New Haven, CT- Missed opportunities plagued the Clarkson University Men’s Hockey team all night Friday in New Haven, CT as the Golden Knights opened a five-game road trip with a 6-3 loss to Yale at Ingalls Rink. Clarkson, which fell to 8-8-4 overall and to 3-4-1 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), put a season-high 48 shots on the Bulldogs’ net, including 23 in the third period, but had little to show for its efforts in the three-goal loss.
“We had so many chances to score,” stated head coach George Roll. “With Grade A chances, it was not even close, but we could not finish. Yale did not have a lot of chances, but they finished on theirs. That was the difference. The last 20 minutes was probably the best we played this year. We did not quit. We had them hemmed in their end for the whole period. We have to learn to play the whole 60 minutes like that.”
In a penalty filled first period, which saw 11 penalties called (five on Clarkson), Yale went on top with a power-play goal at 4:48. The Knights tied it 4:15 into the second stanza on senior Trevor Edwards’ (Carleton Place, ONT) fifth goal of the season, after sophomore John Sullivan (Bedford, NH) dug the puck out of the corner and sent a centering pass in front. Senior co-captain Tristan Lush (North Andover, MA), who was playing back on the blueline for the first time in his Clarkson career, also assisted.
Clarkson had two excellent opportunities to take the lead midway though the second, but sophomore defenseman Chris Brekelman’s (London, ONT) shot from the point rang off both posts and out, and freshman Max Kolu (Tuka, Finland) was stoned on a breakaway attempt by Yale goaltender Josh Gartner, who finished with 45 saves.
The Bulldogs came back a couple minutes later, scoring a pair of goals 31 seconds apart to hold a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes. Yale made it 4-1 just 52 seconds into the third with a power-play goal.
At 2:54, freshman Mike Sullivan (Stouffville, ONT) finished off a passing combination from linemates, juniors Mac Faulkner (King City, ONT) and Chris Blight (Cambridge, ONT) for Clarkson’s second goal. The Knights pulled to within one at 17:20 when Kolu connected for a power-play marker as the Green and Gold also pulled sophomore goaltender Dustin Traylen (Kirkland, QUE) for an additional extra attacker. Faulkner and Blight picked up their second assists of the game on the goal.
Yale, however, held off the Knights for the remainder of the contest and added two late scores, including an empty-net goal to gain their third straight win over Clarkson.
The Knights struggled in specialty teams play, going 1-of-8 on the power play while allowing the Bulldogs two goals on five man-advantage opportunities. Traylen posted 26 saves.
Clarkson plays at Princeton Saturday. The Tigers tied St. Lawrence 5-5 on Friday at Hobey Baker Rink in New Jersey.
