A long night in Boston ended in the Clarkson University Hockey team’s most lopsided loss in almost six years as the Golden Knights ended 2016 on a sour note with an 8-2 defeat to Hockey East’s Northeastern University in non-league play at Matthews Arena on Friday.
Playing for the first time since December 9 Clarkson suffered its third straight loss, dropping to 9-8-3 overall. The Knights will have to wait eight days before they get a chance to redeem themselves. The Green and Gold open the New Year with their final out-of-conference contest this season playing ECAC Hockey rival Rensselaer in a non-league game at the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid on January 7.
Northeastern (7-7-4) scored twice in the opening two minutes and never looked back. The Huskies held a 4-1 lead through the first period and built their advantage to 7-1 through 40 minutes.
Clarkson outshot Northeastern by almost a 2-to-1 margin, 40-24, and controlled faceoffs, winning 41-of-76 draws. But the Huskies took advantage of numerous Green and Gold defensive miscues to become the first team to score eight goals on a Clarkson team since Union handed the Knights an 8-1 loss in Schenectady on January 8, 2011.
Lincoln Griffin capitalized on a Clarkson turnover for Northeastern’s first goal just 47 seconds after the opening faceoff. At 2:17, the Huskies made it 2-0 when a centering pass by Garret Cockerill from along the right boards deflected in off the skate of a Clarkson defender in front.
Dylan Sikura tallied on the power play at 7:54 and Matt Filipe made it 4-0 when he was left all alone at the backdoor at 11:49.
The Knights got on the scoreboard late in the period off a strong play by junior defenseman Terrance Amorosa. Amorosa intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, skated by a Northeastern defenseman and sent a pass across the top of the crease to classmate Nic Pierog, who flipped in his third goal of the year at 15:31 to give the Green and Gold some life.
Clarkson had a pair of power-play opportunities early in the middle frame, but Northeastern took away the Knights’ momentum, scoring on a 2-on-1 rush for a shorthanded goal by Zach Aston-Reese at 1:32 to make it 5-1.
The Huskies added two more goals in the second period with Adam Gaudette scoring at 8:19 and Aston-Reese connecting on the power play at 13:59 to give the home team a six-goal cushion despite being outshot 16-9 in the period.
Senior Perry D’Arrisso scored his second goal of the year and Clarkson’s fourth shorthanded goal of the season, finishing off an assist from junior Sam Vigneault at 8:01 of the third to make it 7-2.
Northeastern wrapped up its third straight win in the series against the Knights when Aston-Reese completed his hat trick at 13:41.
Clarkson used all three goaltenders in the contest. Freshman Jake Kielly got the start and took the loss, making five saves on nine shots through the opening 11:49 of play. Senior Ville Runola made his third appearance of the season and posted 10 saves on 13 shots through 36:12 of action. Senior Steve Perry closed out the game with his third showing of the year and made one save on two shots over the final 12 minutes.
Ryan Ruck picked up the win for Northeastern with 38 saves.
The Huskies went 2-of-5 on the power play and killed off all five of the Knights’ man-advantage opportunities.
