LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — It’s been a season of extremes for Clarkson — and that trend continued Friday night against Harvard in the ECAC Hockey semifinals at Herb Brooks Arena.
The Crimson had leads of 3-0 and 4-1, but the Golden Knights scored three times in a span of less than four minutes early in the third to send the game to overtime before winning 5-4 on Sheldon Rempal’s strike 11:38 into the extra period.
Second-seeded Clarkson (23-9-6) will advance to face No. 7 Princeton in the ECAC title game Saturday at 7:35 p.m. The win likely clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament for the Golden Knights regardless of the outcome against the Tigers.
“It’s hard not to look at stuff, but we’re chasing a championship,” Golden Knights coach Casey Jones said.
The highs and lows of the game were a microcosm of Clarkson’s season. The Golden Knights were one of the hottest teams in the country in the early part of the season, winning fourteen straight games from November to January before going nearly a month without a win. But they still managed to secure a first-round bye in the ECAC Hockey tournament and then beat Colgate in the quarterfinals.
“I thought some of those games [last in the year] we didn’t respond to a bad bounce like we did tonight,” Jones said. “If something went wrong we’d feel bad for ourselves. We talked mentally about growing and doing better in those situations and I thought we did well with that tonight.”
Rempal’s game-winning goal came off the rush, as the sophomore took a pass Nico Sturm and fired a shot from the right wing past Merrick Madsen (31 saves) to end the game.
“To get that in and have a chance to compete for a championship means a lot for the school,” Rempal said.
It looked like Clarkson wouldn’t have that chance, as Harvard led 3-0 late in second thanks to power-play goals by Reilly Walsh and Lewis Zerter-Gossage, as well as an even-strength goal by Ty Pelton-Byce.
The loss ended Harvard’s (15-14-4) season and also its streak of making three straight league championship games. The Crimson won the title last season as well as in 2015.
“We made some great strides this year,” Harvard coach Ted Donato said. “We needed to grow a lot throughout the year; we had a lot of young guys. I thought we had a lot of growing pains, but I thought some of the young guys really played well.”
Just as the Golden Knights were playing well down the stretch without getting results, the same was true midway through the second period Friday when they trailed Harvard 3-0.
“At that point in time we felt pretty good because we were playing well,” Jones said. “We couldn’t believe it was 3-0; we had scoring chances and a couple bounces. We had to make sure that we captured the momentum for ourselves.”
Clarkson’s Jack Jacome scored on the power play to cut the Crimson’s lead to 3-1 heading into the second intermission, setting up a wild opening to the final period.
Pelton-Byce struck again six seconds into the third to make it 4-1, but Clarkson captain Nic Pierog scored nine seconds later, before Devin Brosseau and Dylan Gareau each added a goal to help the Golden Knights tie the score.
Those two goals sent the large contingent of Clarkson fans into a frenzy as the building started to come alive.
“It’s a mental lift to see a lot of green and gold,” Pierog said, “It’s unbelievable playing for Clarkson, the support that we have. It’s helped us throughout the season and definitely tonight.”
Crimson junior forward Ryan Donato, the ECAC Hockey player of the year and a highly touted Boston prospect, finished with two assists and also had several good chances early in the overtime period.
“I think in a positive the way, the guys have high expectations,” Donato said of the Crimson, who made it to three straight NCAA tournaments, including last year’s Frozen Four. “I don’t think we had the kind of season that we would have liked. But it wasn’t because of lack of effort. It stings right now, and it will sting for a while, but I couldn’t be more proud of the group.”
