Potsdam, NY – Senior Marie-Jo Gaudet (Sherbrooke, QUE) recorded her third career hat trick, a natural hat trick with three straight to start the game, as the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team upended Maine 3-2 in front of 335 fans Friday night at Cheel Arena.
The Golden Knights ended a two-game winless skid with the victory, improving to 9-6-4 overall, while Maine fell to 4-14-2, ending its two-game unbeaten streak. The two teams will face off again at 2:00 pm on Saturday.
Despite numerous chances at the Maine goal in the first 10 minutes, Clarkson couldn’t come away with any scores early on. However, the Knights would record two goals in a 15-second span midway through the frame. Freshman Juana Baribeau (Amos, QUE) skated in along the boards and sent a pass over to Gaudet who then deposited the puck into the back of the net for a 1-0 Clarkson advantage at 9:26. It was Gaudet’s 11th goal of the season and the 52nd of her career, tying the school mark held by Ashley Shaidle ’07. Junior defenseman Tegan Schroeder (Lumsden, SASK) also assisted. It wouldn’t take long for Gaudet to hold the record all by herself as she scored on a backhand just 15 seconds later with assists going to Britney Selina (Thornhill, ONT) and Kimberly McKenney (Smiths Falls, ONT).
The second period proved similar to the first as the two goals scored in the frame were very close together. Clarkson jumped on top 3-0 when Selina stole the puck at the top of the right circle and took a shot, which was stopped by Maine goaltender Genevieve Turgeon, but Gaudet was there for the rebound again and backhanded another shot in for her third goal of the game at 17:15. The Black Bears responded with a goal only 34 seconds later. After a quick shot in front, Jennie Gallo received a pass through the slot to return the deficit to two goals. Vanessa Vani and Myriam Crousette delivered the assists.
Maine couldn’t get much offense going through the third period, as the Black Bears didn’t get a shot on goal until very late in the stanza. However, the Black Bears took advantage of an extra-attacker late when they pulled their goalie and reduced Clarkson’s lead to one with only 3.7 seconds left in the contest. Amy Stetch tallied her seventh goal of the campaign with a shot from the slot, with assists going to Vanessa Vani and Dawn Sullivan.
Sophomore Eve Grandmont-Berube (Drummondville, QUE), in her first start since November 8th, recorded 14 saves to earn her second victory of the season. Turgeon stopped 38 shots for the Black Bears. Clarkson outshot the Black Bears 41-16. Both teams were 0-for-4 on the power play.
Gaudet became just the second Clarkson player to produce a hat trick this season, joining freshman Juana Baribeau, who scored four goals against Vermont in late-November.
