Saints Tabbed To Finish 6th in Polls, Flanagan, Carey Draw Pre-season All Star Status
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Tara FreemanGreg Carey (left) was named a media all star while Kyle Flanagan was tabbed by the coaches
The ECAC Hockey coaches and the media who cover the league were in consensus when it came to the pre-season poll position of St. Lawrence University's men's hockey team, but two different players, both of whom will be key to the success of the 2012-13 Saints, were named pre-season all stars.
Both the coaches and the media picked the Saints to finish sixth in the 12-team league in Greg Carvel's official first year as Saint head coach.
Both groups had the same top six...Union tabbed as the pre-season favorite with Cornell second, Harvard third, Quinnipiac fourth, Yale fifth and the Saints, but things jumbled slightly after the sixth spot. The coaches had Dartmouth in seventh followed by RPI, Colgate, Clarkson, Princeton and Brown while the media picked Clarkson to finish seventh with Colgate, RPI, Dartmouth, Princeton and Brown following in order.
Senior captain Kyle Flanagan was tabbed by the coaches as one of the forwards on the pre-season all star team while junior Greg Carey was named to the media's all star team.
Flanagan tied for the team lead in scoring a year ago with 37 points on 14 goals and 23 assists in 28 games. He reached the 100 point plateau as a junior and was tied for 10th in overall scoring and fifth in points per game among all ECAC players. A two-year Saint captain, he missed eight games with an injury.
Carey tied Flanagan for the scoring lead for the Saints with 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points in 36 games and has 77 points including 38 goals in two seasons of collegiate play.
Joining Flanagan on the coaches all star squad were Union junior goaltender Troy Grosenick, defensemen Danny Biega, a Harvard senior and Mat Bodie, a Union junior and junior forwards Daniel Carr of Union and Connor Jones of Quinnipiac. The media selected the same group with the exception of substituting Carey for Flanagan.
The 2012-13 Saints will open their season with an exhibition game against Carleton University at Appleton Arena, 7 p.m. on October 6. NCAA competition will get underway with a two-game set at Western Michigan Oct. 12-13. The Broncos finished tied for second in the CCHA a year ago, won the CCHA tournament title and made the NCAA tournament, losing to North Dakota in the opening round. SLU then turns around and heads in the opposite direction for week two of the regular season, traveling to Orono, ME to take on the Maine Black Bears, fourth in Hockey East a year ago and another NCAA participant. The two game set in Orono will be played Oct. 19-20.
The Saint home openers will be against Division I independent Alabama-Huntsville on Nov. 2-3 with the Nov. 2 game set as Joe Marsh Night at Appleton Arena, honoring the recently retired Saint head coach on his outstanding coaching career.
SLU will open league play against Brown and Yale on the road Nov. 9-10.
Other non-league games for the Saints include a Thanksgiving weekend set at Northeastern and Boston University Nov. 23-24, a non-league game against rival Clarkson in Lake Placid on Dec. 8, the annual meeting with Vermont, this one in Canton on Dec. 15 and a two-game set with RIT to start the new year on Jan. 4-5.