TAYLOR SCORES TWO AS SAINTS TIP PRINCETON 5-4 FOR 3-0 ECACHL START

Nov. 10: Senior forward Max Taylor continued his mastery of Princeton ’s defense, scoring two goals to lead St. Lawrence University to a 5-4 ECAC Hockey League victory over the Tigers at Appleton Arena Friday night.

Taylor, who was averaging a point per game in seven previous outings against Princeton , had his first multi-goal night of the season and scored the eventual game winner on a power play at 4:18 of the third period.

 

St. Lawrence extended its winning streak to four games and is now 5-3 overall and 3-0 in the ECACHL. The Tigers played their fourth one-goal game of the season and fell to 0-4-1 overall and 0-3 in the league.

The Saints were outstanding on special teams with two power play goals in four chances and killing off five of six Tiger power plays.

 

“We’ve been working hard on our special teams and it paid off tonight,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “Our power play struggled early in the season, but we had pretty good results in each of the last three games. Things are coming together as the new guys get used to playing with different combinations.

 

St. Lawrence wasted no time in taking a lead as the Saints dumped the puck into the Princeton end and Charlie Giffin scored his fourth of the year just 23 seconds into the game when he was left alone in front and Kyle Rank got him the puck from behind the net. Princeton starter Thomas Sychterz lasted only 3:29 and did not make a save as Rank made it a 2-0 game on the Saints second shot of the game at 3:29 , taking a pass from Kevin DeVergilio and rifling one into the upper corner.

 

Freshman Zane Kalemba took over in the Princeton goal and shut down the Saints the rest of the first period, making 15 saves, while Saint goalie Alex Petizian stopped all six Princeton shots on goal.

 

Princeton used a pair of odd-man rushes to tie it up in the second period. Darroll Powe finished off a shorthanded two-on-one with a tip in at the goal mouth from Mark Magnowski for Powe’s second of the year 1:09 into the second and Kevin Westgarth scored his third of the season on a clean breakaway at 16:03 .

 

The Saints regained the lead on a power play as Taylor, who rattled one off the inside of the post midway through the period, scored his second of the season off a goal mouth feed by Rank at 18:52 to give the Saints a 3-2 lead after two periods.

 

Freshman Jeremiah Cunningham gave the Saints a 4-2 lead 2:21 into the third period when he collected a big rebound off a shot by Zach Miskovic and hit the empty cage, but the Tigers got that right back as Mark Magnowski finished off a rush off the faceoff with his second of the year at 2:55.

 

Taylor took a pass from Brock McBride and gunned his second of the night past Kalemba at 4:18 to give the Saints a 5-3 lead and while Lee Jubinville got one back for the Tigers on a power play at 13:33, the Saints were able to hold off the Tigers the rest of the way. SLU kept the puck in the Princeton end for much of the last two minutes of the game and while the Tigers were able to pull Kalemba for an extra attacker with 19 seconds left, the Saints won a defensive zone faceoff with 6.4 seconds to play and ran out the clock.

 

Kalemba finished with 34 saves for the Tigers while Petizian, who won his fourth straight start, finished with 16 as the Saints had a 39-20 edge in shots on goal.

 

“It was the kind of game we always seem to have with Princeton ,” said Marsh. “They won’t quit and we have to work hard for the full 60 minutes. It was a pretty good hockey game and certainly a good win for us. Our young guys are showing a lot of maturity and Kyle Rank and Max Taylor really stepped it up for us tonight. We got off to a great start and then were able to weather a couple of rough spots.”