Vermeulen, Tisi Fuel 4-2 Upset of 5th-Ranked Yale

by: 

Whit Haynes

Aaron Bogosian rushes the puck against Yale as Kain Tisi and Jeff Caister watch.

Senior center Travis Vermeulen scored two goals and assisted on two others as St. Lawrence University upended nationally ranked Yale 4-2 in a Eastern College Athletic Conference Division I hockey game at Appleton Arena Saturday afternoon.

Yale went into the game ranked fifth nationally in one poll and sixth in another, but the Saints completed a four-game home stand by taking five out of six possible points and climbed into a second place tie in the ECAC standings. SLU is now 13-8-4 overall and 7-3-2 in league play, while Yale drops to 11-5-3 and 7-3-2. It was the third meeting with a team ranked fifth nationally for the Saints since Jan. 1 and they have gone 2-0-1 in those three games...a 5-2 win over Boston College in Denver, a 2-2 tie with Cornell last week and Saturday's 4-2 win.

Senior goaltender Kain Tisi, the top goaltender statistically in the ECAC, had another big day for the Saints, matching his career high with 40 saves.

"Kain has been playing the best hockey of his career since December and he had another huge game for us today," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "He kept us in it against the team which leads the nation in goal scoring, and once again the rest of the guys found a way to get it done."

Yale was all over the Saints in the second and third period, putting 32 of its total of 42 shots on the Saint net, but after the Elis tied the game at 2-2, the Saints came up with the key goals to go 3-0-1 in their four game home stand.

Vermeulen snapped the 2-2 tie at 11:00 of the third period when he scored his second of the night and 11^th of the season, picking up a rebound of a shot by Nick Pitsikoulis and lifting it over the pad of Yale goalie Nick Maricic, who took over in nets after the Saints scored two on starter Jeff Malcolm in the first period.

The Saint captains then collaborated on a play which gave Tisi and the Saints a cushion against a late Yale onslaught. Vermeulen won a defensive zone draw and Derek Keller rushed the puck end-to-end, blowing past a Yale defender to tuck the puck between Maricic and the post at 18:08 for his seventh of the year and a 4-2 lead.

The Saints had a late power play, but Yale drew a penalty and pulled the goaltender for a six-on-four manpower advantage with 52 seconds left. The Saints then took another penalty with 15.8 seconds to go and Yale had a six-on-three manpower edge, but the Saints blocked two shots and Tisi made a save to secure the win.

"We had to weather the storm a bit after a very solid first period, but I thought we were pretty good defensively, and Verms came through with some big plays offensively to help us get it done," said Marsh. "I can't begin to say what he has meant to the team, not only this year, but throughout his career."

Yale put the heat on the Saints early, outshooting SLU 7-1 in the first seven minutes of the game, but St. Lawrence settled things down and took the early lead when junior defenseman Matt Raley scored his first of the season midway through the first period.

Jake Klancher sent a pass from the sideboards which Raley corralled between the blue line and the top of the left faceoff circle. Raley fired a rising shot toward net which whistled by a screened Malcolm at 9:46.

Vermeulen scored his tenth of the season at 12:23 to give the Saints a 2-0 lead as sophomore Brandon Bollig worked the puck free along the side boards and fed Vermeulen, who cut in front of the goal and beat Malcolm with a backhand to the upper corner.

The Saints had an apparent power play goal waved off late in the first period as Mike McKenzie banked a shot into the net off the goaltender, but the referee ruled he had blown his whistle before the puck went into the net.

Yale cut the Saint lead to 2-1 just 37 seconds into the second period as freshman Antoine Laganiere was all alone in the short slot off a faceoff and snapped a shot between Tisi's blocker and the post. It was the only shot to elude Tisi in a 18-save period.

The Bulldogs tied the game just 51 seconds into the third when Mark Arcobello picked up a rebound off a Tisi save and scored his seventh of the year, but Vermeulen snapped the tie midway through the period and sent the Saints on their way to their seventh home win of the season and their fifth win and a 5-1-2 record since the start of the new year.