A 2-1 loss at Union in the final game of the regular season means the Clarkson University Hockey team will be heading right back to Schenectady, NY next weekend for the opening round of the ECAC Hockey Playoffs. The Golden Knights closed out the regular season, finishing in a tie for 8th-place in the standings with an 8-10-4 league mark. Clarkson, which is the ninth seed in the playoffs, owns a 10-17-7 overall record.
Missed scoring chances and inability to convert on the power play cost the Green and Gold in the regular season final on Saturday. Despite out shooting Union 30-23, Clarkson, which went 0-for-6 on the man-advantage, failed to score at least three goals in a game for the first time in February as its four-game (3-0-1) unbeaten streak against the Dutchmen came to an end.
“I thought it was a really well played college hockey game, intense and tough,” stated Clarkson head coach George Roll. “We played hard for 60 minutes and had some great chances, and we did not give them a lot. Unfortunately we came out on the losing end. We played six good periods of hockey this weekend, and that is all you can ask from your club. We just could not finish tonight. We will have to do it the hard way, but I like our chances if we play like we did tonight.”
The Dutchmen (16-15-3, 9-11-2), who gained the eighth seed in the playoffs, took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period when Mario Valery-Trabucco’s shot from the left circle squirted through the five-hole of Clarkson’s freshman goaltender Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) and trickled over the goal line at 11:18.
Valery-Trabucco had an excellent opportunity to make it a 2-0 Union lead with 9:18 left in the middle frame with a penalty shot, but Karpowich stretch out to hug the far post, making a pad save on a low shot to stuff the attempt.
Clarkson had several Grade “A” chances to get on the scoreboard throughout the game, with two shots hitting posts, and finally put one in early in the third stanza. Junior Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT) tied the game at the 5:00-minute mark in the period when he redirected a shot from the top of the left circle by senior Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) for his 11th tally of the year.
The deadlock was short lived, however, as the Dutchmen came through with the game-winner at 11:03 on Mike Harr’s first goal of the season.
Karpowich turned aside 21 of Union’s shots.
