The strong play of Minnesota-Duluth and the rust of a 21-day layoff made for a rough start to the New Year for the Clarkson University Hockey team as the fifth-ranked Bulldogs skated to a 4-1 victory on the road before 1,900 fans in non-league play at Cheel Arena on Monday night.
The Golden Knights of ECAC Hockey, who saw their four-game winning streak come to an end, fall to 10-6-2 overall. Minnesota-Duluth, from the WCHA, snapped a three-game winless skid to improve its record to 13-4-3. Clarkson will close out the non-league portion of its schedule when it hosts the Bulldogs in the second game of their series in Potsdam, NY on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.
Audio of Head Coach George Roll postgame
Minnesota-Duluth came out with a strong first-period effort and grabbed a 2-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes on a pair of goals just under five minutes apart by Justin Fontaine. At 8:43, Fontaine tallied his 10th goal of the season when he took a long pass from Jack Connolly at the Clarkson blueline and scored on a wrist shot from the right circle. Wade Bergman also assisted. Fontaine connected again when he tipped in a shot in front for a power-play marker at 12:29. Mike Connolly and Jack Connolly assisted.
Just 69 seconds into the second period, the Bulldogs added their third goal when Mike Connolly collected a rebound at the right side of the crease and lifted in his team-high 12th goal of the season. Fontaine and Jack Connolly, with his third helper of the night, assisted.
The Knights came out strong in the third period, out shooting UMD 12-6 in the stanza, and got on the scoreboard at 13:18 when freshman Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT), positioned at the right post, directed in a pass from junior Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY) for his fifth goal of the season. Junior defenseman Mark Borowiecki (Kanata, ONT) also assisted.
Audio of McPherson Goal
Less than two minutes later, however, UMD regained the momentum when David Grun scored on his own rebound when his second shot slipped past Clarkson’s junior goaltender Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) and just trickled over the goal line at 15:06 for his first goal of the year. Keegan Flaherty and Jake Hendrickson picked up the assists
The Golden Knights out shot Minnesota-Duluth 34-29. Karpowich finished with 25 saves while the Bulldogs’ Kenny Reiter recorded 33 stops, including 25 over the final 40 minutes.
Clarkson was 0-of-6 on the power play while UMD went 1-of-7 with the man-advantage.
