SAINT PLAYERS STAR IN

AIR CANADA CUP WIN

Jan. 8: Annie Guay was named the Outstanding Defenseman of the tournament and St. Lawrence teammates Sabrina Harbec and Britni Smith played significant roles in Team Canada’s impressive win in the 2007 Air Canada Cup in Ravensburg, Germany Jan. 3-7.

Guay was one of four members of the Canadian Under-22 team to receive individual honors in the tournament as she was presented the directorate award for top defenseman honors. She scored a goal in a 5-1 exhibition win over eventual silver medalist Germany and had three assists in the tournament. Canada did not allow a goal in the round robin portion of the tournament, beating Japan 10-0, Germany 5-0 and Switzerland 11-0 and won the gold medal game 6-1 in a rematch with Germany.

Harbec scored the opening goal in the gold medal win over Germany and had four goals and three assists in the tournament. She scored the game winning goal with Saint teammate Smith assisting in the 5-0 win over Germany in the round robin.

Smith scored a goal in the 10-0 win over Japan in addition to her assist on Harbec’s game winner.

LOCKE CONTINUES TO SHINE AS SAINTS

PICK UP FIRST WIN IN 2007

Jan. 6: St. Lawrence University sophomore forward Marianna Locke, who scored the tying goal against Boston College with only 19 seconds remaining on Friday afternoon, came up with another stellar performance on Saturday in Boston, MA against Northeastern. Though the No. 6 Scarlet and Brown had their three goal lead cut to one headed into the third period, Locke came up with two goals in the final twenty minutes to assure the Saints of their first win in 2007.

With the victory, the Saints improved to 15-5-2 overall (7-3-0 in conference play) while the Huskies dropped to

3-15-1 with the loss.

Sophomore forward Carson Duggan sparked the visitors only 28 seconds into regulation when she scored her 12 th goal of the season. Fellow classmate Lisa Batchelor cycled a pass to senior Crystal Connors, who quickly slid a pass through the crease to an open Duggan who finished the play for the 1-0 lead.

Despite being out-shot 5-4 through the first 11 minutes of the game, the Saints continued to lead 1-0 thanks to solid play between the pipes from junior netminder Meaghan Guckian.

St. Lawrence would extend their lead to 3-0 in a 45 second span later in the first period, as Duggan scored her second of the game at 13:13, followed by senior Chelsea Grills’ seventh of the year at 13:55. Connors and Batchelor once again set up Duggan’s goal, while Locke and sophomore Alison Domenico had helpers on Grills’ goal.

The Huskies came back strong in the second period, though, outshooting the Saints by an 8-6 margin. Northeastern finally got on the board at 18:50 when Julia Clark scored her first career goal after taking a pass from Marie Desrosiers. The Huskies, thanks to their new-found confidence, quickly made it a one goal game with only 35 seconds remaining in the second frame. Sophomore Erin Reil scored her fourth of the year from just outside Guckian’s crease, giving Northeastern the momentum headed into the final period.

The third period belonged to Locke, though, as the Brasher Falls native scored her first goal of the game 6:49 into the third to again give the Saints a two-goal cushion at 4-2. Domenico and Grills were credited with assists on Locke’s tenth of the year.

After Northeastern again closed the gap behind an Ali Bielawski goal at 11:11 to make the score 4-3, Locke again answered with her 11th of the year at 13:47 to complete the scoring and put the game away for St. Lawrence.

The Huskies did well to keep the Saints seventh-ranked power play in check, allowing only one Scarlet and Brown goal with the extra skater. However, the Saints were equally impressive on the penalty kill, holding Northeastern without a power play goal (0-of-5).

Guckian improved to 12-5-2 on the year in a 14 save performance. Meanwhile, Northeastern goaltender Stacey Scott stopped 25 shots while taking the loss and remaining winless on the season (0-4-1).

The Saints will return to ECACHL play next weekend as they visit Yale and Brown for a pair of conference games on January 12th and 13th. St. Lawrence will head to New Haven, CT on Friday to face the Bulldogs, as Sabrina Harbec, Annie Guay, and Britni Smith will return to action after playing with Team Canada in the Air Canada Cup in Germany this weekend. The puck will drop between the Saints and Bulldogs at 7:00pm.

LOCKE NETS LATE GOAL AS NO. 6 SAINTS

AND EAGLES TIE, 4-4

Jan. 5: The No. 6 St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team returned to action on Friday afternoon after almost a month lay off as they took on the Boston College Eagles. The Saints, who were without juniors Sabrina Harbec and Annie Guay and first year student Britni Smith who were representing Team Canada at the U-22 Air Canada Cup in Germany, opened 2007 with a 4-4 tie, much in thanks to sophomore Marianna Locke, who scored the game-tying goal with a mere 19 seconds remaining in regulation.

St. Lawrence ( 14-5-2 , 7-3-0 ) took the lead in the first period when sophomore Lisa Batchelor netted her seventh goal of the season at 12:49 . Fellow classmate Carson Duggan was credited with an assist on the team’s first goal of the new year.

However, the Eagles were quick to reply, and evened the score at 1-1 as the two teams skated 4-on-4. As Boston College’s Kelli Stack and St. Lawrence’s Chelsea Grills sat in the penalty box with minor penalties, Allie Thunstrom fed a pass to Deborah Spillane, who beat Saints junior goaltender Meaghan Guckian at 17:29 of the opening period to tie the score heading into the first intermission. The two teams were even at seven shots a piece after twenty minutes, and both Guckian and BC’s Molly Schaus made six saves each.

However, the second period belonged to the Eagles, who scored three goals to take a two-goal advantage into the final period. Stack gave Boston College their first lead of the afternoon at 4:53 of the second with assists going to Lindsay Wright at Gabrielle Beaudry.

Trailing by a goal, the Saints turned to last year’s Co-ECACHL Rookie of the Year, as Duggan scored her eleventh goal of the campaign (unassisted) at 12:15 to once again knot the score.

The Eagles refused to give the Saints any momentum, though, and created their own heading into the third period as Anna McDonald and Allie Thunstrom gave Boston College a 4-2 lead at the end of forty minutes. McDonald scored her eighth of the year at 14:02, and Thunstrom beat Guckian with only four seconds remaining in the period to extend her team’s cushion to two goals at 19:56. Erin Blood and Becky Zavisza assisted on the Eagles fourth goal.

The Saints were not able to get any closer halfway through the third period, though they managed to outshoot the Eagles 16-10 in the final frame. It wasn’t until Blood took a checking minor penalty at 11:10 that the Scarlet and Brown were able to cash in and pull to within one of their host. Tara Akstull scored the fourth goal of her career, with an assist going to sophomore Alison Domenico, at 11:37 to pull the Saints back into the game.

As time became a major factor, the Eagles turned to Schaus in hopes of hanging on for the upset over St. Lawrence. Though the net minder made 14 crucial stops in the third period, the Saints made one last push to tie the game in the final minute. Locke, who had several chances throughout the game to score, worked hard in front of the net as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Finally, with the Saints skating with the extra attacker and Guckian on the bench, the Brasher Falls, NY native was able to tuck the puck behind Schaus for her ninth of the year and send the game into overtime with the score at 4-4.

Neither the Saints nor Eagles were able to net the game-winner in the extra five minutes of play, but the Scarlet and Brown were excited to come away with the tie when their hopes looked bleak in the final minute.

“I’m extremely proud of the way our team battled back in the third period to earn the tie,” said Saints head coach Paul Flanagan. “We never packed it in or got down on ourselves. We just kept working hard and knew that we could get back into the game.”

Guckian finished with 29 saves in the tie, while her counterpart Schaus closed with 28. The Scarlet and Brown scored the lone power play goal (1-of-7), while the Eagles finished 0-of-5 with the extra skater.

St. Lawrence will be in action again tomorrow, Saturday, January 6th in Boston, MA to take on Northeastern at Matthews Arena. The puck will drop between the Saints and Huskies at 2:00pm.