Child's Hat Trick Leads Saints Past Sacred Heart
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Tara FreemanRobby Moss pounces on a loose puck as defenseman George Hughes helps out
Oct. 30: Sophomore defenseman Pete Child scored his first career goal late in the first period and went on to add two more, his hat trick pacing St. Lawrence University to a 6-3 NCAA Division I hockey victory over Sacred Heart University at Appleton Arena in Canton Friday night.
Child, who did not play as a freshman, scored the first hat trick for a Saint player since January of 2008 and the first by a defenseman in over 30 years. He also became one of the few players in St. Lawrence history to record a hat trick on the night on which he scored his first collegiate goal. The Saints improved to 4-2 on the season heading into a Saturday night rematch with the 2-2 Pioneers.
"Pete has done a great job stepping into the lineup and has shown the ability to put the puck on net," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "Two of his three assists before tonight came on rebounds after shots on net from the point and tonight he ripped a couple of shots for goals.
"It was a good comeback for us after the Clarkson game last weekend. We were able to play some different combinations, and I thought all four lines and all six guys on defense did a good job...and Robby Moss was solid in net again," Marsh added.
The Saints broke the scoring ice early as freshman Kyle Flanagan made a perfect lead pass to senior Mike McKenzie and McKenzie redirected the puck past Pioneer goalie Olivier St. Onge with a backhand at the right post just 6:24 into the game.
The Saints controlled much of the first period despite having to kill off a trio of Sacred Heart power play chances, and SLU made it a 2-0 game at 18:17 as Child scored his first collegiate goal on a shot from the point which slid past St. Onge inside the left post with senior center Jeremiah Cunningham assisting.
Flanagan almost made it a 3-0 game with a great move in front with 21.6 seconds to go in the first period, but his shot hit the inside of the post and stayed out of the goal.
Sacred Heart cut the Saint lead to 2-1 just 2:46 into the second period when Eric Delong tipped a shot from the point by Mitchell Stretch past Saint goalie Robby Moss, but the Saints came back to build a 4-1 lead and chase starter St. Onge with two goals in just over two minutes.
George Hughes fired a shot off the crossbar right after the Pioneer goal and then Child, his defensive partner, scored his second of the night with a rocket under the crossbar through traffic at 5:16 on a power play with Hughes and Travis Vermeulen assisting and sophomore Rick Carden scored his first collegiate goal as he collected a cross-crease pass from Nick Pitsikoulis and snapped a shot back inside the left post for a 4-1 lead at 7:51 with Brandon Bollig picking up the second assist.
The Pioneers' Nick Johnson scored his sixth of the season from his stomach at the 9:21 mark as Moss was down on the ice after a save and Johnson swept the rebound inside the post, but the Saints responded quickly as Child completed his hat trick with a blast from the top of the faceoff circle at 9:51 to beat Sacred Heart backup goalie Steven Legatto from McKenzie and Flangan. SLU made it a 6-2 game on the power play at 17:43 as Derek Keller's shot from the center point deflected off a Sacred Heart stick and into the net for Keller's third of the year with Jeff Caister and Bollig picking up assists on the play.
Four different Saint players scored goals and 11 others had assists in the game.
Sacred Heart scored the only goal of the third period as Dave Jarman jammed home a power play shot from right in front with just 3.9 seconds to play in regulation.
Moss finished with 21 saves for the Saints while the two Sacred Heart goaltenders combined for 29 saves as the Saints had a 35-24 edge in shots on goal.