Dartmouth Drops Close Contest to Clarkson

Box score

POTSDAM, N.Y. ­ Despite jumping out to a quick two-goal lead the Clarkson Golden Knights (6-2, 3-0 ECAC), led by a Tim Marks hat trick out muscled the Dartmouth (2-1, 1-1 ECAC) men's hockey team, 4-3 on Saturday at Cheel Arena.

An intense first period had the Big Green taking a 2-1 lead despite being outshot 16-9. Clarkson started things off quickly with increasing pressure on netminder Mike Devine (Orchard Park, N.Y.). Tim Marks came in on Devine making the senior move to his left for a kick save. Brandon Harrington (Rochester, Minn.) took the rebound trying for a goal of his own but Golden Knights goalie David Leggio was up to the task.

Dartmouth finally broke the scoreless tie at 11:45 on a text book play by linemates J.T. Wyman (Wayzata, Minn.) and Nick Johnson (Calgary, Alta.). Wyman got the puck at center ice shooting up to a streaking Johnson who blasted the puck past Leggio on the left side.

Then at 8:37 freshman Kyle Reeds (St. Louis, Mo.) gave the visitors a two goal lead. Wyman fired down to Reeds who took the puck in traffic on the left side of the Clarkson net. He hammered it in several times before finally slipping it past Leggio for his first goal of the season.

The home team got one back at 6:48. A pile up in front of the Dartmouth nets had Devine on the bottom making the save as play was stopped and a faceoff was brought to the right side circle. Marks got the puck and pounded it in slipping it through traffic and between Devine's legs.

Clarkson kept the pressure up as the Golden Knights went on the power play with less than four minutes to play in the game. Four shots on goal by the home team kept Devine on his toes but the senior was up for the challenge as he kept moving, stopping everything that came his way.

The second period was all Clarkson as the Golden Knights surged ahead for a two-goal lead. At 17:52 David Cayer tied the game on a shot from the right side circle that drew Devine out of the net as the puck sailed over his shoulder into the back of the net. Clarkson pulled ahead on its sixth power play strike of the season as Marks capitalized with :19 left on the Big Green penalty. Then at 00:00 the third goal by Marks put the momentum firmly on Clarkson's side.

Dartmouth had an opportunity to get one back at 2:47 when Harrington blasted one toward Leggio but the save was made. Less than 10 seconds later the Big Green finally got a power play of its own but with no shots on goal Dartmouth was unable to get anything going. The Golden Knights outshot the visitors 17-4.

The shot output was the lowest for Dartmouth since managing only 19 shots on goal against Princeton on Nov. 24, 2006.

Dartmouth had its second power play of the game early in the third frame but it was Clarkson that almost scored as the Golden Knights had two short handed shots but Devine made acrobatic saves on both.

Joe Stejskal (Grand Rapids, Minn.) and Evan Stephens (Bessemer, Mich.) both had shots on goal but Steve Zalewski, coming out of the box, gave Dartmouth a scare skating in one on one with Devine but he shot high.

The Big Green got on the board midway through the third as sophomores Rob Smith (Brooks, Alta.) and Harrison Taylor (Toronto, Ont.) paired up for Smith's first collegiate goal. Taylor shot down to Smith on the left side of the net as he slipped it behind Leggio for the score.

The Big Green increased the pressure as rookies Scott Fleming (Plainfield, Ont.) and Matt Reber (Edina, Minn.) along with Connor Shields (Edmonton, Alta.) added to the shot total for Dartmouth.

Clarkson went on the power play at 4:35 as continued jostling and bumping of Devine had the senior netminder putting his stick out, slashing the nearest Golden Knight player. The penalty was the first of his career as the Dartmouth defense prevented any legitimate chances by Clarkson.

An exciting final minute of play with the empty net had Shields and Peter Boldt (Greenwich, Conn.) both make unbelievable plays to save the puck from going in as Dartmouth prevented any more goals.

Clarkson finished with 40 shots to Dartmouth's 21. Devine (2-1) had 00 saves while Leggio (5-1) finished with 00.

The Big Green will be back in action next weekend opening up the home portion of its schedule with games against Union on Friday and Rensselaer on Saturday.