Knights Split the Weekend, Falling to #5 Quinnipiac
Feb. 10, 2024
Over 325 Golden Knight alumni cheered on the home team from 20 locations across the United States. Quinnipiac used a couple series of quick goals to beat Clarkson 4-2 on Saturday in Cheel Arena. Goals by
Ryan Richardson and
Ayrton Martino in the first period highlighted the Golden Knights' performance.
The Knights dropped back into fourth place in the ECAC standings with the loss. Colgate won in overtime giving the Raiders a two point advantage, Cornell boosted to seven points ahead in second place.
Following the game, Assistant Coach
Cory Schneider reflected on the performance. He said the Bobcats took advantage of a couple of minutes and had their team stuck defensively for much of the second, adding, "[
Austin Roden] made a couple of big saves to keep us in it. Tried to climb back into it in the third, some really good looks, but unfortunately couldn't get it to 4-3 and put some pressure on them."
Richardson opened the scoring quickly, scoring 2:45 into the game unassisted. After forcing a turnover along the defensive blue line, Richardson rushed up the ice and used his backhand to score, giving Clarkson the lead on the first shot of the game. The Knights controlled possession through the opening half of the first period.
Quinnipiac responded with two goals in a 64 second span. The first came on a shot from the blue line as the Bobcats worked the puck from low to high, sending a shot through traffic, off the left post, and in to tie the game. Moments later, a turnover in the Clarkson defensive zone gave a wide open late to the crease as the Bobcats took the lead.
Clarkson received the first power play late in the period. The Knights prevented the Bobcats from clearing the zone. A series of tight passes gave Martino the puck in the slot as his shot deflected off a Bobcat defenseman into the net to tie the game with 1:20 remaining in the first.
"Big goal for [Martino], ties the game up there. Really good power play set leading up to that, really good effort, good puck retrievals, and we got rewarded there," said Schneider.
Quinnipiac scored two more quick goals to open the second period. Charles Alexis-Legault scored three minutes into the period, followed by another goal 45 seconds later that gave the Bobcats a 4-2 lead on back-to-back shots. Over the middle frame, Quinnipiac outshot Clarkson 14-2 using the long defensive change to their advantage.
Clarkson limited Quinnipiac to five shots throughout the third period. The Knights pulled Roden with 2:32 remaining in regulation and drew a power play on the ensuing faceoff.
Ayrton Martino was called for interference, negating the 6-on-4 extra attacker advantage.
Roden stopped 26 shots in the loss. The Knights had the only power play goal of the game, finishing 1-for-4 on the advantage. Their penalty kill finished perfect, 3-for-3.
"Six games to go here, and some big points on the line next weekend. We need to keep accumulating points," said Schneider. "Obviously would've liked to get some here tonight, but [points] are very important as one through ten right now is very close in the standings and we have some work to do for home ice."
The Golden Knights are now 14-13-1 this season, 8-7-1 in ECAC play. They will head on the road to Harvard and Dartmouth, Feb. 16-17. The next game is Friday, Feb. 16, at Dartmouth. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. Stream the game on ESPN+, or listen on B99.3 FM.
