After suffering its first loss of the season on Friday, the Clarkson University Hockey team came out with a complete 60-minute effort against 9th-ranked Providence College on Saturday night and dominated the Friars in a 4-0 victory before 3,116 fans at Cheel Arena.
Ranked 10/12th in the national polls, the Golden Knights, who lost 3-1 to UMass-Lowell on Friday, improved their record to 4-1-1. Clarkson will complete a tough opening month of October, in which they will play seven of their first eight games against teams that competed in last year’s NCAA Tournament, with a two-game series at Minnesota next weekend.
Saturday’s win extended the Green and Gold’s unbeaten streak over Providence (3-2-0) to five games (4-0-1) and gave seventh-year Head Coach Casey Jones his 100th career coaching victory.
Postgame audio Head Coach casey Jones
Sophomore Devin Brosseau (St. Lambert, QUE) paced the Knights offensively with his second career two-goal game and classmate Jake Kielly (Eden Prairie, MN) backstopped a solid team effort with 26 saves to record his second shutout on the year and fifth career whitewash.
In a dominant first period, Clarkson’s hard work paid off as the Knights controlled the opening stanza from start to finish, outshooting the visitors 15-7. The Knights scored in the first minute and the last minute of the period to hold a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes.
Fifty-one seconds in, freshman Grant Cooper (Cornwall, ONT) found a loose puck in the slot and fired in his first collegiate goal. Senior Brett Gervais (Corona, CA) and sophomore defenseman Greg Moro (Edmonton, ALB) assisted.
Clarkson continued to press in the period and did not allow the Friars a shot on goal until 9:34 was left in the stanza.
The Knights skated into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead when Brosseau scored just six second into Clarkson’s second power-play opportunity of the night. Brosseau picked up a rebound at the top of the crease after a shot from the point by senior defenseman Terrance Amorosa (Kirkland, QUE) and lifted in his second of the year at 19:18. Sophomore Sheldon Rempal (Calgary, ALB) also assisted.
Brosseau made 3-0 scoring on the power play at 8:11 of the second period. Brosseau took a pass across the crease from senior defenseman Kelly Summers (Golden Lake, ONT) and scored at the backdoor for his third goal of the season. Rempal picked up his second assist of the night.
Gervais closed out the scoring with his first goal of the season at 3:45 on a hard shot from deep in the slot. Senior captain Nic Pierog (Georgetown, ONT) assisted.
Providence outshot the Knights 26-23, but Clarkson excelled on specialty teas going 2-5 on the power play and killing off all four of the Friars man-advantage chances.
