A strong outing in goal by sophomore Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT), who posted 33 saves, and a solid defensive effort by an undermanned Clarkson University Hockey team gave the Golden Knights the chance for victory Saturday night, but Rensselaer was able to hold off the Green and Gold to earn a 2-1 win before 4,134 fans at Houston Field House in Troy, NY.

Audio of Roll postgame

Coming off a disappointing showing in an 11-2 loss at Union on Friday, the Knights played a much more disciplined game at Rensselaer, but came up one goal short in their bid to halt a lengthy losing streak.

Rensselaer (15-12-3, 8-6-2) opened the scoring with a power-play marker from Mike Bergin at 9:01 of the first. The Engineers made it 2-0 on Bryan Brutlag’s goal at 4:43 of the second.

Clarkson got on the scoreboard just as a power play came to an end when sophomore Corey Tamblyn (Bobcaygeon, ONT) connected on a shot from the bottom of the right circle at 16:16 of the middle frame. Classmates Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE) and Mark Borowiecki (Kanata, ONT) assisted on Tamblyn’s sixth goal of the year and third in as many games.

Audio of Tamblyn Goal

After being out shot 15-3 in the first period, Clarkson pressured in the second and out shot Rensselaer 13-9 in the middle frame. The Knights, however, playing with just 17 skaters, were out shot 11-2 over the final 20 minutes.

Audio of Karpowich third-period save

Clarkson was 0-0f-7 on the power play, while the Engineers went 1-of-5 with the man-advantage.

At 5-20-3 overall and 1-13-2 in ECAC Hockey, the Knights will look to put an end to an eight-game losing skid when they host Princeton at Cheel Arena on Friday.