The New Year started out on a sour note for the Clarkson University Hockey team as the Golden Knights were shut out by Northern Michigan 4-0 in the opening round of the Dodge Holiday Classic in Minneapolis, MN on Saturday evening.

Clarkson, with a 4-11-2 overall record, will look to snap out of a five-game winless stretch (0-3-2) when it faces off against Bowling Green in Sunday’s consolation contest at Mariucci Arena, beginning at 5:07 pm EST.

The Wildcats (8-8-4) scored twice in the first period and added two more in the second frame to advance to the championship game.

The Knights, coming off a 27-day layoff, came out sluggish in the first period, and were out shot 15-4 through the opening 20 minutes. Phil Fox scored the only goal Northern Michigan would need when he skated out of the corner and flipped a shot past Clarkson’s sophomore goaltender Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) at 4:06. Mark Olver put the Wildcats on top 2-0 with his team-high 11th goal of the season with 96 seconds remaining in the first.

With a pair of goals 42 seconds apart early in the second, Northern Michigan put the game away. Jared Brown tallied on the power play at 5:35, followed by Chad Pietila’s goal at 6:17.

Northern Michigan out shot the Knights 37-29. Brian Stewart turned aside all the Green and Gold shots to hand Clarkson its first shutout since January 31 when the Knights and Cornell skated to a 0-0 tie at Cheel Arena.

Clarkson was 0-of-5 on the power play, while the Wildcats were 1-of-4 with the man-advantage.