In an offensive slugfest in Potsdam, NY on Saturday night, Quinnipiac University came out on top to defeat the Clarkson University Hockey team 7-6 in ECAC Hockey action before 2,203 fans at Cheel Arena. Seniors Jake Morley (Ogdensburg, NY) and Louke Oakley (Whitby, ONT) scored two goals apiece and classmate Nick Tremblay (Candiac, QUE) tallied three assists in the Golden Knights’ most productive offensive outing of the season, but the Bobcats’ Kellen Jones put up a hat trick to highlight the road win for Quinnipiac.

With the loss Clarkson drops to 14-13-5 overall and to 8-7-3 in ECAC Hockey. Quinnipiac improves to 15-10-5 overall and to 7-7-4 in the conference.

In a fast-paced first period, Clarkson jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but Quinnipiac came back with a pair of tallies to make it 2-2 through the opening 20 minutes.

Moments after killing off a Quinnipiac power play, Clarkson got on the scoreboard first. Morley started the scoring at 6:44 when he knocked in a pass from Tremblay for his sixth goal of the season. Freshman defenseman James Howden (Edgeley, SASK) also assisted.

Just over two minutes later the Knights’ Sophomore Line continued its scoring pace as Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) took a pass at the bottom of the left circle from classmate Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT) and wristed in his second goal of the weekend and ninth of the season at 8:48. Freshman Patrick Marsh (Oakville, ONT) also assisted. McPherson has scored a goal in each of the last three games, Sexton has an assist in each of the past five games and Marsh extended his point-scoring streak to four games.

The Bobcats, who held a 19-8 shot advantage in the period, came back with goals by Jeremy Langlois, at 11:36, and Matthew Peca, at 18:09, to force the 2-2 tie.

After a wild second period, Clarkson skated away with a 6-5 lead through 40 minutes. The middle frame started out with a flurry of goals as the teams combined for five in the opening seven minutes of the stanza. After a brief break from the scoring barrage, the Knights and Bobcats added one goal each in the middle of the stanza to complete a seven-goal period.

Spencer Heichman put Quinnipiac on top for the first time in the game at 1:40 of the second, but Morley evened the game at 3-3 with shot from the top of the left circle at 2:04. Sophomore defenseman Chase Fuchs (Severna Park, MD) assisted. Just 16 seconds later the Bobcats went back on top with Kellen Jones’s first goal of the game.

Clarkson then rattled off three straight scores to grab a 6-4 four lead before the period was 10 minutes old. The Knights’ leading scorer, Oakley tallied back-to-back goals giving him 14 on the season. Oakley’s first of the game was deflected in by a Bobcat defenseman at 4:41 with Tremblay and freshman defenseman Kevin Tansey (Hammond, ONT) assisting. Oakley connected again at 6:50, knocking in a rebound off a shot by Tremblay. Senior linemate Julien Cayer (Longueil, QUE) also assisted.

Sexton made it 6-4 with his seventh goal of the season at 9:35 when he scored on a rebound off a shot by sophomore defenseman Andrew Himelson (Monroe, NY).

Quinnipiac’s Kellen Jones started the comeback for the visitors when he closed out the scoring in the period with his second goal of the game at 11:56.

For the first time this season, the Knights suffered a loss when leading after two periods as the Bobcats added two more goals in the third period to complete a three-goal run.

Jones complete his hat trick at 14:31 of the final frame to tie the game 6-6 and then Loren Barron connected on the power play for the game-winner at 15:17.

The Knights had an excellent opportunity to send the game in overtime when Quinnipiac was called for a five-minute major penalty with 3:46 left in regulation. Clarkson, however, could not convert and lost at Cheel for only the third time this season.

Clarkson went 0-of-4 on the power play, while the Bobcats were 1-of-5.

Quinnipiac outshot the Knights 36-27. Senior Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) made 29 saves. Eric Hartzell picked up the win for the Bobcats with 18 saves on 21 shots through 52:29 of play. Dan Clark posted three stops on six shot in 7:30 of play during the second period.

Clarkson, which stands in fifth place in the ECAC Hockey standings, one point ahead of Quinnipiac, hosts Cornell and Colgate next weekend in the final regular-season games at Cheel Arena.