COLGATE STUNS SAINTS, 3-2

Nov. 25: Colgate jumped out to a 3-1 lead with a pair of second period goals and went on to a 3-2 ECAC Women’s Hockey League victory over the Saints on Saturday for its second upset of a ranked team this season..

The Raiders have at least a tie against the Saints in each of the last three seasons and beat SLU 3-0 in Appleton behind Brook Wheeler’s 51 saves last year. Wheeler had 33 saves on Saturday and the Raiders prevailed despite being outshot 35-17.

The Saints jumped out to an early lead on a power play as Crystal Connors scored from Annie Guay at 9:34 of the first period. Connors put back a rebound on the blocker side after Guay’s hard shot from the point was kicked out by Wheeler.

Colgate, which was outshot 16-1 in the first period, scored on its lone shot as Sam Hunt scored her 11 th of the year shorthanded on a bomb to the upper corner from just inside the blue line..

The Raiders caught fire with the shorthanded goal, however, and scored a pair of even strength goals in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Freshman Katie Stewart gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead at 5:49 with her fifth of the season after a feed from Tara French and freshman Marissa Dombovy scored her second goal of the year at 18:01 after stripping the puck in the neutral zone and sending it past Saint goalie Meghan Guckian off a defender’s legs.

The Saints got one back in the third as Sabrina Harbec scored on a shorthanded wrist shot at 16:40, but SLU couldn’t compe up with the equalizer.

The Saints, now 10-5-1 overall and 5-3-0 in league play, split a conference weekend set for the third time this season. Colgate is now 5-9-1 and is also 5-3-0 in the league.

The Saints will host Brown and Yale Friday and Saturday at Appleton Arena.

DOMENICO SCORES TWICE AS SAINTS

SHUT DOWN CORNELL 3-0

Nov. 24: Sophomore forward Alison Domenico scored a pair of first period power play goals and junior goaltender Meaghan Guckian made 11 saves as the No. 5 St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team defeated the Cornell Big Red by the score of 3-0 on Friday evening in Ithaca, NY.

The win moved the Saints to 10-4-1 overall and 5-2-0 in ECACHL play, while Cornell drops to 1-9-1 ( 1-6-0).

St. Lawrence wasted little time in jumping out to a 1-0 lead on the Big Red in Lynah Rink, as Domenico netted the game’s opening goal a mere 3:02 into the first period. The Nepean, Ontario native scored her seventh of the season when her shot eluded Cornell goalie Jenny Niesluchowski. Senior co-captain Chelsea Grills and junior defenseman Kerri Wallace assisted on goal.

The visitors continued to press in the opening period offensively, tallying a total of 14 shots on net in the first stanza. The Scarlet and Brown’s penalty killing unit, ranked 12 th in the NCAA entering this evening’s game, did a nice job of killing off three consecutive minor penalties to keep the game at 1-0 midway through the period.

After Cornell’s Sarah Johnston was whistled for slashing at 11:51 of the first period, the Saints power play took the ice again, and the trio of Domenico, Grills, and Wallace duplicated their effort from the first power play, tallying a goal at 13:50 to put St. Lawrence ahead 2-0.

“Alison has been playing so well as of late, including last weekend against Mercyhurst and then again tonight,” said Saints head coach Paul Flanagan. “It was nice to see our power play get us the lead in the first period, and Meaghan was solid it net to help us get a win over an improving Cornell team.”

Guckian stopped each of the five Big Red shots she faced in the first, while her counterpart Niesluchowski made 12 saves for the home team.

The second period belonged to Guckian and Niesluchowski, as the two goaltenders kept the offenses quiet with a scoreless period. The Saints had the only two power play chances in the period, but Niesluchowski made nine stops to keep her team in the game down by only two. As for the Saints, the defensive unit did a nice job protecting Guckian, who stopped each of the two shots she faced in the second stanza.

Cornell continued to work hard in the final period, trying to score a goal and get back in the game. However, the Saints cracked down again and allowed only four chances to the Big Red in the final period. Though Niesluchowski was again impressive in the third posting five saves and keeping St. Lawrence quiet, junior forward Sabrina Harbec scored her eighth of the season when the Cornell goalie left the net for the extra attacker. The empty net goal at 19:13 of the third put the game away, assuring the Saints of two important points in the conference standings.

Guckian earned the eleventh shutout of her career with an 11 save performance, improving her record this season to 8-4-1. Niesluchowski, who kept the Saints from scoring an even strength goal, made 26 saves while dropping to 0-6-0 on the year.

St. Lawrence will look to pick up its third straight win tomorrow, Saturday, November 25 th when they visit the Colgate Raiders in Hamilton, NY. The puck will drop on the Saints and Raiders at 4:00pm at Starr Rink.