Junior goaltender Kira Hurley (Pickering, ONT) posted thirty-four saves in her NCAA league-leading sixth shutout Friday night as she led the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team to a 2-0 victory over top-ranked St. Lawrence University. Sophomore Jessica Cloutier (Parker, CO) tallied the game-winning goal at the 3:25 mark of the first period before a crowd of 1,946—a Cheel Arena women’s hockey record. Sophomore Brooke Beazer (Kingston, ONT) assisted on the play, finding Cloutier wide open on the right side with a last-minute pass to beat Saints net minder Meaghan Guckian.
Although Cloutier’s goal would be all the Golden Knights needed, junior Ashley Shaidle (Hudson, OH) added an insurance power-play goal with fifty-four seconds remaining in the first period on a pass from classmate Lindsay Williams (Mississauga, ONT).
Clarkson’s defense held strong throughout the game despite being out shot 34-8. St. Lawrence, whose power-play was ranked second in the NCAA (18-of-74, .243) coming into the match-up, went 0-5 with a man-advantage. The Saints also featured the second best penalty kill in the NCAA (76-of-84, .905) before Friday’s game but Clarkson was able to convert 1-of-6 with an extra man.
The Knights now stand at 6-2-0 in the ECAC Hockey League (11-4-1 overall) while the Saints fall to 3-1-2 in League play (12-1-2 overall). Clarkson remains in first place in the ECAC with twelve points while Colgate is second with nine points and St. Lawrence and Harvard each have eight points, tying the two teams for third place.
