Knights get job done; Saints tie
POTSDAM — The combination of yellow helmets, black-and-pink jerseys, green pants and black-and-pink socks were not pretty for the 2,780 spectators inside Cheel Arena to view Friday night.
But the Clarkson University men's team's play in a 6-3 win over Dartmouth College in an ECAC Hockey contest was a pleasing sight to Golden Knight fans.
Clarkson wore special black-and-pink jerseys in the game, as did other conference home teams, to help raise money for the fight against cancer as part of ECAC Hockey's Pink at the Rink program.
It was Clarkson's senior class that set the tone in Friday's game after a dismal performance Saturday night in a 5-3 loss at Quinnipiac.
"I was really impressed with the effort right away," said forward Shea Guthrie, who tallied two goals. "We knew we didn't play well last Saturday. We had an embarrassing effort."
Clarkson (9-16-6 overall, 7-9-3 conference) was as dominant on offense as it has been all season. The Golden Knights outshot Dartmouth 35-21 and had a 17-6 edge on the Big Green in grade-A shots, which are shots taken from just outside the crease.
"It's a very good team," Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet said of the Golden Knights. It was more what Clarkson was doing than us playing poorly. We were back on our heels a bit. We never got a whole lot of sustained pressure."
Dartmouth's Joe Gaudet, Bob's son, was called for slashing at 7 minutes, 36 seconds of the first period, and Clarkson scored on the power play just eight seconds later with a slap shot from defenseman Bryan Rufenach.
The Big Green (13-10-3, 10-7-2) appeared to be in trouble early in the third when Gaudet's other son, Jim, was called for holding at 4:24. But Dartmouth got back into the game when Rob Pritchard scored the team's seventh short-handed goal of the season on a breakaway at 5:19, tying the contest 1-1.
Guthrie got Clarkson back into the lead with a breakaway goal at 7:02 of the second period.
"They set the tone," Clarkson coach George Roll said. "Those are the guys who will lead us where we want to go. Shea was dominant, again, tonight."
One of Clarkson's problems last weekend was failing to build a two-goal lead in either contest. That was taken care of Friday when freshman Julien Cayer scored on a wrist shot from the circle at 5:33 of the third period, giving the Golden Knights a 3-1 edge.
Guthrie scored another goal just 35 seconds later to extend the lead to 4-1.
Adam Estoclet scored for Dartmouth at 6:33 of the third, on a shot where Clarkson goalie Richie LaVeau was screened, to cut the lead to 4-2. But Clarkson responded with another power-play goal, this one from Brandon DeFazio at 10:50, to take a 5-2 lead.
Dartmouth had a five-on-three advantage at 12:55 of the third period after Jake Morley (tripping) and Phil Paquet (high-sticking) each earned penalties, and the Big Green scored three seconds in on a long slap shot from Connor Shields, to cut Clarkson's lead to 5-3.
Senior Chris D'Alvise ended any chance of a Dartmouth comeback by scoring an empty-net goal from well behind the red line with 1:09 remaining. It was the 100th career point for D'Alvise.
"I have to credit my linemates," D'Alvise said of the milestone. "I couldn't have done it on my own."
Clarkson remains in ninth place in the conference standings. Union College skated to a 2-2 tie Friday at Colgate, which gives the Dutchmen just a one-point lead on Clarkson for the final home playoff spot.
If Clarkson does not host a playoff series, then tonight's 7 p.m. game against Harvard will be the last contest at Cheel Arena this season.
"I don't think it's going to be our last game at home," said defenseman Phil Paquet. "I don't want it to be."
nNOTES:Along with scoring his 100th point, D'Alvise also went 15-5 on faceoffs Friday night. ... Guthrie, D'Alvise's linemate, is just one point shy of reaching 100 for his career. The next player to hit the mark will likely be junior Matt Beca, who has 79 career points with one year remaining.
