Junior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) backstopped the Clarkson University Hockey team to its first shutout victory in over two years and the Golden Knights received another balanced offensive effort with four different goal scores as the Green and Gold opened their 20th season at Cheel Arena with a convincing 4-0 victory over Bowling Green before 2,203 fans on Friday night.

Clarkson (2-1) and the Falcons (0-3) will face off again in the non-league series on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in Potsdam, NY.

Clarkson came out with a strong first-period effort to take a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. The Knights played a physical game and came out with some big early hits with junior captain Mark Borowiecki (Kanata, ONT) and senior assistant captain Brandon DeFazio (Oakville, ONT) setting the tone by delivering solid checks along boards and in the corners.

After killing off a five-minute major, including 1:21 when they were down two men, the Knights’ offense kicked in.

Senior Scott Freeman (Whitby, ONT) started the scoring with his first tally of the season and 19th career marker. Freeman took a pass along the boards from freshman linemate Will Frederick (Allison Park, PA), stick handled around a Bowling Green defenseman and fired off a quick low wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle for the opening goal at 11:21.

Less than two minutes later, the Green and Gold went on top 2-0. Junior assistant captain Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY) took a long pass from senior defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Barrie, ONT) and broke in alone on the Falcon’s goal where he slapped in a shot while falling down at 13:16 for his second tally of the season. DeFazio also assisted.

Clarkson had opportunities to add to its lead in the middle frame, but could not capitalize on four power-play opportunities in the stanza.

The Knights regained their scoring touch in the third period with two more goals in a spurt of 1:32 to make it 4-0 early in the stanza. A pair of rookies teamed up for Clarkson’s third goal when freshman Mike Garlasco (Mahwah, NJ) took a short pass in the neutral from linemate Jarrett Burton (Echo Bay, ONT), skated into the Falcon’s zone and flipped in a backhand shot from the right circle for his first career goal at 1:57. Senior Marko Tuohimaa (Helsinki, Finland) also set up the goal.

At 2:57, Morley won a loose puck along the right boards and fed a centering pass to DeFazio, who ripped a slap shot from the top of the slot into the back of the net for his first goal of the season. Junior Corey Tamblyn (Bobcaygeon, ONT) also assisted.

Both teams had 31 shots on goal. Karpowich posted 16 of his 31 saves in the third period. Karpowich save. Clarkson's last victory in a shutout was a 1-0 triumph over Colgate on March 14, 2008 in Game One of the ECAC Quarterfinal series at Cheel.

Nick Eno finished with 27 stops for Bowling Green. The Knights were 0-of-5 on the power play, while the Falcons went scoreless in four chances.