Junior center Sam Vigneault (Baie-Comeau, QUE) tallied all the goals and freshman goaltender Jake Kielly (Eden Prairie, MN) backstopped a stingy defensive effort as the Clarkson University Hockey team shut out ECAC Hockey rival Colgate University in a game televised by the America Sports Network before 2,767 fans at Cheel Arena on Friday night.

Clarkson stands at 14-13-4 overall and is in sixth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 9-8-2 league mark. With three games remaining in the regular season, the Golden Knights are five points out of fourth. Clarkson hosts 12th-ranked Cornell on Saturday.

The Golden Knights' leading offensive force, Vigneault recorded his first career hat trick and Kielly posted 23 saves for the third shutout of his rookie campaign. Colgate (8-18-5, 6-11-2) outshot the Green and Gold 23-19. There were only three penalties called in the game. The Raiders were 0-of-2 on the power play and the Knights did not connect in their only man-advantage opportunity.

A dominant first-period effort did not result in any goals through the opening 20 minutes for the Knights, but it did set the tone for one of the Green and Gold's most complete wins of the season.

Clarkson controlled play right from the start and held the puck in the Raiders' zone for the first three-and-half minutes. The Knights outshot Colgate 7-4 in the period and did not allow the visitors a shot on Kielly until nine minutes into the game.

Clarkson continued its strong play into the middle frame and scored quickly when Vigneault found the back of the net just 76 seconds into the period. Vigneault picked up a bouncing puck off a deflection in the slot by senior Troy Josephs (Whitby, ONT) and knocked in a shot at the side of the net. Junior defenseman Kelly Summers (Golden Lake, ONT) also picked up an assist when he started the scoring play with a shot from the point that Josephs redirected to Vigneault.

A pair of goals by Vigneault in a span of 1:55 late in the game sealed the victory for the Knights.

Vigneault scored on a wraparound at 17:28 with junior defenseman Terrance Amorosa (Kirkland, QUE) assisting. With 37 seconds remaining, Vigneault completed the hat trick scoring into an empty net for his 11th goal of the season and 32 point on the year. Senior defenseman James de Haas (Mississauga, ONT) recorded the assist.