Bobcats thwart Knights

HAMDEN, Conn. — There were many reasons for Clarkson men's hockey coach George Roll to be happy with how his team played Friday night.

But Roll couldn't be happy with the outcome as two mistakes on special teams wound up leading to a 4-2 victory for Quinnipiac in the ECAC Hockey opener for both teams at the TD Banknorth Center.

Clarkson (3-5 overall) played its best road game of the season, outshooting the Bobcats 36-31 and taking just two penalties.

But the Golden Knights made two mistakes on power plays and each time Quinnipiac's Mike Atkinson was there to make them pay, scoring shorthanded goals. Atkinson ended the scoring with an empty-net goal with 14 seconds remaining to complete a natural hat trick.

"It was a good effort by us tonight," Roll said. "We just didn't get the win. I was really pleased with the way we played. One area we didn't do a good job on was finishing on our chances. We created a lot (of chances), we worked hard. Two poor mistakes on special teams cost us the game."

Clarkson really pressured the Bobcats (5-1) early, taking six shots on Quinnipiac goalie Dan Clarke in the first three minutes.

But Quinnipiac struck first, scoring at 19 minutes, 7 seconds of the opening period on a goal from Eric Lampe. Scott Zurevinski stole the puck from a Clarkson player and found Lampe skating down the left side and fed him with a pass, which he sent to the top corner of the net.

The Golden Knights evened the game 1-1 at 4:06 of the second period on a goal from Scott Freeman, who was quick to shoot after receiving a pass from Brandon DeFazio. Louke Oakley also assisted.

Quinnipiac's Jean-Marc Beaudoin was called for cross-checking at 5:35 of the second period, and Clarkson freshman Adam Pawlick scored his third goal of the year on the ensuing power play to give the Golden Knights a 2-1 edge at 7:00. Oakley also assisted on that goal.

Quinnipiac's Jeremy Langlois was called for hooking at 14:27 of the second period, and Atkinson scored his first shorthanded goal at 15:53 to tie the game, using a screen to send a shot between the legs of Clarkson goalie Richie LaVeau.

Clarkson appeared poised to have a chance to take the lead at 11:55 of the third period when Quinnipiac's Brandon Wong was called for boarding, but Atkinson again came through with a shorthanded goal just 26 seconds into the penalty for the game-winner.