POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Colgate men's ice hockey team put up a strong effort from start to finish Friday night at Cheel Arena but came up short against the Clarkson Golden Knights, 3-0.
 
Clarkson's Sam Vigneault recorded his first career hat trick with one goal in the second period and a pair of goals in the third period.
 
The Raiders were right in the game the whole way after skating to a scoreless first period behind seven saves from goaltender Charlie Finn (North Vancouver, British Columbia). Finn finished the game with 16 saves between the pipes for Colgate while Clarkson goaltender Jake Kielly recorded 23 saves in his third shutout of the season.
 
Clarkson took a 1-0 lead just 1:16 into the second period on Sam Vigneault's ninth of the season. Kelly Summers ripped a shot from the point where it was redirected by Troy Josephs to Vigneault on the doorstep to tip home the puck past a sprawling Finn.
 
Vigneault doubled the Golden Knights' lead with just 2:32 left in the third period to make it 2-0. After a Colgate turnover, Terrance Amorosa found Vigneault on the far boards who skated around the net to bury the puck with the wraparound tally.
 
The Golden Knights sealed the win with Vigneault's third goal of the night on an empty-netter with 36.4 seconds left in the game on an assist from James de Haas.
 
BOTTOM LINE
Clarkson 3, Colgate 0
 
WON-LOST RECORDS
Clarkson picked up its third win in the past four games to improve to 14-13-8 (9-8-2 ECAC Hockey) while the Raiders fell to 8-18-5 (6-11-2 ECAC Hockey).
 
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Finn recorded 16 saves, including seven in a scoreless first period
-Jake Kulevich (Marblehead, Massachusetts) tallied three blocked shots for the Raiders to lead all skaters
-Emilio Audi (Montreal, Quebec) and Sebastian Weberg (Oslo, Norway) led the Raiders with four shots each in the game
 
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Colgate outshot Clarkson, 23-19, in the loss including 19-12 over the final two periods
-Neither team scored a power play goal with the Raiders going 0 for 2 and the Golden Knights going 0 for 1
-Clarkson won the faceoff battle, 25-22, with Mike Panowyk (Whitby, Ontario) leading the Raiders with eight faceoff wins
-Friday was the first time that either Colgate or Clarkson won by more than two goals since the 2009-10 season.
 
UP NEXT
Colgate looks to bounce back against the nationally ranked No. 17 St. Lawrence Saints Saturday night at Appleton Arena with puck drop slated for 7:30 p.m. in Canton, N.Y.