With a hard-fought, tight defensive effort, Clarkson University earned a 3-1 victory over WCHA power Michigan Tech on Friday night at Cheel Arena in the first meeting between the tradition-laden programs since 1970. The Golden Knights and Huskies will close out their non-league series on Saturday with a 7:00 p.m. face off.
The Knights, who remain unbeaten at home with a 4-0-0 mark at Cheel, move above .500 with a 5-4 overall record. Michigan Tech, which traveled to the North Country having won four straight and five of its last six games, stands at 5-4 overall.
Junior Haralds Egle (Liepaja, Latvia) and sophomores Grant Cooper (Cornwall, ONT) and Jack Jacome (Caledon, ONT) provided the goals. Junior goaltender Jake Kielly (Eden Prairie, MN) was solid between the pipes, turning aside 26 of 27 Michigan Tech shots.
Clarkson’s penalty kill, which gave up four goals in the loss at Canisius last Saturday, shut down the Huskies on all four of their man-advantage opportunities, including a big kill with less than five minutes to play in a one-goal game.
For the ninth straight game, the Golden Knights scored the first goal when Jacome knocked in a bouncing puck in front off a shot by classmate Kevin Charyszyn (Jamison, PA) at 3:19. Junior defenseman Aaron Thow (Toronto, ONT) started the play with a shot on net from the top of the left circle.
The Huskies got on the scoreboard at 3:56 of the middle frame as Brice Raymond snapped in a rising wrist shot from the right circle.
The tie game did not last long, however, as Clarkson regained the lead less than three minutes later.
Hard work down low paid off for the Knights on their second goal. Junior center Nico Sturm (Augsburg, Germany) knocked a puck off a Michigan Tech defenders’ stick behind the net where Egle picked it up and slipped in a quick shot at the right side of the crease at 6:22 for his fourth goal of the season. With the assist, Sturm, a Clarkson co-captain, has recorded at least one point in every game this season and has a team-high 12 points, including seven assists.
Holding on to a one-goal lead and coming off a big penalty kill, the Knights sealed the victory on Cooper’s fourth goal of the year, an empty-net tally with 26 seconds remaining. Juniors, co-captain Devin Brosseau (St. Lambert, QUE) and defenseman Jordan Schneider (Toronto, ONT) assisted. Cooper was back in the lineup after missing the previous two games with an injury.
Matt Jurusik posted 18 saves for the Huskies.
