Union Turns Back Saints 4-2
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Wally JohnsonAaron Bogosian and Jeff Caister celebrate Bogosian's goal at Union
A promising first 40 minutes melted in the third period as Union College scored three unanswered goals in the final 20 minutes to post a 4-2 ECAC Hockey victory over St. Lawrence on Saturday night.
The Saints fall to 14-10-5 overall and 8-5-3 and gained just one point on the weekend despite playing pretty solid hockey for most of the two game Capital District set.
Union rallied by scoring three goals on seven shots in the third period and are hovering at the top of the ECAC standings. The Saints, who have four of their final six at home, are still very much in the running for a top four finish.
"Union is a tough club to play," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "They work very hard and have some skilled players. We made some mistakes in the third period and they capitalized...and you can't give them those kind of chances."
The Saints spent the majority of the first period in the Union end, but neither team could come up with a goal despite some golden opportunities. Union goalie Keith Kinkaid made a dozen first period saves and received a little extra help when a defender knocked the net off its moorings with Mike McKenzie circling in front midway through the period. Kain Tisi was nowhere near as busy, but had to come through with a big save late in the period on Jason Walters to keep it a scoreless game.
The Saints broke the scoring ice 7:22 into the second period as Derek Keller sent Aaron Bogosian into the Union zone and Bogosian got a step on the Union defense, blasting a hard low shot past Kinkaid on the stick side for his second goal of the weekend and sixth of the season.
The Dutchmen came back to tie it 2:30 later as a blocked shot went right to Jason Walters, who had his shot stopped by Tisi, but the rebound came right to Adam Presizniuk, who put it back for his 11th of the year to tie the game at 9:52.
Union was given three straight power plays, but the Saint penalty kill continued to shine. SLU nearly came up with a pair of shorthanded goals, both off great plays by Jeremiah Cunningham, and then did cash in a man down as Alex Curran sent Travis Vermeulen away on a shorthanded breakaway and Vermeulen tucked the puck into the cage while being hooked with 6.3 seconds to play in the second period.
The Dutchmen tied the game 3:09 into the third period after the Saints gave the puck away behind their own net. Mario Valery-Trabucco was all alone right in front of Tisi and buried his 16th of the year from point blank range after Walters fed him the puck. Union went in front 4:02 later when Wayne Simpson tipped a shot from the top of the faceoff circle and the deflection snuck inside the far post and while Tisi came up with a big save on Jon Lareau with 5:41 to go to keep the Saints in the picture, Union was able to kill off a late Saint power play and iced the win when Brock Matheson scored his fourth of the year on a shot from the blue line with 1:53 to play.