Senior Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT), the reigning ECAC Player of the Week, came through with the game-winning goal in overtime to lift the Clarkson University Hockey team to a 4-3 victory over Union College before 2,227 fans at Cheel Arena on Friday night.
Winners of three straight league games, the Golden Knights improve their record to 6-13-4 overall and to 4-6-1 in ECAC Hockey. Clarkson hosts Rensselaer on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.
Guthrie tallied his second game-winning goal in the past three contests when he lifted in a rebound off of a shot by senior defenseman Phil Paquet (Quebec City, QUE) 1:32 into the extra session. Freshman blueliner Mark Borowiecki (Kanata, ONT) recorded his first collegiate point on the winner to help the Green and Gold to their second straight 4-3 overtime triumph.
A hard hit on the first shift of the game delivered by junior right wing Tim Marks (Brownville, NY) set the tone for a strong first period by the Golden Knights, who grabbed a 3-1 lead after the opening 20 minutes.
Clarkson got on the scoreboard first, scoring during a delayed penalty. Sophomore defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Cameron, ONT) took a pass out of the corner from junior Matt Beca (Mississauga, ONT) and fired in a low shot from the bottom of the right circle at 4:39 for his fifth goal of the season. Guthrie also assisted.
The Dutchmen (12-10-1, 5-6-0) tied it, scoring just 25 seconds into the first power play of the game, when junior Jason Walters’s (Renfrew, ONT) shot from down low found its way through a screen in front of Clarkson freshman goaltender Richie LaVeau (Arlington Heights, IL) at 7:46. Junior Mario Valery-Trabucco (Montreal, QUE) and sophomore Adam Presizniuk (Calgary, ALB) set up the man-advantage marker.
Clarkson regained control late in the stanza, scoring twice in the final minute to take a two-goal lead. Senior Chris D’Alvise (Mississauga, ONT) finished off a pass from Paquet with a backhand shot in close for his eighth goal of the season, a power-play marker at 19:18.
With the final horn about to go off to end the period, Rufenach tallied again when his shot from the bottom of the right circle off a pass from Marks found the back of the net with just 0.8 seconds left on the clock. Senior Dan Tuttle (Augusta, ME) also assisted.
In the second period, Union cut the Knights’ margin to one with Walters’ second goal of the game at 11:46. Senior Matt Cook (Belle Mead, NJ) and Presizniuk assisted.
At 4:01 of the third period, Union completed its three-goal rally to tie the game on Presizniuk’s team-high 11th goal of the season four seconds after a Dutchmen power-play ended. Valery-Trabucco and Cook set up the goal for their second assists of the game.
Union out shot the Knights 30-23, with 10 shots in each of the first three periods, but Clarkson held a 2-0 advantage in overtime. LaVeau made 27 saves to record his second straight win in the Knights’ net. Sophomore Cory Milan (Great Barrington, MA) made 19 stops for the Dutchmen. Clarkson was 1-of-3 on the power play, while Union was 1-of-5 with the man advantage.
