Saints Bounce Back with 5-2 Win over Army
in
by:
Wally JohnsonJared Keller scores over sprawled Army goalie Joe Spracklen
St. Lawrence University's men's hockey team jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead and went on to a 5-2 win over Army in the third place game of the Mutual of Omaha Icebreaker Tournament in Omaha on Saturday evening, gaining a split in its official opening weekend.
The Saints will take a 1-1 record into their home openers against RIT and Niagara at Appleton Arena Friday and Saturday.
"We came out with great intensity for the second night in a row and this time we were able to cash in with some goals," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "Based on what we saw last night against Nebraska-Omaha, this is the best Army team that I have seen since I have been coaching. We needed just the kind of start we had to take control of the game, and I thought we did a good job of sustaining our game pretty much all the way through."
The Saints had to dodge an early bullet as Army's Kyle Maggard clanged one off the post and Saint goalie Kain Tisi had to reach back and cover the puck just before it crossed the goal line, but SLU dominated the first 20 minutes and cashed in with three goals in a 5:25 span.
Senior captain Derek Keller scored the first goal of the season for the Saints at the 11:23 mark as he took a pass from center Aaron Bogosian and beat Army goalie Joe Spracklen with a shot from the point. The goal underwent a lengthy video review as a Saint forward was shoved into the crease by a Cadet defender as the puck entered the net, but it stood as the game's first goal.
Brandon Bollig's hustle gave the Saints their second goal. Caught in the Army zone as Travis Vermeulen intercepted a Cadet clear just short of the red line, Bollig raced to get back onside and gathered in a lead pass from Vermeulen, scoring with a shot to the top right corner from the top of the circle at the 15:01 mark.
Sophomore defenseman Pete Child, playing just his second collegiate game, made a great pass to Kyle Flanagan for the third Saint goal as Flanagan was all alone at the side of the net and tucked his first collegiate goal past Spracklen with Jeremiah Cunningham also assisting at 16:48.
Army got one back just 3:07 into the second period, converting on a power play chance just five seconds into the man advantage. Mike Hull won the faceoff in the Saint end and Owen Meyer tapped the puck back to defenseman Marcel Alvarez at the left point. Alvarez gunned the puck between Tisi's blocker and the post to put the Cadets on the board.
The Saints regained their three-goal lead on a five-on-three power play at 10:11 as they worked the puck around in the Army zone and Jeff Caister hit the net with a rising shot as he skated in from the point. Cunningham and Derek Keller picked up assists on the goal.
A stretch of good Saint pressure resulted in the fifth SLU goal as Child collected a deep rebound on a save by Spracklen and sent it back in to Bogosian, who had his shot stuffed by the goalie. Jared Keller picked up the second rebound and lifted it over the sprawled goalie and into the back of the net at the 16:09 mark to make it 5-1 after two periods.
Army cut it to a 5-2 game at 11:14 of the third period, converting on the power play just as a two-man advantage expired. The Saints killed a full 1:50 of the Army five-on-three, but skated in from the top of the circle and hit the net just as the first Saint penalty expired.
"We need to work on cutting down on our penalties...not that any of them were necessarily bad penalties," Marsh said. "We are a team that has to work hard to score and we need to stay disciplined in our systems. We were able to do that for the most part this weekend, but we did have a couple of breakdowns which might be expected early in the season."
Tisi finished with 21 saves for his first win of the season while Spracklen made 33 stops as the Saints had a 38-22 edge in shots on goal.