A crazy game at Cheel Arena Saturday night ended with Quinnipiac scoring two goals in the final 5 minutes, 29 seconds to edge the Golden Knights 7-6 before 2,203 fans.
There were three lead changes in the game and the contest featured a seven-goal third period and 87 penalty minutes.
Clarkson (14-13-5 overall, 8-7-3 ECAC Hockey) led 2-0, then wound up falling behind 3-2 and 4-3.
The Golden Knights then scored three straight goals to take a 6-4 lead, which would wind up being the last number of goals counted by the student section:
Quinnipiac (15-10-5, 7-7-4) cut the lead to 6-5 at the 11:56 mark of the second period then tied it with 5:29 left on a goal from Kellen Jones, his third of the contest. Jones then assisted on the game-winning goal just 46 seconds later, which was scored by Loren Barron.
Jake Morley and Louke Oakley both scored two goals for Clarkson. Allan McPherson and Ben Sexton also scored for the Golden Knights and Nick Tremblay had three assists.
Casey Jones
Jake Morley
It wasn't the best game Clarkson has played this season.
But the Golden Knights (14-12-5 overall, 8-6-3 ECAC Hockey) showed hustle and fought back from two, one-goal deficits to knock off Princeton 3-2 before 2,191 fans at Cheel Arena Friday.
Princeton (7-11-6, 5-9-3), coached by former St. Lawrence University player and assistant coach Bob Prier, led 1-0 and 2-1 and outshot Clarkson 13-6 in the final period.
After a Michael Sdao power-play goal at 10 minutes, 1 second of the first period, Clarkson's Louke Oakley answered with a goal at 16:01, with an assist going to linemate Nick Tremblay.
Princeton took another lead on a goal from Kevin Ross at 3:36 of the second period, but Clarkson answered with a power-play goal from defenseman Sam Labrecque at 5:23.
Clarkson's game-winning goal came at 8:04 of the third period and was set up by the hustle of the Patrick Marsh, Ben Sexton, Allan McPherson line. Marsh brought the puck into Princeton's zone. Sexton got it and fought off several defenders as he skated behind the net, then whipped a pass out to McPherson who had a large portion of the net to aim his shot.
Clarkson coach Casey Jones
After missing almost a year of hockey due to a concussion, Chris D'Alvise returned to the ice recently.
D'Alvise was with the American Hockey League's Springfield franchise for most of last season, but before returning to the AHL he played in four games with the East Coast Hockey League's Stockton Thunder.
Here's D'Alvise being interviewed before his first game:
Another Golden Knight has become a fan favorite in the ECHL, as this commercial attests:
ECHL Stats
Matt Beca, Florida 37 games 13 goals-22 assists 35 points
Scott Freeman, Bakersfield 28 15-15 30
Bryan Rufenach, Toledo 39 11-13 24
Chris D'Alvise, Stockton 4 1-4 5
Tim Marks, Elmira 2 0-0 4
CHL
The oldest Golden Knight in the minors is Chris Lipsett, who graduated from Clarkson in 1996. Lipsett is now a part-time player and full-time assistant coach with the Dayton Gems. He has appeared in six games this season and has one assist.
Denmark/Austria
Phil Paquet Huidovre (Denmark) 29 6-13 19.....Graz 99ers (Austria) 7 0-1 1
Italy
Chris Blight Ritten/Renon 33 16-15 31
Mac Faulkner Ritten/Renon 36 12-12 24
Great Britain
Shea Guthrie Coventry 46 22-38 60
France
David Cayer Strasbourg 23 8-13 21
Germany
Rob McFeeters ESV Kaufbeuren 29 13-22 35
Dave Reid Munich 41 1-7 8
Finland
Lauri Tuohimaa Kiekko-Vantaa 9 3-10 13
Netherlands
Jay Latulippe Tilburg 28 30-37 57
Clarkson is preparing for four straight home games, beginning this weekend with Princeton and Quinnipiac and concluding next weekend with Colgate and Cornell.
The Golden Knights (13-12-5 overall, 7-6-3 ECAC Hockey) are in fifth place in the conference standings but are still in position to earn an automatic bye should they win the rest of their games.
Clarkson is two points behind Harvard and Colgate, but has played one less game than the Crimson. Clarkson faces both those teams in the final three weeks.
Here are this week's post-practice interviews:
Casey Jones
Corey Tamblyn
Will Frederick
Nick Tremblay
Two former Golden Knights had brief stints in the National Hockey League last month but both Steve Zalewski and Mark Borowiecki are back in the American Hockey League.
Who will be the next Golden Knight to make his NHL debut?
Rochester Americans goalie David Leggio seems like a candidate, though with Ryan Miller in Buffalo it may happen elsewhere.
Leggio made 37 saves on Saturday to lead the Americans to a 2-1 win over the Toronto Marlies.
"The most important thing is when I get shots that I'm able to see them," Leggio said to the Canadian Press. "The 'D' did a great job of boxing out and clearing rebounds. When we play like that as a team, it makes it easier for me and that was a big reason for us winning."
Leggio made two big saves in the game, stopping Toronto's Matt Frattin on a second-period breakaway and then preventing a goal from Nicolas Deschamps during a power play in the third.
"They had that one pass across on the 2-on-1 (to Deschamps) and when I made that save, I felt good about it," Leggio said. "And when they got that late power play, we just said we need to kill this. The guys stuck to our system, blocked shots and we were able to shut them down. They've got a lot of firepower, but we didn't dwell on it, we had the confidence that we were going to kill it and we did."
Here are two Leggio videos, one a general introduction and the other features him and former Clarkson assistant coach Ron Rolston, who coaches the Americans, preparing a dinner for a local Ronald McDonald House.
Borowiecki appeared in two games recently with the Ottawa Senators and made it back to Binghamton in time to participate for the Eastern Conference in the AHL All-Star Game in Atlantic City.
"I'm very excited to go to Atlantic City," Borowiecki told the Binghamton Press&Sun-Bulletin. "Lots of good players from the league are there, and to be included in that group is awesome and definitely an honor. These past 10 days have been pretty exciting for me, lots of positive and good steps in my career. I'm looking forward to trying to build off it."
Here's Borowiecki addressing the media after a recent game.
Stats
David Leggio (Rochester) 13-11-1 2.79 gaa .914 save percentage
Mark Borowiecki (Binghamton) 43 games 3 goals-13 assists 16 points
Shawn Weller (St. John's) 31 7-10 17
Steve Zalewski (Albany) 36 9-13 22
Brandon DeFazio (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) 41 5-3 8
