Potsdam, NY - Sophomore left wing Tim Marks (Brownville, NY) recorded his first career hat trick to help lead Clarkson University past Dartmouth College 4-3 before 2,778 fans at Cheel Arena on Saturday night. Ranked 11th in the country, the Golden Knights (6-2, 3-0 ECAC Hockey) extended their home unbeaten streak to 18 consecutive games (14-0-4), including five straight wins this season.
Dartmouth (2-1, 1-1), which defeated St. Lawrence 2-1 on Friday, was looking for the North Country sweep after jumping out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals 3:08 apart midway through the first period against Clarkson.
Senior Nick Johnson (Calgary, ALB) started off the scoring at 8:15, tapping in a perfect cross-crease pass from classmate J.T. Wyman (Wayzata, MN) on a 2-on-1 break for his second goal of the season and 49th career marker. The Big Green struck again at 11:23 when freshman Kyle Reeds (St. Louis, MO) knocked in a rebound off Wyman’s shot at the side of the net for his first collegiate goal.
Marks put Clarkson on the scoreboard at 13:12, putting in his second goal of the weekend. Marks picked up a rebound off of classmate Matt Beca’s (Mississauga, ONT) attempt and fired in a shot from the left circle. Junior defenseman Phil Paquet (Quebec City, QUE) also assisted.
The Knights continued to roll in the middle frame with three more goal to take a 4-2 lead through 40 minutes. Senior David Cayer (Longueuil, QUE) tied the game with a slap shot from the top of the right circle, connecting off assists from freshmen Scott Freeman (Whitby, ONT) and Tom Pizzo (Rochester, NY) at 2:08.
Marks completed his hat trick, scoring twice in a span of 4:18. At 9:15, Marks flipped in a shot over the glove hand of Dartmouth’s senior netminder Mike Devine (Orchard Park, NY) for a power-play goal to put Clarkson in the lead. Beca and junior Shea Guthrie (Carleton Place, ONT) assisted.
Marks followed with his 5th goal of the season at 13:33 when he took a pass in the slot from junior Chris D’Alvise (Mississauga, ONT) and fired a quick, low shot pass Devine. Guthrie picked up his second assist of the game on the eventual game-winner.
Early in the third period, the Big Green pulled to within one on sophomore Rob Smith’s (Brooks, ALB) first career tally, coming at 4:35 with classmate Harrison Taylor (Toronto, ONT) assisting.
Dartmouth pulled Devine for the extra skater with 65 seconds remaining, but could not get a shot on the Clarkson net in a bid to tie the game.
Clarkson put a season-high 40 shots on net, while the Big Green fired 21 shots at the Knights’ senior goaltender David Leggio (Williamsville, NY), who made 18 saves. Clarkson went 1-of-3 with the man advantage while Dartmouth was 0-of-2 on the power play.
