A stunning 5-4 victory by the Clarkson University Hockey team in the second game of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) quarterfinal round over Cornell University on Saturday forces a deciding third game in the best-of-three game series to be played on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. in Lynah Rink in Ithaca, NY.
Five different Golden Knights scored goals in Saturday’s win over the Big Red as Clarkson rebounded with a solid effort after losing to Cornell 5-1 on Friday. The winner of Sunday’s contest moves on to Albany, NY next weekend for the ECAC Championship Tournament.
Freshman Mike Sullivan (Stouffville, ONT) tallied his eighth goal of the season off a perfect feed from the corner by senior co-captain Tristan Lush (North Andover, MA) at 2:29 of the third while on the power play for the game winner.
Clarkson surged out of the gate to start Saturday’s contest, scoring twice in a 36-second span in the opening six minutes. Junior Lyon Porter (Shaker Heights, OH) tipped in a shot from the point by freshman defenseman Matt Nickerson (Old Lyme, CT) at 5:12. Junior Ken Scuderi (Bethpage, NY) connected next for his first goal of the season at 5:48 after following up a 2-on-1 rush by senior co-captain Rob McFeeters (Woodville, ONT) and junior Jay Latulippe (Saratoga Springs, NY).
Cornell got on the scoreboard at 9:50, but the Knights regained their two-goal lead with a power-play marker by junior Mac Faulkner (King City, ONT), his 15th goal of the season. The Big Red tied it 3-3 with two late goals in the first, including their third with just 27 seconds left in the period.
At 5:05 of the second, Clarkson went on top again when McFeeters scored on a 150-foot breakaway, but once again Cornell came back to tie it up. The Big Red tallied on one of their five man-advantage opportunities in the middle frame, connecting for a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 16:26 to make it a 4-4 game.
Cornell out shot Clarkson 33-27, but the Knights who had a season-low 17 shots in Friday’s loss, posted 18 shots in the first period of Saturday’s game. Sophomore Dustin Traylen (Kirkland, QUE) made 29 saves. The Knights were 2-of-6 on the power play and killed off 10-of-11 Cornell man-advantage opportunities as they won for the first time at Lynah since 1999.
