Cambridge, MA - A 31- save effort from sophomore Dustin Traylen (Kirkland, QUE) and a two-goal outing by junior Jay Latulippe (Saratoga Springs, NY) highlighted the Clarkson University Men’s Hockey team’s most impressive victory of the season as the Golden Knights defeated nationally ranked Harvard 3-0 at Bright Hockey Center in Cambridge, MA on Saturday night. Clarkson, which gained a split in its first Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) road trip of the season after losing 4-1 to Brown on Friday, stands at 6-4-3 overall and to 3-3-1 in the conference.
In the 88th meeting between the two perennial ECAC powerhouses, Traylen became the first Clarkson goaltender to ever shutout the Crimson in the all-time series, that began in 1935. Traylen, who recorded his second career whitewash, posted eight saves in the first period, 10 in the second and 13 in the final frame.
“I am very pleased with our effort tonight,” stated Clarkson head coach George Roll. “Our guys competed for the full 60 minutes. Obviously Dustin played great in net, but our guys play well in front of him. They did a great job of letting him see the first shot and clearing rebounds. We were committed to defense tonight. I am as proud of this team’s effort tonight as any team I have been associate with.”
After killing off two early Harvard power plays, including a lengthy 5-3 advantage, the Knights opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 11:34 of the first. Junior Chris Blight (Cambridge, ONT) one-timed a pass from freshman defenseman Matt Nickerson (Old Lyme, CT) at the bottom of the left circle for his team-high eighth goal of the season. Junior Mac Faulkner (King City, ONT) also set-up the game-winning goal with his team-high ninth assist of the year.
The Knights held off some intense pressure from the Crimson in the second period and early in the third frame and then sealed the victory with two late goals by Latulippe. Clarkson gained some breathing room with 3:05 left to play when Latulippe tallied his first goal of the season off a pass from senior Rob McFeeters (Woodville, ONT). Junior defenseman Ken Scuderi (Bethpage, NY) also assisted. Latulippe closed out the Knights’ first ECAC road win of the year with an empty-net goal at 19:46. McFeeters gained his second assists of the game while sophomore Jeff Genovy (Kalamazoo, MI) earned his first point of the year.
“I am happy for Jay Latulippe,” said Roll. “Jay has been working hard and it’s nice to see it pay off for him.”
Clarkson excelled on specialty teams, going 1-of-3 on the power play and killing off all six of the Crimson’s man-advantage opportunities.
The Knights close out the first semester this coming weekend as they host the University of New Hampshire and UMass-Lowell at Cheel Arena in a pair of non-league games.
