Sophomore defenseman Randy Jones and junior center Trevor Edwards scored in the opening five minutes of the third period to lead Clarkson University to a 2-1 come-from-behind exhibition victory over the U.S. National Under 18 Team before 3,010 fans at Cheel Arena Saturday night. Clarkson, which officially opens the season next weekend with a two-game series at Ohio State, closes out its exhibition slate with a 2-0 mark. Team USA, which goes to 3-2 against collegiate competition, falls to 6-6 overall.
Trailing 1-0 after 40 minutes of play, the Golden Knights finally broke through Team USA’s stingy defense with a pair of goals 3:20 apart early in the final period. Jones tied the contest 1-1 with an unassisted power-play goal off a shot from the top of the slot at 1:50, just 12 seconds into Clarkson’s sixth power-play opportunity of the night. Edwards put the Knights on top stuffing in a rebound off junior Rob McFeeters’ shot from in front at 5:10.
Team USA’s Robbie Earl broke a scoreless deadlock in the first period when he pick-up a rebound in front and slipped a shot by Clarkson’s sprawling goaltender, senior Mike Walsh at 13:50. T.J. Hensick started the play when he stole the puck from a Clarkson defenseman at the blueline and fed Josh Sciba, who fired a quick shot from in front. Walsh made the initial save, but was unable to control the rebound and Earl scooped up the loose puck and scored his fourth goal of the season.
Clarkson outshot Team USA 30-14. Walsh posted 13 saves for the Knights, while Chris Holt stopped 28 shots for Team USA.
Clarkson was 1-of-7 on the power play, while Team USA was 0-of-5 with the man-advantage.
