CANTON, N.Y. — After a sweep of the nonconference series early this season, Clarkson kicked off the ECAC league series against St. Lawrence with a resounding 6-1 victory Thursday night.
The teams skated to a scoreless tie through most of the first period, but three late goals from the Golden Knights put the Saints in a deep hole entering the second period.
A strong net drive by Genevieve Bannon gave the Knights their lead, and two goals in 17 seconds from Kelly Mariani and assistant captain Cayley Mercer put the Golden Knights up by three after 20 minutes.
“Obviously, having a three-goal lead after the first period is great,” said Golden Knights coach Matt Desrosiers. “I just told the girls to stay focused because I’ve coached against SLU a lot, and they never quit.”
Mercer understood the importance of her goal to end the first period.
“The puck bounced out to me off a good chance and I was just in the right place in the right time, and able to put it home,” said Mercer. “I think that goal just gave us a calming feeling and just allowed us to settle down and play our game, knowing we had a three-goal lead.”
Saints coach Chris Wells also recognized how big that flurry was to the outcome of the game.
“It was a great 14 minutes to start the game,” said Wells. “I think the game was probably the last two and half minutes of that first period. If we could have weathered that storm, it might have been different.”
The teams traded goals in the second period, including a power-play goal for the Saints. Cassidy Vinkle made it 4-0 for Clarkson with a tap-in goal at the 5:27 mark. A pass through the slot from Olivia Howe to Erin Ambrose gave Ambrose a clean look at the net with a shot that was saved by Grace Harrison. However, the rebound caught Harrison out of the crease and Vinkle capitalized.
In a fairly uncommon six-on-three situation for SLU, where Wells pulled his netminder for the three-skater advantage, strong penalty killing by the Golden Knights lasted for all but the final second of the extended opportunity before Brooke Webster trickled the puck past Shea Tiley.
Despite being scored upon, Desrosiers had nothing but praise for the players who worked that penalty kill.
“I thought we did a great job; we probably blocked about ten shots,” said Desrosiers. “When the players came back to the bench, even though we got scored on, there was nothing but praise from players and coaches.”
Clarkson added two more goals in the third period, from Howe and Katelyn Fournier, to ice the victory. Desrosiers was quick to address the fact that it was unlikely that Saturday’s game in Potsdam, N.Y., will go the same way.
“You can only think that this is going to motivate them to come at us a little harder,” said Desrosiers. “Our players have to refocus and not go into Saturday thinking we are gonna have another blowout.”
Wells acknowledged that, while the scoreboard was lopsided, the play on the ice was less so.
“I think at times the play was more even, but ultimately, 6-1 is 6-1,” Wells said.
“I think as a team, we kept working hard tonight,” added SLU assistant captain Meghan Armstrong. “The bounces just didn’t go our way tonight, but we know we’ll have a good day tomorrow and be ready to go on Saturday.”
