Men's hockey struggles in pair of home contests

The Golden Knights of Clarkson University (11-14-1 overall, 8-6-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference) had hockey's version of the Midas touch Friday versus Princeton — everything they touched turned to goals.

Clarkson recorded five goals in the first period en route to a 7-3 victory against the Tigers (3-20, 2-14-0) at Baker Rink.

Friday's game was far from close due to the Golden Knights barrage of goals in the first frame. The Tigers knew they were in for a tough game because Clarkson has been as hot as any team in the country offensively. The Golden Knights outscored its opponents by a margin of 18-9 in its last three contests. Friday marked the second-straight game in which they scored 5 goals in the opening period.

Clarkson wasted no time in beginning its scoring spree when center Trevor Edwards notched a goal 52 seconds into the game. At this point it was apparent that the Golden Knights' recent offensive explosion was no fluke, and that the Tigers would have their work cut out for them for the duration of the game.

Less than twenty seconds later, Clarkson struck again as left wing Mac Faulkner tipped in a goal off of a shot by defenseman Randy Jones. By the 10:50 mark of the first frame the Golden Knights got another goal. Firing from the left circle, left wing Jean Desrochers slipped a tricky backhanded shot past Princeton sophomore goalie Trevor Clay.

Before the first period ended Clarkson struck gold two more times, running the score to 5-0.

Clay was substituted for senior goalie Nate Nomeland at the start of the second frame.

As the second period began Princeton could have packed it in for the night, but instead the Tigers came out swinging. At 2:56 junior forward Chris Owen eased some of Princeton's frustrations by scoring his 12th goal of the season. After being denied on his first shot, Owen was able to beat the Clarkson goalie with a second effort.

The Golden Knights answered with two more goals of their own in the second frame, making the score 7-1 after 40 minutes of play.

As the third period commenced Clarkson's Midas touch had finally run its course. The Golden Knights did not score in the third period and the Tigers got goals from senior defenseman Trevor Beaney at 6:40, and sophomore forward Neil Stevenson-Moore with 27 seconds left in the game.

Beaney managed to score off of a tape-to-tape pass from senior forward Scott Prime with a ton of traffic in front of Clarkson goalie Dustin Traylen. Beaney's goal was his first of the season.

The Saints come marching in

Saturday's game against St. Lawrence (8-16-4 overall, 5-9-2 ECAC) was a much closer contest for Princeton, but the Tigers still fell by a score of 5-2.

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Although the Saints did not come out as sharp as the Golden Knights did in the first period, St. Lawrence also succeeded in jumping on Princeton early. The Saints could do no wrong in the first frame, scoring goals at 13:29 and 19:59. Center Josh Anderson accounted for both St. Lawrence goals, and his second was a heartbreaker that barely beat the game clock.

The Saints got on the board again at 1:55 in the second period increasing their lead to 3-0.

However, two penalties to St. Lawrence enabled sophomore forward Mike Patton to stuff one home past Saints goalie Sean Knaub. Patton found himself unmarked in front of Knaub at 4:36 during the Tigers' two-man advantage. Patton could not score on his first shot, but hit pay dirt with the second.

Princeton was only getting warmed up as Owen scored yet another goal at 7:23. Owen's thirteenth goal came off of a rebound from senior defenseman Neil McCann's blast from the point. Knaub made the initial save on McCann's shot, but that left him in no position to stop Owen's wrist shot.

At the end of the second period the Tigers were down, 3-2, but that is as close as they got to victory Saturday. St. Lawrence scored at 8:22 into the third frame and later added an empty-net goal for good measure.