SAINTS ARE 2007 ECACHL REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS WITH 4-1 WIN OVER BOBCATS

Feb. 23: A big night by freshman goalie Alex Petizian, tremendous penalty killing on eight power plays by one of the top power play teams in the ECAC Hockey League and a solid effort from all 18 skaters delivered just the second regular season championship in St. Lawrence hockey history Friday night as the Saints beat Quinnipiac 4-1 to clinch the Bill Cleary Cup.

The Saints, now 20-11-2 overall and 16-4-1 , needed just one win, or a Clarkson loss, to clinch the championship and ended up with both as Clarkson was upended at Princeton.

“This is certainly the way we wanted to win it,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “That we were able to win it is a big tribute to the leadership of our senior class and the way the younger guys bought into the process. It was a long, tough road, but it brought us one championship, and we don’t want to stop here.”

Petizian was outstanding with 28 saves in the win and the Saint penalty kill did not allow a Quinnipiac team which was second in power play success among ECACHL teams to come close to a goal despite eight opportunities in the game.

“Alex was tremendous and made some huge saves at key junctures in the game,” said Marsh. “He also came up big on the penalty kill, and he had some help from his defense as well. It was a great effort by everyone on the ice against a team that can really turn things around in a hurry.”

The Saints, who had already clinched a bye into the ECACHL quarterfinals, won 20 games for the 13 th time in program history and for the 11 th time under Marsh’s guidance. The Saints can give Marsh his 400 th career victory at Princeton in the regular season finale Saturday at 3:30.

The Saints got off to a great start as senior center Max Taylor scored his 11 th goal of the year just 51 seconds into the game. Derek Keller started the scoring play as he took a shot from near the blue line which hit a defender in the skates. Brock McBride then backhanded the puck back to Taylor in the faceoff circle and Taylor slid a shot along the ice that beat Quinnipiac goalie Bud Fisher to put the Saints on top.

A great individual effort by freshman Alex Curran made it 2-0 at 5:22 . Curran battling Bobcat defenders behind the Quinnipiac net while waiting for the Saints to complete a line change. He spun off a check and worked his way out in front of the net, taking his own rebound and snapping it over the shoulder of Fisher.

“The early goals took the Quinnipiac crowd out of the game early, and we were able to keep the pressure on in the second period, even though we didn’t score,” said Marsh. “It was a big win for us in a lot of ways, including helping in terms of a potential NCAA bid down the road.”

There was no scoring in the second period, although both teams did have chances. Petizian came up with a pair of big saves to keep the Saints in front as he covered a point blank shot by Jean Marc Beaudoin on a Bobcat power play eight minutes into the period and then came up big again on Jamie Bates on a two-on-one shorthanded break by Quinnipiac with nine minutes to play.

The Saints made it a 3-0 game 8:29 into the third period as Kyle Rank scored his 15 th of the season on a power play in a scramble at the side of the Quinnipiac net. Casey Parenteau sent the puck to the side of the net and Charlie Giffin tried to stuff it in. While Fisher kicked out Giffin’s shot, Rank pounced on the rebound and flipped it up and over the goalie’s shoulder.

The 3-0 lead didn’t last long as Ben Nelson won the faceoff after the Saint goal and Bryan Leitch broke to the net, putting a shot to the far corner at 8:45 to make it a 3-1 game.

The Saints iced it with 1:32 to play as after fighting off some Bobcat pressure, Max Taylor led a Saint rush which resulted in a big save on Brock McBride by Fisher and a rebound chip-in for Kevin DeVergilio, who scored his sixth of the season.

 

 

 

RANK SCORES TWO, SAINTS TOP UNION 5-2

Feb. 17: Senior Kyle Rank snapped a 2-2 tie with a shorthanded goal at 7:51 of the third period and added an empty net goal with 27 seconds left as 15 th-ranked St. Lawrence University skated to a 5-2 ECAC Hockey League win over Union at Appleton Arena Saturday night.

 

Rank, who had three goals and an assist in the two weekend games, was named ECAC Hockey League Player of the Week for the third time this season on Monday.

 

The Saints swept their ECACHL weekend series with Rensselaer and Union and hold a three point lead on Clarkson in the ECACHL standings with two games to play. The Saints, 19-11-2 overall and 15-4-1 in league play, can finish no lower than second and can clinch the top spot with one more win or two ties in its final two games. Union is 13-16-3 overall and 6-13-1 in league play.

 

Rank scored the eventual game winner after senior defenseman Drew Bagnall blocked a Union shot and headed up ice with Rank on a two-on-one. Bagnall took the initial shot which Union goalie Justin Mrazek kicked out, but Rank pounced on the rebound and tucked it back into the empty net for his 13 th of the year and second game-winner.

 

St. Lawrence continued a string of successful outings on its “Senior Night” and is 7-0-1 in its last eight as all four senior players in the lineup had at least one point.

 

“It was a good way to finish off the regular season at home,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “We certainly had to work for everything we got in both games this weekend, but we received a solid effort all the way through the lineup. We had one of our better home league seasons ever at 10-1, and that is a tribute to the way different guys stepped up at key times.

 

“Hopefully we will get our injured guys back for next weekend and be able to continue to build momentum heading into the playoffs.”

 

While the Saints had a 13-6 edge in shots on goal in the first period, it ended in a scoreless tie thanks to some big saves by Mrazek.

 

The Saints broke through with two seconds to play on a power play early in the second period as junior wing Jordan Hack was right in front of the net and freshman center Jeremiah Cunningham found him with a pass from behind the net. Hack scored his fifth of the year at 4:32 for a 1-0 lead, but Union came back to tie it on a power play seven minutes later.

 

Freshman Jeff Christiansen scored his fifth of the year when he picked up a rebound of a shot by Mario Valery-Trabucco and tucked it inside the far post before Saint goalie Alex Petizian could get back across the crease to stop the shot at 11:38.

 

The Dutchmen took a 2-1 lead at 2:53 of the third as Chris Potts was wide open in the slot and slid one along the ice between Petizian and the post, but Saint rookie Jeremiah Cunningham tied it with his sixth of the year at the five minute mark, beating Mrazek with a rising shot under the crossbar.

 

Rank then scored his shorthander and Alex Curran scored his second of the year at 14:37 to give the Saints a two goal cushion. Rank hit the empty net at 19:33 to complete the scoring, picking up his own rebound after banking the first shot off the side of the net. Classmates Andrzej Sandrzyk and Max Taylor assisted on the goal, a fitting end to their final home regular season game.

 

“We received points from three of the four lines tonight and the line that didn’t score put pretty good pressure on a number of times,” said Marsh. “When you can play four lines for a whole game and have them produce for you, it really makes it tough on the opposition.”

 

Mrazek finished with 30 saves for the Dutchmen while Petizian had 21 in his 15 th win of the season.

 

HACK NETS WINNER AS SAINTS PUT AWAY RPI

Feb. 16: Junior wing Jordan Hack snapped a 3-3 tie with his fourth goal of the season with 6:18 to play and 15 th ranked St. Lawrence University tacked on two more goals in the final 4:41 for a 6-3 win over Rensselaer Friday night, maintaining the Saint hold on first place in the ECAC Hockey League.

 

The Saints, 18-11-2, 14-4-1 won their fourth straight and improved to 9-1-0 in ECACHL games at Appleton Arena. RPI falls to 9-15-7 overall and 5-10-4 in league play.

 

The Engineers got off to a great start as Oren Eizenman, who has been out of the lineup with injury problems, scored his sixth of the season just 41 seconds into the game. Andrei Uryadov threw the puck out in front and Eizenman was cutting in front of Saint goalie Alex Petizian, redirecting the pass past the Saint goaltender.

 

“That final score is pretty deceptive, because it was a lot closer game than a three goal margin,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “We had our chances to break it open in the second period, but couldn’t cash in and RPI battled back to make a game of it. Our third and fourth lines gave us some good shifts in the third period and that helped us put it away at the end.”

 

The Saints gradually started to take over the period after RPI had taken the lead and established an early lead in shots on goal and finally tied it with just 23.1 seconds to play when captain Kyle Rank took a pass from freshman Sean Flanagan and rifled the puck by Engineer goalie Jordan Alford for his 12 th of the season. The goal was initially waved off as it was in and out quickly, but referee Peter Feola consulted the goal judge and his assistants and ultimately counted the goal to make it a 1-1 game after one period.

 

Junior wing Charlie Giffin, playing his first game since December 29 after sustaining a concussion in a win over Boston University, gave the Saints a 2-1 lead at 10:52 of the second period. Giffin cruised into the slot and Max Taylor found him with the puck. Giffin’s tumbling shot looped over the shoulder of Alford at 10:52 for his seventh of the year.

 

“Charlie had a pretty good week in practice and I thought he played very well tonight,” said Marsh. “He might be a little behind in conditioning because he hasn’t seen a lot of game action, but he certainly made some nice plays out there tonight.”

 

The Saints continued to dominate despite a spate of RPI power play chances and made it a 3-1 game when Taylor snapped his 10 th of the year in off the crossbar for an unassisted shorthanded goal at 18:26 of the third. The Engineers got that one back on the power play at 19:10.3 as Kirk MacDonald scored his ninth of the year from point blank range for just the third power play goal in the last 71 opposing chances against the Saints.

 

RPI tied the game at 5:48 of the third period as Petizian made a great save on a shot by Paul Kerins, but Eizenman was all alone in front and tapped the rebound into the empty net for his second of the night to make it 3-3.