A pair of freshmen scored their first collegiate goals to highlight the Clarkson University Hockey team's efforts on Saturday night, but the Golden Knights had to settle for a tie against RIT as the Tigers scored twice in the third period to force a 3-3 draw before a Parent's Weekend crowd of 3,320 fans at Cheel Arena.

Clarkson owns a 4-1-1 overall record and will take a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) into next weekend's home series against Colorado College.

Jordan Boucher (St. Therese, QUE) and Troy Josephs (Whitby, ONT) scored their first goals at Clarkson, helping the Green and Gold build a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes.

RIT (0-3-1), however, scored late in a power play, and again late in regulation to avert a 0-4 start to its season.

In an evenly played first period, Clarkson took a 2-1 lead. Playing in his first collegiate game, Boucher opened the scoring, connecting on his first shot on goal. Boucher gathered in a rebound off a shot by sophomore defenseman Kevin Tansey (Hammond, ONT) at the top of the crease and flipped in the opening goal at 8:17. Sophomore Jeff DiNallo (Aurora, ONT) also assisted.

RIT evened the score at 12:41 with a power-play marker from Mike Colavecchia during a scrum in front. Matt Garbowsky assisted.

Skating on a two-man advantage in the final seconds of the period, Clarkson went back on top when junior defenseman Sam Labrecque (Granby, OUE) finished off a pass in the slot from senior Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT) at 19:51. Sophomore defenseman Paul Geiger (Stouffville, ONT) also set up the play for his fifth assist of the season.

Midway through the second frame, the Green and Gold built their lead to 3-1. Josephs knocked in a pass from freshman linemate A.J. Fossen (Maple Grove, MN) at the side of the net at 11:44. Senior Will Frederick (Allison Park, PA) started the play by working the puck free along the end boards out to Fossen at the left circle.

The Tigers started their rally at 6:50 of the third when Ben Lynch connected off a pass from Josh Mitchell with just 17 seconds left in a man-advantage opportunity. Nolan Descoteaux also assisted.

At 15:27, RIT forced the tie when Colavecchia fired in a hard shot from the top of the left circle for his second goal of the game and third of the year. Descoteaux earned the assist.

The Knights had an excellent chance to pull out the victory when they went on the power play with 27.4 seconds left in regulation. Clarkson, however, could not get a shot on net during the opportunity.

The Knights outshot RIT 35-24. Clarkson was 1-of-5 on the power play, while the Tigers went 2-of-3 with the extra skater.

Freshman Steve Perry (Ligonier, PA) finished with 21 saves for the Knights. Jordan Ruby made 32 stops in the Tigers' net.