The Comeback Kids did it again.
For the second straight night, the Dutchmen rallied from a 2-0 deficit. Freshman Ryan Scarfo scored late in the second period to start the rally, and third-period goals by senior Max Novak and freshman Tyler Hynes of Guilderland capped it, lifting the Dutchmen to a 3-2 victory over Clarkson on Senior Night in the ECAC Hockey regular-season finale for both teams Saturday at Messa Rink.
“You look at Senior Night, and you look at these seniors,” said Union assistant coach Joe Dumais, who was filling in for an ailing head coach Rick Bennett. “They’ve been in a lot of big games. There’s no quit in these guys. They know how to handle these situations, especially Novak and [Daniel] Ciampini. They did a heck of a job there.”
The Dutchmen (8-13-1 ECACH, 16-16-2 overall) finished in 10th place. The three-time defending ECACH tournament champions begin defense of their title when the Dutchmen visit seventh-seeded Cornell in the first round. The best-of-three series starts Friday at Lynah Rink.
Novak believes the defending NCAA-champion Dutchmen have some momentum going into the postseason.
“I don’t think we can ask for anything more than that,” Novak said. “To win those games, especially in come-from-behind fashion, was big for our team success because we’ve been fighting pretty hard and just haven’t been getting those goals. It was nice to get them this weekend.”
Just like Friday, when the Dutchmen spotted St. Lawrence a 2-0 lead in the first period, they fell behind the Golden Knights by the same score. The only difference was that Clarkson scored both goals in the second period.
Kevin Tansey converted a Joe Zarbo pass on a two-on-one break 3:45 into the period to snap the scoreless tie. Zarbo scored with 8:31 left to give the Knights a two-goal advantage.
Late in the period, Scarfo drove the net. He was pulled down by Nic Pierog, and Scarfo crashed into the net, knocking it off of its moorings. At the same time, the puck crossed the goal line. The call on the ice was no goal.
But after video review, the call was reversed.
Some great pinpoint passing between Novak, Scarfo and Ciampini led to Novak’s game-tying goal at 3:49. Scarfo sent the puck from the left circle to Ciampini at the bottom of the right circle. Ciampini backhanded the puck to Novak in the slot, and he beat goalie Greg Lewis, who had no chance on it because he was moving around so much.
“When I grabbed the puck, I saw Ryan in front of the net and I just threw it to him,” Novak said. “I thought he would be able to stuff it a little bit. Instead, he’s a good playmaker, and he found ‘Champ’ in the middle.
“I thought ‘Champ’ was going to shoot it because he has enough goals this year. He made a nice play and spun it back to me. By that time, I’m not sure anybody knew what was going on. I had an empty net.”
Hynes broke the tie with 8:22 to go. He was in the right spot when Lewis kicked out Nick DeSimone’s right-point shot. The puck landed on Hynes’ stick, and he lifted a backhander over Lewis.
“We’ve been preaching trying to get to the net and trying to create some havoc there.” Hynes said. “Obviously, we’ve been having trouble scoring goals these past few games. The puck went up to the ‘D.’ Sammy [Coatta] made a nice play to get it up to our defenseman. [DeSimone] shot, and 6-6 ‘Licht’ [Eli Lichtenwald] in front wreaking havoc. The puck squirts out, their goalie was down and I had a little open, so I put it there.”
Stevens, a Niskayuna native, made 21 saves and earned his 50th career win.
“Like I said [Friday] night, over the last four to six games, we’ve been playing well. We haven’t gotten the results,” Dumais said. “These last two games, we’re starting to get the results now.”
Clarkson 0 2 0 — 2
Union 0 1 2 — 3
First Period — None. Penalties — DiNallo, Cla (interference), 7:01; Gareau, Cla (elbowing), 14:44.
Second Period — 1, Clarkson, Tansey 2 (Zarbo, Gervais), 3:45. 2, Clarkson, Zarbo 9, 11:29. 3, Union, Scarfo 10 (Novak, Gingras), 15:23. Penalties — Ciampini, Uni (tripping), 11:29; Pierog, Cla (interference), 15:23.
Third Period — 4, Union, Novak 8 (Ciampini, Scarfo), 3:49. 5, Union, Hynes 2 (DeSimone, Coatta), 11:38. Penalties — Zarbo, Cla (hitting after whistle), 14:58; Vasaturo, Uni (hitting after whistle), 14:58.
Shots on Goal — Clarkson 7-7-9 — 23. Union 7-9-11 — 27.
Power-play opportunities — Clarkson 0 of 1; Union 0 of 3.
Goalies — Clarkson, Lewis 4-6-1 (27 shots-24 saves). Union, Stevens 13-13-0 (23-21).
A — 2,077. T — 2:13.
Referees — Cameron Lynch, Chip McDonald. Linesmen — Ryan Knapp, Dan Taggart.
Categories: College Sports
