A pair of goals by freshman center Nick Dodge (Oakville, ONT) helped to lift the Clarkson University Hockey team to a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the University of Vermont before a sold-out crowd of 4,003 at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington on Friday night. The Golden Knights, who have won four straight Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League (ECACHL) games, improve their record to 11-16-2 overall and to 7-9-1 in the conference. Clarkson, which moved into a tied for seventh place in the ECACHL standings, plays at Dartmouth on Saturday.
Trailing 2-1 after 40 minutes, the Knights tied it 2-2 midway through the third on senior Mac Faulkner’s (King City, ONT) power-play marker at 9:22. Faulkner knocked in his 10th goal of the season during a scramble in front with senior assistant captain Jay Latulippe (Saratoga Springs, NY) and sophomore Mike Sullivan (Stouffville, ONT) assisting.
Dodge netted the game-winner with 5:26 remaining when he connected on a quick wrist shot from the left circle off a pass from freshman David Cayer (Longueuil QUE). Latulippe picked up his third assist on the deciding goal to give him 98 career points (42-56).
With its goaltender pulled in the final minute for the extra skater, Vermont pressured the Knights and appeared to tie the score with 14 seconds left, but the shot was immediately waved off because of a Catamount in the crease.
The contest started out as if it would be a high-scoring affair with a goal by each team in the opening 1:30 of play.
Just eight seconds after the initial face off, Vermont got on the scoreboard when the Golden Knights junior netminder Dustin Traylen (Kirkland, QUE) mishandled a shot by Catamount forward Jeff Corey, redirecting a wide shot into the Clarkson goal while trying to play the puck with his stick. The Knights came right back to tie it when Dodge followed up a rebound into the slot off a shot by Latulippe and knocked in a shot through the pads of UVM goaltender Travis Russell at 1:24.
The Catamounts controlled the middle stanza out shooting the Green and Gold 10-1. UVM took a 2-1 lead late in the second when Corey Mitchell completed a rush as his shot from the right circle trickled through the pads of Traylen with 1:26 left in the period.
Vermont out shot the Knights 30-17. Traylen finished with 28 saves, including 24 through the final two periods. Clarkson was 1-of-5 on the power play, while the Catamounts were 0-of-4 with the man-advantage.
