The remarkable postseason run for the Clarkson University Hockey team came to an end one game short of the Golden Knights’ hopes as Harvard edged the Green and Gold 4-2 in the title game of the 43rd Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship Tournament at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, NY on Saturday night. Clarkson, which became the first ever ninth-seeded team to reach the championship contest, completes the 2003-04 campaign with an 18-18-5 overall record.
Clarkson advanced to the 12th ECAC title game in the program’s 82-year history after defeating ECAC regular season champion Colgate, 2-1, in Friday’s semifinal game. The Knights’ began their playoff run by sweeping Union (8-3, 5-2) in first-round action in Schenectady, NY and then knocked off defending conference champion Cornell (1-5, 5-4, 5-1) in the quarterfinals at Lynah Rink in Ithaca.
In the championship game, the Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals 52 seconds apart late in the first period. Junior Chris Blight (Cambridge, ONT) tallied his team-high 19th goal of the season off an assist from linemate, junior Mac Faulkner (King City, ONT), getting off a hard slapshot from the top of the right circle at 16:39.
Senior co-captain Tristan Lush (North Andover, MA) followed at 17:31, knocking in a rebound off a shot by freshman defenseman Michael Grenzy (Lockport, NY) at the side of the net for his sixth goal of the year.
Harvard, the preseason favorite to win the ECAC, started its comeback by scoring its first goal just 10 seconds into the second period with a power-play marker. The Crimson (18-14-3) tied it up at 4:40 of the middle frame.
With just 38 seconds left in regulation, Harvard earned the right to advance to the NCAA Tournament when Kenny Smith connected for the winning goal off a faceoff deep in the Clarkson zone. The Crimson sealed the championship win with an empty-net score with 13 seconds remaining.
Harvard out shot the Knights 25-16. Sophomore Dustin Traylen (Kirkland, QUE) made 21 saves. The Knights were 0-of-3 on the power play, while the Crimson went 1-of-4 with the man-advantage.
Lush and Grenzy were named to the All-Tournament team.
