The last time Union swept a North Country trip, Nate Leaman was in what would turn out to be his final year as an assistant coach at Harvard.

Kevin Sneddon was the head coach when the Dutchmen completed their first-ever road sweep of Clarkson and St. Lawrence. On Jan. 31, 2003, Union defeated Clarkson, 5-3. The next night, the Dutchmen edged St. Lawrence, 4-3.

Since then, it's either been win a game at one rink and not the other, or the Dutchmen have been swept.

Not this time. Not with the offensive firepower the Dutchmen have this season.

On Friday night, Union took a 4-1 lead into the third period before holding on for a 4-3 victory over St. Lawrence. Two fluky goals late in the game made it interesting.

On Saturday, the Dutchmen fell behind, 1-0, to the Golden Knights after one. But they took command at the start of the second period. Mario Valery-Trabucco tied it 29 seconds in, and Jason Walters snapped the tie 20 seconds later. That sparked a four-goal outburst in the period, and the Dutchmen cruised to a dominating 5-1 ECAC Hockey win.

"It's big," Valery-Trabucco said of the sweep. "We've been working, since the beginning of the season, to get some wins in the league. Obviously, up here is one of the toughest road trips all season."

It gave Leaman his first-ever win at Clarkson as a head coach. It also improves the Dutchmen to 2-0-2 in league play. That's their best start since opening the 2004-05 season 6-0.

Early on, it didn't look like Union was going to get the sweep. The Dutchmen weren't making good on their scoring chances. They gave the Knights a 5-on-3 advantage late in the period. Clarkson scored shortly after the 5-on-3 became a 5-on-4 as Brandon DeFazio put the rebound of a Bryan Rufenach shot past goalie Keith Kinkaid with 1:09 left in the first.

"We just kept it positive [in the first intermission]," Leaman said. "I thought we had a good first period. I thought we missed the net on our best opportunities. ... We just wanted to get more pucks to the net."

Did they ever.

Valery-Trabucco got a gift goal, thanks to some miscommunication between Clarkson goalie Richie LaVeau and his defense. He cleared a puck behind his net, but it went to Andrew Buote. The puck ended up on Valery-Trabucco's stick in the right circle. LaVeau was nowhere near the net, so it was an easy one for Valery-Trabucco to score.

"I was a little surprised," Valery-Trabucco said. "I wasn't even looking. I just wanted to get the puck on the net. Surely enough, he was out taking a skate in the corner. I guess he was playing the puck, and never made it back."

The Dutchmen got the lead 20 seconds later when Walters' shot from about five feet about deflected off Rufenach and trickled into the net.

But Leaman thought Union's third goal, scored by Andrew Buote, was the important goal of the period. It came at 3:36, which, in effect, buried any chance of Clarkson trying to regain its footing.

"We got those three goals so quickly, they didn't get a chance to catch their breath, or maybe to try to turn the momentum a little bit," Leaman said.

Kelly Zajac scored on a 3-on-1 break late in the period. The Dutchmen would take a lead into the third period for the third straight game. They weren't successful last Saturday against Yale, and they barely held on against St. Lawrence.

But when Stephane Boileau got a power-play goal 2:11 into the third, the game, for all practical purposes, was done.

"It's what you need," Leaman said. "Obviously, we were struggling, up until this weekend, finishing games. Tonight, we got that fifth goal. It allows you to take a deep breath there."

Clarkson coach George Roll was very down after the game.

"We're not handling adversity very well right now," Roll said. "It's as humbling a defeat as I've had here, especially at home."

Video
Thanks to a great vantage point from the Cheel Arena press box, I was able to get a couple of Union's goals on video. I will post them later, along with the postgame reaction.

Three stars
My three starts of the game:
1) Andrew Buote, Union — sets up Mario Valery-Trabucco's goal, and gets a back-breaking goal a short time later.
2) Jon Lareau, Union — two assists in the game.
3) Mario Valery-Trabucco, Union — one goal, one assist.

That is all from Cheel Arena. The Dutchmen are off until Nov. 27, when they play Lake Superior State in the RPI Holiday Tournament. It's exam time for the players, so study hard and good luck.

Look for my College Hockey Slap Schotts on Monday.

Good Night! Good Hockey!