Clarkson suffers loss that lingers

DULUTH, Minn. — A weekend the Clarkson University men's hockey team would probably like to forget ended with a 4-2 loss to Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday night before 3,581 in a nonconference game at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.

Unfortunately for the Golden Knights (3-4 overall), there will be some remnants from this weekend that will last.

First, Clarkson lost one of its top players for the ECAC Hockey opener Friday night at Quinnipiac when junior defenseman Bryan Rufenach was given a game disqualification after a major penalty for a check from behind as the first period ended Saturday.

The Golden Knights also had two players — Scott Freeman and Corey Tamblyn — suffer ankle injuries in Friday's game and a handful of members of the team came down with the flu on the trip. Freeman and defenseman Jeremiah Crowe missed Saturday's game with the flu.

Clarkson played Saturday's game shorthanded, with one three full forward lines and one less defenseman than usual.

"We played much better tonight," Clarkson coach George Roll said. "The thing that cost us was we were very undisciplined. Those calls I would not (question). We just didn't go in there with control. We talked to them about it and we deserved it. The effort was very good tonight, especially with everything that's happened and how (shorthanded) we were. We've been disciplined all year, but this weekend we weren't."

The game started well for the Golden Knights when Brandon DeFazio, who was given a game misconduct in Friday's game, scored on a shot that went just under the crossbar 20 seconds into the game. Louke Oakley and Nick Tremblay assisted on the goal.

But for a second straight night, Clarkson was hampered by penalties. The Golden Knights finished with 16 penalties Saturday for 54 minutes.

The Bulldogs (5-2-1) had a two-man advantage briefly in the first period when Rufenach was called for tripping 41 seconds into the game and Lauri Tuohimaa was called for a penalty 67 seconds in.

UMD did not score in that situation, but did even the game with a power-play goal from Rob Bordson at 10 minutes, 48 seconds of the first period.

Much as it did in Friday's 4-1 loss, Clarkson had a rough second period, giving up two goals and being outshot 16-4. In the two-game series, Clarkson was outshot 36-7 in the second period.

Bordson thought he had his second goal of the game during Rufenach's five-minute major penalty, but officials ruled the whistle had blown after Clarkson goalie Paul Karpowich briefly covered the puck, which wound up trickling into the net.

With eight seconds left in Rufenach's penalty, the Bulldogs took the lead for good on a wrist shot from Brody Lamb at 4:53.

UMD extended the lead with another wrist shot during a power play, this one from Mike Connolly at 16:08 to extend the lead to 3-1.

The lead could have been bigger but Karpowich stopped Drew Akins on a penalty shot earlier in the period.

Clarkson got closer when defenseman Mark Borowiecki scored a power-play goal, which Clarkson had a two-man advantage, at 1:05 of the third period. Oakley and Tremblay again picked up assists.

Borowiecki picked up Clarkson's third major penalty of the weekend with a check-from-behind penalty at 11:15 of the third period, and UMD capitalized with its fourth power-play goal of the game on a shot from Mike Seidel at 13:09. Borowiecki was given only a game misconduct, so he will be eligible to play in Friday's conference opener.