the season. Weller earned the assist.
The Lakers (2-2) put a temporary halt to the Knights’ momentum with a 5-on-3 power-play goal by Nathan Perkovich 68 seconds into the third to spoil McNulty’s shutout bid.
Clarkson closed out the win with goals by sophomore Chris D’Alvise (Mississauga, ONT) and Weller at 12:44 and 14:55, respectively. The Knights put a season-high 53 shots on the Lake Superior net, while allowing just 23 shots on McNulty.
Clarkson stands at 4-1-1 overall and will face the US Under-18 team in an exhibition game at Cheel next Saturday, at 7:30 pm.
