Knights' Valiant Postseason Run Comes to an End

A valiant effort in postseason came to an end for the Clarkson University Hockey team as the Golden Knights were edged by St. Lawrence University 2-1 in a hard fought ECAC Hockey first-round series at Appleton Arena in Canton. The Saints rallied with two late goals to gain a 3-2 victory in Sunday's deciding third game.

Clarkson forced the series to the limit with a come-from-behind 4-3 overtime victory on Saturday. St. Lawrence (17-14-7) won Game 1 of the series 3-2 in overtime on Friday.

Sophomore goaltender Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) was stellar in the Clarkson crease all series and finished with 108 saves over the weekend, including 30 stops in Sunday's contest.

With Clarkson holding a 2-1 advantage after two periods, St. Lawrence tallied twice in a span of 3:50 late in the third to pull put the win. Rick Carden one-timed a pass at the left side to tie the game at 14:47. With less than two minutes remaining in regulation, Mike McKenzie scored in front for the game-winner at 18:37.

St. Lawrence took a 1-0 lead in the first when Jeff Caister scored on a shot from the left circle that found its way through a screen at 6:04.

Throughout the majority of the regular season, Clarkson struggled in the second period, but on Sunday, the Knights tallied twice late in the middle frame to gain a one-goal advantage through 40 minutes. Senior Tim Marks (Brownville, NY) started the Green and Gold's scoring at 11:57, connecting on a slapshot just inside the Saints' zone after taking a pass at center ice from junior defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Cameron, ONT). 

After killing off three St. Lawrence power plays, the Knights went on the man-advantage late in the stanza, and made the most of their opportunity. With the period winding down, junior assistant captain Brandon DeFazio (Oakville, ONT) lifted a backhand from the top of the crease just under the crossbar for his 12th goal of the season, a power-play marker at 19:47. Junior captain Scott Freeman (Whitby, ONT) and freshman defenseman Andrew Himelson (Monroe, NY) assisted.

St. Lawrence's Jeremiah Cunningham almost tied the game with a blast from between the circle just before the buzzer, but Karpowich got a stick on it to turn the attempt wide.

The Saints out shot Clarkson 33-25 and held an 18-2 margin over the final 20 minutes. Clarkson was 1-of-5 on the power play, while St. Lawrence was with 1-of-6 the man-advantage.

Clarkson, which closed the season with seven straight games decided by one-goal-or-less, including a school record five overtime contests, finishes the 2009-10 campaign with a 9-24-4 record.