Potsdam, NY – Senior David Leggio (Williamsville, NY) was the difference in the Clarkson University Hockey team’s 3-2 victory over a surging Union College squad, posting 31 saves as the Golden Knights earned the ECAC Hockey victory before 2,931 fans at Cheel Arena Saturday night.
The Golden Knights, who defeated RPI 5-2 on Friday, extended their unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1) to improve their overall record to 15-7-2. Ranked 10th in the nation, Clarkson stands in first place in the conference with a 10-3-1 ECAC Hockey mark. The Knights are 14-0-4 against league foes in their last 18 games in Potsdam, including a 7-0-0 mark this season.
Union, which saw its school-record winning streak come to an end at seven consecutive games, lost for the first time in 2008. The Dutchmen, who won at St. Lawrence 3-1 on Friday, stand at 11-9-3 overall and at 6-4-2 in ECAC Hockey.
Bidding for a weekend sweep in the North Country, Union came out strong in the first, but Leggio was in top form and turned aside all eight shots from the Dutchmen in the opening 20 minutes. Four minutes into the contest, Union’s Matt Cook was stopped twice in a 20-second span by Leggio in close.
Coming off his first collegiate goal in Friday’s win over Rensselaer, freshman Brandon DeFazio (Oakville, ONT) put the Knights on top midway through the first. Senior David Cayer (Longueuil, QUE) won a battle in the corner and fed a pass out into the slot to DeFazio where the rookie connected for his second career goal at 12:26.
Union came close to tying the score in the final seconds of the opening period, but Leggio turned aside a breakaway attempt by Chris Potts.
The Dutchmen continued to pressure in the middle frame, out shooting the Green and Gold 19-8 in the period. Union tied the game, with a power-play goal on its fourth man-advantage opportunity at 11:58. Mario Valery-Trabucco connected off assists from Adam Presizniuk and Cook when his one-timer from the slot found its way through a screen and over the stick-side shoulder of Leggio.
Lane Caffaro almost put Union ahead in the final seconds of the second, but once again Leggio, with 18 saves in the middle frame, came up big with two point-blank stops on the Dutchmen’s captain to keep it a 1-1 game through 40 minutes.
Clarkson regained the lead at 4:01 of the third when the Knights’ leading scorer, senior Steve Zalewski (New Hartford, NY) tipped in a pass from the point by defenseman Grant Clitsome (Gloucester, ONT) for his team-high 15th goal of the season, just four seconds after a Clarkson power play had ended.
At 14:52, Union made it 2-2 seven seconds after a power play ended as Presizniuk redirected a shot from the point by Mike Harr for his fifth goal of the year.
With less than four minutes to play junior Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) came through with the game-winner. At 16:35, Guthrie picked up a rebound off of junior Chris D’Alvise 's (Mississauga, ONT) shot and lifted in his 7th goal of the season for the deciding goal. Sophomore Tim Marks (Brownville, NY) also assisted.
The Dutchmen pulled netminder Justin Mrazek with 2:07 remaining, but the Knights were able to hold off the Union pressure to gain the one-goal victory.
Union held a 33-27 shot advantage. The Knights went 0-of-3 on the power play, while the Dutchmen were 1-of-7 with the man advantage.
