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Clarkson hockey falls by one to Union

Posted 2/1/14

The Clarkson University Hockey team's bid for a weekend sweep at Cheel Arena came up just short as Union College rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Golden Knights in ECAC Hockey action on Saturday …

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Clarkson hockey falls by one to Union

Posted

The Clarkson University Hockey team's bid for a weekend sweep at Cheel Arena came up just short as Union College rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Golden Knights in ECAC Hockey action on Saturday night.

Clarkson, which defeated Rensselaer 3-0 on Friday, now owns a 16-10-2 overall record and stands in fifth place in the league standings with a 9-5 ECAC Hockey mark. The Knights, who play at Quinnipiac and Princeton next weekend, have eight games remaining in the regular season.

The match-up against Union (17-6-3, 11-3) started off well for the Green and Gold who took a 1-0 lead early in the first and made it 2-0 early in the middle frame.

The Knights struck first early in the contest when sophomore defenseman Paul Geiger (Stouffville, ONT) took a pass from classmate Jeff DiNallo (Aurora, ONT) and scored from the left circle at 2:16 for his fifth goal of the season. Freshman Jordan Boucher (St. Therese, QUE) also assisted.

DiNallo gave Clarkson a 2-0 lead early in the second. Senior Alex Boak (Norwood, NY) fired a hard slap shot from the point that bounced off the Union goaltender and into the slot where DiNallo found the loose puck in front and knocked in his eight goal of the season at 7:13. Senior Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) also assisted.

After controlling the majority of the play midway through the game, Clarkson suffered a letdown halfway through the second period and the Dutchmen took full advantage.

At 11:03, Union got on the scoreboard with a goal by Daniel Ciampini. Just 35 seconds later the Dutchmen tied the game when Kevin Sullivan stole the puck in the Clarkson end and fed Max Novak in front to make it 2-2 at 11:38.

The Knight started the third period like they did the first and scored right away to regain the lead. Junior defenseman James Howden (Edgeley, SASK) picked up a Union clearing pass off the boards and fired a shot from the right circle through a screen in front to put Clarkson back on top 3-2 just 61 seconds into the stanza. For Howden that was his second goal of the season and first since scoring the game-winner in a 5-2 victory against Mercyhurst on October 12.

Once again, however, Union came back and tallied the final two goals to pull out the one-goal win on the road. Novak scored his second of the night when he stole the puck behind the Clarkson net and skated out front where he slipped a shot past the Knights' freshman netminder Steve Perry (Ligonier, PA) to tie the game 3-3 at 9:05.

At 12:34 the Dutchmen converted for the game-winner when Matt Wilkins knocked in a rebound off a shot from the point by Charlie Vasaturo. David Roy also assisted.

Clarkson outshot the visitors 28-26, but Union held a 10-7 shot advantage over the final 20 minutes. Perry finished with 22 saves, while Colin Stevens made 25 stops for the Dutchmen. The Knights were 0-of-3 on the power play and killed off three of four Union man-advantage opportunities.