Potsdam, NY – Junior goaltender Dustin Traylen (Kirkland, QUE) posted a season-high 35 saves to backbone Clarkson University to a 1-1 overtime tie against the University of Vermont in ECACHL action before 2,561 fans at Cheel Arena Saturday night. The Golden Knights, who gained three league points on the weekend after defeating Dartmouth 4-1 on Friday, own a 3-6-1 overall record and a 1-2-1 mark in the conference. The Catamounts also gained three points in ECACHL action after skating to a 4-3 OT win at St. Lawrence on Friday and stand at 5-4-2 overall and 3-0-1 in the league.
Vermont opened the scoring at 11:42 of the first period when Brady Leisenring broke in alone from center ice after a taking a pass from Scott Mifsud.
The Catamounts came close to adding to their lead in the second. Matt Syroczynski, a former Golden Knights, rang a shot off the crossbar three minutes into the middle frame and at 10:53 Jeff Corey was stopped on a breakaway by Traylen. With just two seconds remaining in the period, Clarkson tied it when senior Chris Blight (Cambridge, ONT) slipped in a shot past the near post from the bottom of the right circle. Senior captain Mac Faulkner (King City, ONT) set up the goal by digging the puck free behind the Catamounts’ goal and feeding Blight down low.
Vermont had several chances to take the lead in the third, but was denied each time, Traylen robbed senior Tim Plant from in close with a glove save at 2:37 and then stopped Corey with a sprawling save at the top of the crease at 9:40. The Knights penalty kill also came up big in the third, holding the Catamounts without a shot on goal in the lone power play of the period, which came midway through the stanza. With just over four minutes left, a Vermont shot took an odd bounce of the side boards and almost went into an empty net deflecting off the far post as Traylen skated to the corner to play the puck. Clarkson had a chance to win it in the final seconds of overtime when freshman Nick Dodge (Oakville, ONT) got off a shot in close, but the Catamounts’ freshman goaltender Joe Fallon made a pad save for one of his 27 stops to preserve the tie.
Vermont out shot the Knights 38-26, including a 19-6 advantage over the opening 20 minutes. Both teams were 0-of-3 on the power play.
