The Clarkson University Hockey team gave nationally-ranked University of New Hampshire all it could handle Friday night in Durham, NH, but the 7th-rated Wildcats pulled away in the third period to gain a 3-1 victory before a soldout crowd of 6,501 at the Whittemore Center. The Golden Knights, who dropped their fourth straight game, fall to 3-10-1 overall. Clarkson will play at UMass-Lowell on Saturday.
“We came into a tough environment against a very good hockey team and played well,” stated Clarkson head coach George Roll. “We made one bad mistake in the third period where our defenseman stepped up and sent their guy in on a breakaway. Certainly the effort was there tonight. I know we gave up a lot of shots, but I thought our defense played really solid and did a good job of keeping their shots to the outside. Kyle (McNulty) played very well tonight and made some big saves to keep us in it.”
After a scoreless first period, Clarkson took a 1-0 lead late in the second when senior captain Mac Faulkner (King City, ONT) tipped in a pass across the slot by classmate Chris Blight (Cambridge, ONT) for his sixth goal of the season at 14:49. UNH, which remained unbeaten at home this year, at 7-0, tied the game when Brett Hemingway converted on a 2-on-1 break at 7:24 of the third. Hemingway put the Wildcats on top at 12:01 with a shot right off of a face off. UNH sealed the win with an empty-net shorthanded goal with 50 seconds remaining.
The Wildcats out shot Clarkson 40-18, but sophomore Kyle McNulty (Wakefield, RI) making his second start of the season, was strong in the Knights’ net with a 37-save outing. Clarkson was 0-of-4 on the power play, while UNH was scoreless in five man-advantage attempts.
