SAINTS CLINCH HOME ICE IN CONFERENCE

QUARTERS WITH 3-3 TIE VERSUS PRINCETON

Feb. 11: The No. 4/5 St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team earned a hard-fought 3-3 tie with Princeton University on Sunday afternoon on Senior Day at Appleton Arena, clinching the Saints home ice advantage in the opening round of the ECACHL Playoffs, beginning February 23rd.

The draw was St. Lawrence’s first in the conference season as they moved to 23-6-3 (15-4-1), while Princeton stayed in the hunt for the final home playoff spot in the ECACHL Quarterfinals as their record went to 14-10-3 (12-6-2).

Though the game opened with a very fast-paced tempo, neither team was able to get an early goal, which was unlike the first meeting between the two teams on October 27th that included a total of six first period goals. It wasn’t until sophomore Marianna Locke tallied her 16 th of the season at 15:24 of the first period that the scoreless tie was broken and the Saints captured a 1-0 lead.

Right off of the face-off, Locke was tied up by a Princeton forward as the puck came to a standstill in the circle. However, the Brasher Falls, NY native didn’t give up on the play and came away with a shot to Princeton goalie Kristen Young’s right. Locke threw a wrist shot at the net that fooled Young, sailing over her blocker and into the net for the 1-0 advantage.

The Tigers wasted very little time in leveling the score, though, as the visitors bounced right back 21 seconds later with the tying goal at 15:45 of the first. Marykate Oakley picked up a pass in the neutral zone and fired it ahead to senior Kim Pearce, who slipped between the Saints defense and moved in one-on-one with sophomore goalie Meaghan Guckian. Though Guckian tried to glove Pearce’s bid to the right corner of the net, she was unsuccessful and Princeton tied the game as the two teams headed for the locker room.

The second period saw both teams have great chances to take the momentum. Sonja Novak let a hard shot loose on Guckian from the left circle that appeared to be headed for the goal. However, her shot clanked off the near post and the Saints took control of the puck and headed up-ice. Senior Chelsea Grills controlled the puck to Young’s right and fired a shot that beat the netminder, but also found only steel to keep the game tied 1-1.

After exchanging opportunities, Princeton would take their first lead at 6:57 of the second period when Laura Watt scored her seventh of the season with an assist going to Oakley. Oakley found Watt in the slot in front of Guckian, and she sent a one-timer on net. Though Guckian seemed to have the puck under her pads, it had trickled between them and lay behind her on the goal line, where Watt was there to finish the play and put the Tigers on top 2-1.

Some outstanding goaltending on each end kept that score the same heading into the third as Young and Guckian kept their opponents at bay. Young robbed sophomore Carson Duggan with a diving save to her left just when there appeared to be an open net for the Ma-Me-O Beach, Ontario native. Guckian then answered the call with a skate-save at the other end on Oakley from just outside the crease.

St. Lawrence hoped to improve their record of 0-5-2 when trailing after two periods, and Duggan got them off to a great start with her 23rd of the season at 2:06 of the third. With the Saints skating on the power play, junior Sabrina Harbec won a face-off deep in Tiger territory. The puck came back to junior Annie Guay, who blasted a slap shot towards Young. However, Duggan alertly reached her stick out and tipped it past the goaltender for her first of the game and to tie the score at 2-2.

Grills would then provide her team a spark with a beautiful passing play that led to the Saints third goal and give them a lead with 9:40 remaining in regulation. The Stittsville, Ontario native carried the puck along the boards to Young’s right side. With a defender shadowing her, Grills skated behind the net and seemed to be heading for a wrap around shot. Instead, the co-captain centered a pass in front on Duggan’s stick, completely fooling Young and the Tiger defense and allowing her linemate to score her fourth goal of the weekend at 10:20 of the third period.

The Tigers, who will meet Colgate next weekend potentially with home ice advantage in the playoffs on the line, showed their resiliency by scoring only 3:03 later and evening the score at 3-3. After junior Kerri Wallace was whistled for an interference penalty at 11:46, Princeton scored their lone power play goal at 13:23 when freshman Melanie Wallace sent a hard snap shot that beat Guckian glove-side under the cross bar to send the game into overtime.

However, the final five minutes would belong to the goaltenders and penalty killing units as each squad protected a coveted point in the league standings. Princeton had a full two-minute power play chance, but Guckian held her ground, stopping Lizzie Keady’s bid to win the game. After Pearce was then whistled for goaltender’s interference with 47 seconds remaining in the game, Young came up big stopping Locke’s chance at a game-winner with less than 20 seconds remaining, preserving a point for the visiting Tigers.

“That was a great hockey game with a lot of excitement and action,” said Saints head coach Paul Flanagan. “Both teams knew how important it was to get at least one point today, and we’re glad to have wrapped up home ice for the conference quarterfinals.”

Young finished with 24 saves and improved to 10-4-3 overall, while Guckian stopped 17 shots and moved to

19-6-3 .

Sunday’s game was the final regular season home contest for the Saints’ Class of 2007, including co-captain Julia Palmateer, Casey Hughes, Abbie Bullard, Kaitlin Branon, Elisabeth Pahler, and Crystal Connors. With the team’s tie against Princeton , the group’s all-time record at St. Lawrence stands at 109-29-11 (.768).

“Our seniors are great women as they do so much for both our team and the St. Lawrence community,” added Coach Flanagan. “They’ve had an outstanding four years and I’m extremely proud of them.”

St. Lawrence will finish their 2006-07 regular season next weekend at Union and Rensselaer as the ECACHL tournament picture will come into focus. The Saints currently have the inside track to the No. 2 seed in the playoffs ahead of Harvard, and would therefore draw the No. 7 seed at Appleton Arena in a best-of-three series beginning Friday, February 23rd. The Scarlet and Brown will first have to negotiate the Dutchwomen and Engineers, though, as the puck drops in Schenectady, NY with Union next Friday evening at 7:00pm.

SAINTS HAVE INSIDE TRACK TO NO.2 SEED

ECACHL PLAYOFFS AFTER 4-1 WIN

Feb. 10: The No. 4/5 St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team improved to 12-2-0 in the friendly confines of Appleton Arena this season with a 4-1 victory over Quinnipiac University on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Carson Duggan scored a pair of goals, bringing her career total to 50 in only 67 career games.

The win moved the Saints to 23-6-2 (15-4-0) on the season, and all but assures them of home ice advantage in the ECACHL Quarterfinals beginning Friday, February 23rd. The win also gave St. Lawrence their eighth season sweep of an opponent this year. Meanwhile, the loss drops the Bobcats to 8-21-2 (5-13-1), forcing them to win their final three games in order to qualify for the playoffs.

Though Quinnipiac came into the contest a heavy underdog, they worked hard in the early going to establish some momentum and create several scoring opportunities. Saints junior goaltender Meaghan Guckian, making her first career start against the Bobcats, was up to the task, though, stopping all six shots she faced in the opening period.

The Saints nationally-acclaimed offense had several quality chances on Quinnipiac goalie Laura Brennan early in the contest, but they were unable to get one past the senior netminder. It would take a heads-up play by senior Crystal Connors and an unfortunate break for the Bobcats to break the scoreless tie at 10:20 of the first period, as the Saints drew first blood.

As Quinnipiac went for a change with the puck in the Saints zone, two players came onto the ice, leaving the visitors with too many players. Though the players quickly realized their mistake and headed back for the bench, the puck came along the near boards where the Bobcats didn’t touch it to avoid taking a penalty. However, Connors had snuck behind the defense and picked up the puck just outside the blue line. The Belford, NJ native moved in on a breakaway with Brennan, slid the puck to her backhand, and lifted the puck over the goalie’s blocker to put the home team on top 1-0.

The Bobcats came right back though, and less than five minutes later seemed to have scored a goal that would have tied the game at 1-1. However, the officials ruled that the Quinnipiac player had batted the puck out of the air with a high-stick, waving off the goal. It was the second potential goal that was waved off in the period, as the Saints also had a goal called off as it was re-directed by an offensive player’s hand.

Quinnipiac’s defense and Brennan did their best to keep their team in the game through the second period, as most of the action was in their end of the ice. Brennan made several key saves in the period to keep her team down by only a goal, but Guckian matched her efforts, robbing Hayley McMeekin and Ashley Jaffray on the doorstep to protect her team’s lead.

As the Saints offense continued to test their opponents, sophomore Marianna Locke kept the puck inside the blue line and fed defenseman Kerri Wallace just inside the right circle. As the defense shifted to block Wallace’s shot, the junior slid a pass back to Locke in the slot, and the Brasher Falls , NY native finished the play, flipping a shot over Brennan’s shoulder and into the net to put St. Lawrence ahead 2-0 at 13:29 of the second period.

The Saints would carry that two goal cushion into the third, as Guckian made ten saves in the period to keep Quinnipiac off the scoreboard. Brennan’s two-period total of 25 saves kept her team within striking distance, though, and the Bobcats would have their best opportunity to get back into the game to start the third period, as they would have a 5-on-3 advantage for 45 seconds.

The Saints penalty killing unit, ranked fourth in the country entering the contest, would hold its ground, however, killing off the 5-on-3 advantage while allowing only two shots on goal. Duggan would put the game seemingly out of reach, scoring a pair of goals at 4:50 and 13:05 of the third period to put the Saints up 4-0 with only 6:05 left in regulation.

Duggan’s 21st of the season was set up by crisp passing from her teammates, as senior Chelsea Grills found junior Sabrina Harbec to Brennan’s left, who quickly fed Duggan in the shot for a one-timer for the 3-0 lead. Later in the period, Duggan would score her 50th career goal with assists going to Harbec and Locke as she was able to beat Brennan while the Saints skated with a player advantage, putting the Saints on top 4-0.

“I thought we did a nice job killing off their 5-on-3 chance to start the third period, as that could’ve swung the momentum their way,” said Saints head coach Paul Flanagan. “Once we were able to get back to full strength, our offense created some solid chances and Carson put the puck in the net.”

Though the Saints were within three minutes of collecting a shutout for Guckian, the Bobcats would not leave Appleton Arena scoreless, spoiling the shutout bid at 17:02 of the third. Hayley McMeekin sent a long, cross ice pass in the Saints zone which landed on the stick of Jennifer MacLean. The sophomore re-directed the puck past the Saints goaltender and into the net for her seventh of the season, completing the game’s scoring.

Guckian improved her record to 19-6-2 on the season while stopping 21 Quinnipiac shots. Despite stopping 32 shots, Brennan took the loss, dropping to 6-17-1 on the year.

“I give a lot of credit to Quinnipiac for their effort today,” said Coach Flanagan. “They were ready to play this afternoon and (Laura) Brennan was outstanding in goal.”

With #6 Harvard losing to Colgate on Saturday afternoon in Hamilton , NY by the score of 3-1, the Saints now have the inside track on the No. 2 seed in the ECACHL playoffs. However, the Scarlet and Brown must get past Princeton first, as the Tigers upended the Saints by the score of 6-5 earlier this season on October 27th. The two conference rivals will meet tomorrow, Sunday, February 11th in Appleton Arena in the St. Lawrence women’s hockey Class of 2007’s final regular season home game. The puck is set to drop at 2:00pm.