Clarkson hockey, Cornell play to 1-1 draw

POTSDAM — Neither coach was content Friday night after Clarkson and Cornell skated to a 1-1 tie before 2,690 fans in a men’s ECAC Hockey game at Cheel Arena.

Clarkson coach Casey Jones thought his team played well enough to win and Cornell coach Mike Schafer was frustrated that the Big Red blew a lead they had after two periods for a seventh time this season.

The tie also cost both teams a bit in the ECAC Hockey standings. Clarkson (14-13-6 overall, 8-7-4 conference) remains in fifth place, but now no longer controls its own destiny for earning a top-four finish. Quinnipiac, which is 1-0-1 against the Golden Knights, defeated Rensselaer 3-1 Friday and moved into a tie with Clarkson.

Cornell (13-6-7, 10-3-6) lost another point to first-place Union, but can still win the conference title if it wins out.

“I thought when we got rolling in the third period we had every chance to win the game,” Jones said. “I thought we were every bit in that game. I thought we had good transition, started backing them off a bit and we had good momentum going into the end of the game. Clarkson salvaged the tie when Nick Tremblay scored a power-play goal at 13 minutes, 26 seconds of the third period. There were only two seconds left on the power play when Tremblay’s shot went in.

Ben Sexton brought the puck into the zone, skated behind the goal line and passed to Louke Oakley. Oakley skated up next to the crease and sent a pass between two Cornell defenders to Tremblay, who was near the crease and only had to one-time the shot high over the stick of Big Red goalie Andy Iles.

“I was kind of waiting back door for the puck to pop out,” Tremblay said. “Coach tells me to stay there and pick up the loose pucks or rebounds.”

Said Jones, “The play Louke Oakley made to get it across was a phenomenal play. It was a great play to set that up.”

Schafer was upset about the play and not just because a goal was scored. It was what led up to the goal that irked the Cornell coach.

“We’ve been doing this all year long,” Schafer said. “We played a pretty good third period tonight and one of our guys decides to (line) change on a penalty kill when the puck’s 2 feet outside our blue line. They come back in five-on-three and we give up a goal. That’s what’s been going on all year for us. It’s just stupid mistakes like that, that cost our team a point tonight.”

Cornell had the only official shot in overtime, but Sexton nearly won the game for the Golden Knights when a slap shot clanked off the Big Red goalpost just 1:12 into the extra period.

“It is what it is,” Sexton said. “It hit the post. I thought it was going to be in.”

Said Tremblay, “I thought it was going in. It was a great shot and a great move by him.” After a scoreless first period, Cornell struck first at 5:18 of the second with a goal from Greg Miller, with assists going to Dustin Mowrey and Keir Ross. Miller’s goal snapped a shutout streak by Clarkson goalie Paul Karpowich against the Big Red that had stretched to 101:34.

Iles was equally difficult on the Golden Knights. In two regular-season conference games, Clarkson and Cornell’s forwards managed to get just one goal past either net minder.

“You get two athletic goalies that are competitive and they make it tough on you when they are on their game,” Jones said.

nNOTES: Clarkson is 0-6-3 in its past nine games against Cornell. ... Sexton’s assist extended his scoring streak to six games. He has scored one goal and assisted on nine during the spurt. The Big Red allow just 2.23 goals-per game, but 43 percent of the goals Cornell has allowed have come while they are killing penalties.