Matt Poapst deflected a shot from David Reid off his shin pad and into the net at 9:27 of the third period to record the game-winning goal in Clarkson’s 4-2 victory against Colgate Saturday night.
The win was the second consecutive and second this season against Colgate for Clarkson, which defeated the Red Raiders 5-3 in the consolation game of the Syracuse Invitational Tournament on Nov. 26.
The Golden Knights (11-7-3, 6-3-2 ECAC) got on the board first when Gasper Sekelj pounded home a loose puck that had been saved by Colgate goaltender David Cann off a shot by Don Smith at 2:43 of the first period.
Clarkson extended their lead to 2-0 when Tristan Lush registered his second marker of the season at 12:40 of the first.
Colgate (5-15-4, 3-8-1 ECAC) pulled within 2-1 when Etienne Morin scored his sixth of the season from Cory Murphy at 13:52 of the first. Murphy made a great lead pass behind the Colgate bluline off the boards to Morin in stride, then Morin took a shot which was saved by Clarkson goaltender Mike Walsh, but then jammed in his own rebound.
Poapst recorded the eventual game-winning goal at 9:27 of the third to give Clarkson a 3-1 lead.
Colgate’s Kyle Doyle made it 3-2 with eight minutes remaining in the contest from Steve Silversides and Paul Kelley. Silversides took a shot from the right face-off circle and Doyle deflected it in from just outside the crease.
Clarkson’s Don Smith skated hard after receiving a lead pass from Chris Bahen to score his 11th of the season on the empty-net at 19:51.
David Cann made his first start since Dec. 28th (a 2-0 loss against then No. 5-ranked Western Michigan) and finished the evening with 32 saves for Colgate dropping to 0-4-0, while Mike Walsh posted 28 saves to improve to 5-1-1 on the season.
