Sophomore David Cayer tallied two goals and two assists and classmate Shawn Weller scored twice to lead Clarkson University to a 5-2 victory over Wayne State University in non-league action before 2,057 at Cheel Arena Friday night.
The Golden Knights and Warriors will close out their two-game series on Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. contest.
The Warriors took the early lead in a penalty-filled first period when junior Mark Nebus knocked in a power-play goal off a rebound from senior defenseman Greg Poupard’s shot at 4:51. The Knights came back with two man-advantage tallies later in the stanza to hold a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. Freshman Shea Guthrie took a quick behind-the-net pass from Cayer in the slot and fired in his second goal of the season at 12:48. With Clarkson skating on its fourth power play of the period, Weller put the Green and Gold on top at 16:18, finishing off assists from Guthrie and Cayer in front.
Just 23 seconds into the second frame, Cayer took a pass across the slot from linemate sophomore center Nick Dodge and put the Knights on top 3-1. Wayne State made it a one-goal game at 6:19 when sophomore Derek Bachynski drove a shot from the right faceoff circle through the pads of Clarkson goaltender David Leggio for his first goal of the season. The Knights came right back 78 seconds later as Cayer and Dodge teamed up again to give the Knights a 4-2 advantage on Cayer’s third goal in four games. Clarkson kept its two-goal lead throughout the remainder of the second period behind some big saves from Leggio and strong shorthanded play as the Knights killed off five Wayne State power plays in the stanza.
Weller added his second goal of the night and team-high fourth of the season with a wrist shot through a screen at 13:12 of the third to give Clarkson the 5-2 lead. Dodge recorded his third assist of the contest and Guthrie picked up his second assist and third point of the game.
Clarkson was 2-of-8 on the power play and killed off eight of Wayne State’s man-advantage chances.
Leggio finished with 25 saves, including 11 in the second period, as the Warriors held a slight 27-25 shot advantage. Junior Will Hooper made 20 stops for the Warriors.
