With a strong defensive effort backstopped by senior goaltender Greg Lewis and some timely goal scoring the Clarkson University Hockey team defeated 12th-ranked Harvard 2-1 at Cheel Arena on Friday night. With the victory, the Golden Knights clinch a home-ice berth in the first round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs next weekend in Potsdam.
Clarkson, which snapped a three-game losing stretch, improves to 17-13-3 overall and is tied for seventh place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 9-9-3 league mark. Clarkson closes out the regular season hosting Dartmouth on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
Postgame audio from Head Coach Casey Jones
Lewis, who has started the last 15 games for the Green and Gold, finished with 28 saves, including 11 over the final 20 minutes. Earlier in the day Lewis was named a nominee for the 2016 Mike Richter Award, which honors the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA men’s hockey.
Harvard (15-9-4, 11-6-4), which boasted the seventh-best offense in the NCAA averaging 3.48 goals per game, outshot Clarkson 29-22, but did not get on the scoreboard until the final minute of play. The Knights excelled on the penalty kill, shutting down the Crimson’s nation-leading power play on all four of their chances.
Neither team scored in a fast-paced opening period, but the Knights’ came close to getting the first goal late in the stanza. Junior Troy Josephs took a pass from senior defenseman Kevin Tansey at the side of the net, but his quick shot hit off the outside of the crossbar and deflected into the corner with 42 seconds left in the period. The Crimson held a 7-6 shot advantage through the first 20 minutes.
The Knights came out strong to start the second period and scored just 53 seconds in after Josephs forced a Crimson turnover at their own blueline. Senior Jeff DiNallo picked up the loose puck and fired in a hard shot from the top of the right circle for his fourth goal of the season. Last year’s Clarkson MVP, DiNallo has recorded 11 (3-8) of his 13 (4-9) points in the 2016 portion of the schedule, playing a leading role in the Knights’ push for home ice.
Clarkson made it 2-0 at 15:01 of the middle frame with sophomore Ben Dalpe’s fourth goal of the year. Dalpe followed up a shot by junior Perry D’Arrisso and poked in a rebound through the pads of Harvard goaltender Merrick Madsen from the edge of the crease. Freshman defenseman Aaron Thow started the play to pick up an assist.
Late in the period the Knights got in penalty trouble and found themselves down two men for 61 seconds. Clarkson, behind several key stops from Lewis, was able to kill off the Crimson’s two-man advantage to take a 2-0 lead into the third period.
Harvard controlled the third period, outshooting the Knights 12-5, but Clarkson did a good job of blocking shots and Lewis turned away the Crimson’s Grade “A” scoring opportunities. Harvard’s only goal came with 48 seconds remaining. With their goaltender out for the extra skater, the Crimson’s Kyle Criscuolo cut the Clarkson lead to one, but time ran out for the visitors as the Knights completed a season sweep of Harvard for the first time sine the 2007-08 campaign. Clarkson also improved its record at Cheel this season to 12-2-2.
