Three unanswered goals by Quinnipiac spoiled the Clarkson University Hockey team’s bid for a victory in its ECAC Hockey opener as the Golden Knights fell to the Bobcats 4-2 before 2,752 fans at the TD Banknorth Center in Hamden, CT on Friday night.
Holding a 2-1 lead late in the second period, Clarkson saw Quinnipiac’s Mike Atkinson tallied three straight goals, including back-to-back shorthanded markers, to give the home-standing Bobcats their third consecutive win over the Green and Gold at TD Banknorth Center.
The Golden Knights, who dropped to 0-5 on the road, play at Princeton on Saturday with a 4:00 p.m. game at Hobey Baker Rink. Clarkson stands at 3-5 overall and 0-1 in ECAC Hockey.
“It is a tough loss to swallow after playing that well”, stated Clarkson head coach George Roll. “You are never happy when you lose, but this was our best effort in a losing cause. We probably deserved a better fate, but we will learn from it, move on and be better tomorrow. We had so many chances, 2-on-1’s and a breakaway, and just did not finish. We missed Bryan Rufenach (sitting out a game DQ from last Saturday) back there on the power play. We just don’t have a guy who can quarterback like he can, and it burned us tonight.”
Clarkson held a 14-10 advantage on the shot chart through the opening 20 minutes at Quinnipiac (5-1, 1-0), but it was the Bobcats who struck first with a goal by Eric Lampe with just 53 seconds remaining in the first.
Out scored 12-3 in the second period through the first seven games of the season, the Knights took the lead early in the middle frame against Quinnipiac with a pair of goals 2:54 apart. Clarkson’s captain, junior Scott Freeman (Whitby, ONT) finished off a pass from classmate Brandon DeFazio (Oakville, ONT) at 4:06 to tie the score on his third goal of the season.
Audio of Freeman's goal
Sophomore Louke Oakley (Whitby, ONT) also assisted. Skating on their first power-play of the game, the Knights took the lead at 7:00 when freshman Adam Pawlick (Utica, NY) connected from the right circle for the man-advantage tally, his third goal of the season, with Oakley picking up his team-high 10th assist of the year.
Audio of Pawlick's goal
Quinnipiac started its rally with a shorthanded goal by Atkinson at 15:53 to make it a 2-2 game after two periods. Atkinson struck again with the Bobcats a man down, giving the home team a 3-2 lead at 12:21 of the third. Atkinson completed his hat trick, scoring into the empty net with 14 seconds remaining.
Clarkson out shot the Bobcats 36-31. Sophomore Richie LaVeau (Arlington Height, IL) posted 27 saves for the Green and Gold.
The Knights went 1-of-3 on the power play. The Bobcats were 0-of-2 with the man advantage.
