Freshman right wing Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT) scored his second goal of the game with 3.3 seconds remaining in regulation to enable Clarkson University to salvage a 3-3 overtime tie with Rensselaer in ECAC Hockey League action before 3,159 fans at Cheel Arena on Saturday night.
The Golden Knights, who own a five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1), stand in second place in the ECACHL, three points out of first, owning a 12-4-4 league mark with two games remaining. Ranked 9th in the nation, Clarkson owns a 20-7-5 overall record and will close out the regular season at Princeton and Quinnipiac next weekend.
With junior goaltender David Leggio (Williamsville, NY) pulled for the extra attacker and skating on their ninth power play of the night, Clarkson sent the home crowd into frenzy when Beca scored his 10th goal of the season during a wild scramble in front to tie the game. Junior linemates Shawn Weller (South Glens Falls, NY) and Steve Zalewski (New Hartford, NY) assisted on the goal that came while the Knights had a 6-on-4 advantage.
Clarkson had several excellent chances to pull out the win in the five-minute sudden victory overtime session, holding a 2-0 shot advantage, but could not come up with the fourth goal.
Trailing 2-1 late in the contest, Rensselaer, which spent the majority of the game killing penalties, made the most of two power-play opportunities in the final five minutes of regulation to take the lead. Kirk MacDonald scored his 10th goal of the season to tie the game 2-2 at 15:33 while the Engineers were on a two-man advantage. Just 20 seconds later RPI took a 3-2 lead with another power-play tally, this time from Paul Kerins off assists from Jake Morissette and Kurt Colling.
RPI (9-15-8, 5-10-5) got on the scoreboard first when Oren Eizenman tallied his eight goal, redirecting a shot from the point by Peter Merth at 14:49 of the opening period. Klerer also assisted.
Clarkson came right back to tie it 79 seconds later on junior captain Nick Dodge’s (Oakville, ONT) team-high 16th goal of the year. The Knights’ leading scorer, Dodge won a puck along the boards and skated into the slot where he lifted in a backhand past the Engineers’ sophomore goaltender Mathias Lange. Junior David Cayer (Longueuil, QUE) and sophomore defenseman Adam Bellows (Lancaster, NY) earned the assists.
Six straight power plays, including two lengthy two-man advantages gave the Knights plenty of opportunities to take the lead in the second. After struggling through their first four power-plays in the stanza, the Green and Gold finally connected for the go-ahead goal midway through the frame, at 11:36. Skating on their second two-man opportunity of the period, Beca knocked in a rebound off sophomore Chris D’Alvise’s (Mississauga, ONT) shot. Sophomore Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) also assisted.
Both teams had 32 shots on goal. Clarkson finished 2-of-9 on the power play, while the Engineers were 2-of-5 with the man advantage.
