With 43.4 seconds left in overtime, senior Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT) came through with the game-winner to lift the Clarkson University Hockey team to a 4-3 victory over Niagara University in the Golden Knights’ home opener before 3,135 fans at Cheel Arena on Friday night.
Clarkson, which won its first game of the year, stands at 1-2, and will look to even its record when it hosts Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Beca's winner came on a shot while he was falling down at the bottom of the right circle. Juniors Brandon DeFazio (Oakville, ONT) and Lauri Tuohimaa (Helsimki, Finland) assisted.
“I thought it was a good, exciting college hockey game, back and forth,” stated Clarkson head coach George Roll. “They have a good club. They did a good job in the offensive end, but we found a way to win. To get a win like that tonight in overtime with a great crowd in our building is a real boost to our team. It was a big win for us. I know it is early, but to go 0-3 would have been pretty tough for us. I thought we came out in the third period and overtime with a lot of jump. We looked like a different team in the third period.”
The Knights, who ran their record to 52-0-4 over the past 56 games when holding a lead through two periods, held a 3-2 advantage through 40 minutes, but the Purple Eagles forced the extra session when San Goodwin tallied an unassisted goal during a 2-on-1 break at 14:09 of the third frame.
Clarkson and Niagara both generated chances in the first period with the Purple Eagles outshooting the Golden Knights 16-10, but it was the Green and Gold who struck first early in the opening stanza. Senior Tim Marks (Brownville, ONT) put an end to a lengthy goal-scoring drought with his first score since the opening game of the 2008-09 campaign. Marks’ tipped in a shot from the point by junior defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Cameron, ONT) at 3:30. Junior defenseman Dan Reed (Walworth, NY) also assisted.
Niagara dominated the majority of the second stanza before Clarkson struck for two goals in the final 70 seconds of the stanza to take a 3-2 lead through 40 minutes of play. The Purple Eagles, who outshot the Knights 14-9 in the stanza, went on top 2-1 early in the period. Tyler Gotto tallied first for the Purple Eagles, connecting on a quick wrist shot from just inside the blueline at 2:29. Paul Zanette put the visitors on top at 5:12 when he dove around a Golden Knight defenseman and chipped the puck past Clarkson sophomore goaltender Richie LaVeau (Arlington Heights, IL).
With the second period winding down, Clarkson’s offense kicked into gear. At 18:50, freshman Adam Pawlick (Utica, NY) tied the game on his first collegiate point when he threw a shot on net that found its way through traffic. Sophomore Louke Oakley (Whitby, ONT) and junior Scott Freeman (Whitby, ONT) assisted. With 31.4 seconds remaining on the clock, Rufenach flipped in a backhand shot from the left circle to put the Knights back on top. Freeman and Oakley picked up their second assists of the game.
Niagara out shot Clarkson 37-34, including a 30-19 advantage through two periods. The Knights, however, benefiting from a power-play in overtime, out shot Niagara 5-0 in the extra session. LaVeau posted 37 saves in his first appearance of the season.
“I thought Richie was very good tonight,” said Roll. “I thought he was really sharp, especially in the second period. They dominated us in that period until the last couple of shifts, but he kept us in there and that is what a good goaltender does.”
The Knights went 0-of-2 on the power play, while the Purple Eagles were 0-of-3 with the man advantage.
