The top goal scorer in the country, sophomore Sheldon Rempal (Calgary, ALB) tallied twice on the power play and sophomore goaltender Jake Kielly (Eden Pariere, MN) made 26 saves to lift the Clarkson University Hockey team to a hard-fought 3-1 win over archrival St. Lawrence before a crowd of 3,470 fans at Cheel Arena on Friday night.
The Golden Knights, who stretched their winning streak to 10 games, improve to 14-3-1 overall and stand in first place in ECAC Hockey with a 7-0-0 league mark. Clarkson and St. Lawrence (1-13-1, 0-6-1) face off again on Saturday in Canton to close out the North Country rivalry.
Postgame audio Head Coach Casey Jones
The Green and Gold outshot the Saints 29-27, but St. Lawrence, guided by former Clarkson head coach Mark Morris, gave the Knights all they could handle.
St. Lawrence came out strong to start the game and held a 13-9 advantage in shots through the first 20 minutes. Clarkson had the best chance to get on the scoreboard in the stanza, but a shot by sophomore Devin Brosseau (St. Lambert, QUE) rang off the near post with 8:40 remaining. Saints’ defenseman Philip Alftberg also had an excellent scoring opportunity when he broke in alone on Kielly, but fired his shot high with six minutes remaining the period.
St. Lawrence struck first with a power-play goal at 5:16 of the second when Jacob Pritchard popped in a rebound in front. That goal snapped Clarkson’s string of successful penalty kills at 12.
The Knights came right back with their own power-play tally to tie it up. Just seven seconds into their first man-advantage of the game, the Green and Gold’s top line converted. Rempal one-timed a pass from classmate Nico Sturm (Augsburg, Germany) at the bottom of the left circle at 6:45. Brosseau also assisted.
The nation’s top-rated power play connected again at 16:41 with Rempal finishing off assists from Sturm and senior defenseman Kelly Summers (Golden Lake, ONT) for his nation-leading 15th goal of the season, giving Clarkson a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes. The Knights are 14-0-0 this season when leading through two periods.
Clarkson’s power play has now converted in each of the last 10 games and has netted 19 during the current win streak (19-45, 42.2%)
Sturm sealed the victory with his fifth goal of the season, scoring into an empty net with 36 seconds remaining.
Daniel Mannella made 26 saves for St. Lawrence.
