Game 1 bounces SLU's way

CANTON — Did anyone expect anything less than an overtime thriller between Clarkson and St. Lawrence to kick off the ECAC Hockey Tournament at Appleton Arena?

The Golden Knights and Saints split their three regular-season meetings, 1-1-1. St. Lawrence broke the deadlock 10 minutes, 9 seconds into overtime to top Clarkson, 3-2, in the best-of-three series in front of 2,683 fans.

Aaron Bogosian netted the game-winner on an admittedly fortunate bounce. George Hughes fired a shot from the left point, which sailed wide and high. It ricocheted hard off the backboard, right to Bogosian just to the right of the goal.

"It bounced to the back side before I could get back," Clarkson goalie Paul Karpowich said. "It was a funny bounce and it was overtime."

Hughes's initial shot was a problem all game for the Golden Knights. He took four of St. Lawrence's 14 shots from the blue line.

"We had the opportunity to get the puck out (before Hughes's shot) and we didn't get it out," Clarkson coach George Roll said. "They went defenseman-to-defenseman and hit. We gave up way too many chances from their D-men and it cost us the game."

St. Lawrence (16-13-7 overall) took 50 shots against Clarkson. The Golden Knights (8-23-4) managed only 23 against the Saints.

"We were skating pretty good, the whole team," Bogosian said. "We just got shots on net and just kept firing as many was we could."

Bogosian's score came after the third fortunate bounce of the game. The first was just 40 seconds into the first period.

St. Lawrence fired a shot at Karpowich. He brushed it to the left for a Clarkson defenseman. But he fell with St. Lawrence's Kyle Flanagan and Brandon Bollig still in the zone.

Flanagan centered the pass to Bollig, who didn't miss the open left side of the net.

"Flanny made a good play on the wall," Bollig said. "It was a good start to the game to kind of jump-start the team."

The initial steal to get Bollig the puck sparked a pattern on the boards for St. Lawrence, which wore down Clarkson's defense throughout the game.

"It was one of those things where we lost a lot of one-on-one battles, especially in the dirty areas," Roll said. "We have to do a better job of taking care of the puck. That's where the game was won and lost."

Clarkson evened the score at 1-1 at 16:48 of the first. Brandon DeFazio backhanded a mishandled rebound by SLU goal Alex Petizian.

But the Golden Knights couldn't get the go-ahead score, and St. Lawrence took advantage on their second power play.

Hughes again shot from the point through traffic. Travis Vermeulen knocked it down and Alex Curran forced it through from just right of the crease to give the Saints a 2-1 edge.

Clarkson again didn't back down, despite not scoring in the second period. Their patience and perseverance paid off when St. Lawrence picked up only its second penalty of the game in the third period. Mark Borowiecki scored off an assist from Matt Beca at 6:37.

"I think their power play is pretty good," said St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh said. "They're a dangerous team. We were fortunate to get one through (in overtime) and get the 'W'."

The Saints got their second lucky break early in overtime as Clarkson fired four quick shots at Petizian. He stopped three of them. The fourth hit the right post.

"We feel pretty fortunate to get that one," Marsh said. "I mean, they hit the post in overtime."

St. Lawrence continued its constant pressure and attack against Clarkson until it finally scored the game-winner more than 10 minutes into the 20-minute tournament overtime.

"We did what we were supposed to do," Bollig said. "It's a battle every single shift. I think we absolutely deserved this one."

Clarkson now needs to win two games at Appleton Arena in order to advance to play Yale in the second round of the ECAC Hockey Tournament. St. Lawrence, meanwhile, is only one win away from advancing to play Colgate.

The Saints have lost only three games at home all year. That isn't on any of the players' minds.

"None of what's come before us matters now," Marsh said. "We've just got to concentrate on the process and not worry about what our record has been at this point at home. I'm not surprised at all how the game went."

nNOTES: Petizian finished with 21 saves, while Karpowich stopped 47 shots on net. Petizian improved to 5-4-3 overall this season. Karpowich fell to 7-18-4.