The Clarkson University Hockey team put in a good effort on the road, but came out on the short end of tightly played defensive game, suffering its first loss of the season with a 2-1 setback to the University of Vermont before 4,007 fans at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington on Friday night.

The Golden Knights, who stand at 2-1, will host the Catamounts (2-0) in the second game of the home-and-home series in their official home opener at Cheel Arena in Potsdam on Saturday night. Faceoff is at 7:00 p.m.

A long-time ECAC Hockey rival now playing in Hockey East, Vermont sandwiched a late first-period goal and an early third-period power-play marker around a second-period score by the Knights to gain its third straight win in the series.

Vermont held a slight 24-21 shot advantage and went 1-of-3 on the power play while killing off both of the Knights' man-advantage opportunities.

The Catamounts capitalized on some good pressure to close out the first period, scoring the game's first goal with 1:37 remaining in the opening stanza as Jake Fallon tallied a high shot.

Clarkson came out strong in the middle frame and outshot the home team 9-4. Sophomore Troy Josephs (Whitby, ONT) scored with 2:37 left in the period for his first goal of the season, tipping in a shot by freshman Sam Vigneault (Baie-Comeau, QUE) from the bottom of the right circle to close out a solid 20 minutes of play by the Green and Gold. Sophomore linemate Jordan Boucher (St. Therese, QUE) also assisted.

Nick Luukko put Vermont back on top early in the final period when his shot deflected in off a Clarkson defender for a power-play, game-winning goal at 5:33.

Sophomore Steve Perry (Ligonier, PA) made 22 saves for Clarkson, while Brody Hoffman finished with 20 stops in the win for UVM.