Despite a strong second-period showing and a late rally in the third, the Clarkson University Hockey team could not overcome a slow start and fell to Dartmouth 6-4 in ECAC Hockey action at Thompson Arena in Hanover, NH on Friday night.
With the loss on the road the Golden Knights fall into a tie for fifth place in the league standings with Quinnipiac, but with the Bobcats owning the head-to-head tie-breaker over the Green and Gold, Clarkson is sixth in the league with one game to play in the regular season. Clarkson, which owns a 9-8-4 conference mark and a 15-14-6 overall record, plays at Harvard on Saturday. The Knights are one point behind the Crimson and one point ahead of seventh-place Yale.
Head Coach Casey Jones Postgame
Dartmouth (11-13-4, 8-10-3) jumped out to a commanding 4-0 first-period lead as the Tyler Sikura Line accounted for the first three goals. Shortly after killing off a Clarkson power play, the lone man-advantage of the stanza, the Big Green started their scoring burst as Matt Lindblad pounced on a rebound at the top of the Clarkson crease at 5:24. Linemate Eric Neiley made it 2-0 on a similar play at 10:31, followed by Sikura’s redirection off a shot from the point at 13:26. Brandon McNally capped off a strong opening 20 minutes for Dartmouth, scoring with just .3 seconds remaining in the period.
The Knights got back in the game with a solid second-period showing, which resulted in two goals. Similar to Dartmouth in the first period, Clarkson took control of the momentum in the middle frame shortly after killing off a penalty. Junior defenseman Andrew Himelson (Monroe, NY) tallied his second goal of the season, converting a pass from sophomore Will Frederick (Allison Park, PA) on a 2-on-1 rush at 2:30. Clarkson scored again at 7:02 as junior Adam Pawlick (Utica, NY) tallied on the power play, putting in a shot from the top of the crease after a pass from senior Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE). Sophomore Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT) also assisted.
Audio Himelson Goal
Audio Pawlick Goal
Dartmouth opened the final frame with its fifth goal at 11:14 with Connor Goggin scoring.
With time winding down, and trailing by three goals, Clarkson mounted a rally with a pair of goals 26 seconds apart to make it a 5-4 contest. Sophomore Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) redirected a shot from the point by Himelson at 14:38, followed by senior Louke Oakley’s (Whitby, ONT) 15th goal of the season, off a rebound at 15:04. Freshman defenseman James Howden (Edgeley, SASK) assisted.
Audio McPherson Goal
Audio Oakley Goal
The Big Green, however, were able to hold on for the victory and sealed the win with an empty-net goal by McNally with 47 seconds left on the clock.
The Knights outshot Dartmouth 39-35. Both teams were 1-of-4 on the power play. Senior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) finished with 29 saves.
