PETIZIAN BACKSTOPS SAINTS TO IMPRESSIVE 3-1 VICTORY OVER HARVARD

Jan. 11: Sophomore goaltender Alex Petizian earned a little revenge and the hot hands offensively stayed hot as St. Lawrence University’s men’s hockey team turned back Harvard 3-1 in a big ECAC Hockey game at the Bright Hockey Center on the Harvard campus Friday night.

 

Petizian, who was burned for five goals in a November meeting against the Crimson in Canton, came through with a 39-save night and picked up his first win since the Clarkson game on December 1 and Brock McBride and Jordan Hack continued scoring streaks as the Saints played a near-perfect road game for the win.

The Saints improve to 8-9-3 overall and 3-4-2 in ECAC Hockey while Harvard is now 6-8-3 and 5-5-2 in league play.

 

“You need good special teams play, good goaltending and good team defense to be successful on the road and we had all three tonight,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “That was a great game and a huge win for us…and for Alex.

 

“I thought he had two real strong periods at UNH and we kind of went with a hunch when it came to picking the starter. He certainly made us look good with h is performance tonight,” Marsh added.

 

The Crimson came out flying in their first home appearance since early December and outshot the Saints 8-0 in the first five minutes of the game. Petizian was up to the task, however, and came through with a pair of big saves on senior captain Mike Taylor from point blank range to keep it scoreless early.

 

The Saints picked up their offense after the initial Harvard flurry, and while a pair of SLU power plays came up empty, a big special teams play set up the game’s first goal. Matt Generous sent Kevin DeVergilio and Brock McBride away on a shorthanded two-on-one on Harvard’s first power play chance of the game and McBride scored his third goal in the last two games to finish off the play at 15:37 after DeVergilio’s pretty pass over the extended stick of the defenseman. It was the third shorthander for the Saints this season and the second in the last four games.

 

Petizian had another busy period in the second as Harvard outshot the Saints 17-7, but the sophomore goalie continued to stymie the Crimson shooters and the two teams traded power play goals as the Saints came out of the period with a 2-1 lead.

 

Michael Biega tied the game for the Crimson at 8:35 on a power play scramble as Petizian made a series of big saves, but couldn’t cover the puck with a lot of traffic in the crease.

 

The Saints regained the lead on a five-on-three power play at 17:18 when Zach Miskovic stepped into the middle slot and took a pass from McBride. Miskovic one-timed a shot past Richter and into the upper corner for his fifth of the season with Generous picking up his second assist of the night.

 

Hack gave the Saints a cushion at 3:21 of the third as he took a pass from Aaron Bogosian and walked in on Richter, gunning a shot just under the crossbar to make it a 3-1 game. It was the third goal in the last five games for Hack, who has a five-game point streak and Bogosian’s assist, which came as he fought off a defender, ran his scoring streak to four straight.

 

The Saints played tight defense the rest of the way with Petizian keeping it a two-goal game with a big save on Jon Pelle with 2:55 to go.

 

It was the second straight win for the Saints at Harvard, who had lost seven straight regular season games at the Bright Hockey Center prior to last season’s 5-4 victory.