SENIOR CLASS HELPS NO. 6 SAINTS

TROUNCE QUINNIPIAC, 9-1

Feb. 23: The St. Lawrence University women’s hockey Class of 2008, playing in their final regular season home game at Appleton Arena, helped the Saints continue their winning ways with a dominant 9-1 victory over Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon. Each of the home team’s seniors recorded at least one point in the victory, while Meaghan Guckian earned her 20th win of the season.

The Scarlet and Brown (25-8-1, 18-3-1) grabbed a 2-0 lead after the opening period thanks to rookie Kirsten Roach and senior Sabrina Harbec. Roach knocked her 6th goal of the year past Quinnipiac goaltender Jamie Miller at 4:49 of the first, while Harbec made it 2-0 at 12:59 on the power play when she dangled two defenders for her 15th of the year. Senior Annie Guay, who is the University’s all-time leader in goals, assists and points by a defenseman, picked up a helper on Harbec’s first of the contest.

Quinnipiac did well to only be trailing by two after one period, as they were called for six penalties in the first 20 minutes. However, they were unable to stop St. Lawrence’s potent offensive attack, as the Saints picked up three more goals in the second period and at one point built their advantage to 5-0.

Junior Alison Domenico took a pass from fellow classmate Marianna Locke and buried her 15th of the year a mere 1:43 into the second period, while junior Jordan Pyers scored her third of the season only 44 seconds later to make the score 4-0 in favor of St. Lawrence. Pyers, who stuffed a rebound past Miller for her first goal, then flashed a great move, avoiding a defender and fooling Miller for her second consecutive goal of the period at 8:43 for a 5-0 lead.

Quinnipiac would end Guckian’s shutout bid at the 13:00 minute mark of the second period, when Danielle Alexieff fired a shot that the goalie thought was underneath her. However, the puck trickled across the goal line to make the score 5-1 heading to the second intermission.

Through two periods, St. Lawrence held a decisive advantage in shots on goal, as Miller made 35 saves to Guckian’s ten.

With 7:05 gone in the third period and the Saints up 5-1, senior Sarah Callan, playing in her fourth career game, circled a pass behind the Quinnipiac net to fellow classmate Chelsea Grills. Grills then quickly centered a pass right on the tape to Harbec, who one-timed a shot past Miller for her 15 th of the season. The assist was Callan’s first career point, as she was given the puck following the goal which made the score 6-1.

St. Lawrence continued to pour on the offense throughout the third period, adding three more goals to bring the final score to 9-1. Locke scored her 18th of the season at 11:56 with assists going to rookies Michelle Zimmerman and Karell Emard. Locke would then pick up an assist on Domenico’s second of the game at 15:10, which saw the Nepean, Ontario native re-direct a shot over Miller’s left shoulder to make the score 8-1. Guay would then put the finishing touches on a great team effort at 18:21, when she scored her 4th of the season off a centering pass by sophomore Tara Akstull.

“I think we carried our momentum over from yesterday’s game against Princeton, as we continued to make good decisions offensively, but continued to block a lot of shots and protect Meaghan (Guckian) on the defensive end,” said Saints head coach Paul Flanagan. “We played one of our most thorough weekends of the season, and will need to have that same edge next weekend when Yale comes to Canton.”

St. Lawrence finished 1-of-9 on the power play, while Quinnipiac was 0-of-6 with the player advantage. Meanwhile, the Saints finished with an impressive 51-15 edge in shots on goal. Guckian improved to 20-8-1 on the season and picked up the victory on “Senior Day,” while Miller suffered the loss despite making 42 saves and fell to 3-17-4.

The Yale Bulldogs, who knocked off Rensselaer on Saturday by the score of 3-2, clinched the No. 7 seed in the ECAC Hockey Tournament with a loss by Cornell. The Saints, who own the No. 2 seed, will host Yale in a best-of-three series next weekend, with game one on Friday, February 29th at 4:00pm. Game two will then be Saturday, March 1st at 2:00pm with game three on Sunday if necessary at 2:00pm.

LOCKE’S HAT TRICK AND GUAY’S 100th POINT KEY

NO. 6 SAINTS’ 9-2 ROUT OF PRINCETON

Feb. 22: Junior forward Marianna Locke scored her second hat trick of the season while senior Annie Guay became the 13 th player and first defenseman in University history to reach the 100-career point mark as the

No. 5 St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team dismantled the Princeton Tigers by the score of 9-2 in Appleton Arena on Friday night.

The Saints (24-8-1, 17-3-1) used a five-goal second period to put the game well out of the Tigers’ reach. Princeton, who falls to 12-10-6 (10-8-3) on the season, was not able to keep up with the home team’s explosive offense or protect goaltender Kristen Young.

Senior co-captain Chelsea Grills scored the game’s opening goal only 48 seconds into regulation when she took a pass from fellow classmate Sabrina Harbec and rifled a wrist shot over Young’s right shoulder for her 13th of the season. Less than three minutes later, junior Lisa Batchelor was able to bat a loose puck out of midair from just outside the crease behind Young to put St. Lawrence ahead 2-0 only 3:24 into the contest.

The visitors appeared to settle in throughout the first period, as they moved the puck well on the power play and kept the Saints from adding to their lead. However, St. Lawrence goalie Meaghan Guckian was solid for the home team, making six first period stops to Young’s eight.

Princeton’s trouble came during the second period, as St. Lawrence began to hit their stride and rattled off four goals in just over eight minutes. Sophomore Tara Akstull, who had a career-high five points in the contest, made it 3-0 at 6:06 of the second period when she sniped a shot past Young on the stick-side after a perfect centering pass by junior Alison Domenico. Locke would add her first of the game only 2:15 later when she tucked the puck between Young’s pads on the right side of the crease to make the score 4-0.

The Saints, now clicking on all cylinders, made it 5-0 on Grills’ second of the night at 9:24 on the power play. The Stittsville, Ontario native took a pass from Guay and fired a long, wobbly slap shot that fooled the Princeton goaltender and just crept under the cross bar. The goal was Grills’ 24th career power play goal, setting a new University record.

Harbec and Locke would put the finishing touches on one of the team’s best periods of the season, as they scored their 14th and 15th goals of the season, respectively to build the lead to 7-0 after two periods. Harbec was able to punch a rebound behind Young at 14:39 of the second, while Locke also capitalized on a loose puck in front at 18:30.

Domenico would continue to pour on the offense for the Scarlet and Brown to start the third period, as she

re-directed a pass from Locke over Young’s right shoulder for her 14th of the season at 4:54 of the third to make the score 8-0.

The Tigers would tack on two consecutive goals, one on Guckian and the other on her replacement sophomore Maxie Weisz, to make the score 8-2. Monica Brennan tallied her first of the season at 5:23 when she slipped a backhand shot behind Guckian, while Greenwood fired a hard wrist shot past Weisz at 11:39 on a break-away chance for her 13 th of the season.

Locke would put the finishing touches on an all-around great effort by St. Lawrence at 15:05 on the power play, when she corralled a rebound to Young’s left and stuffed it across the goal line for her third of the game and 16th of the season. Assists on the play went to Akstull and Duggan.

Guay, who has re-written the record books during her tenure at St. Lawrence, picked up her 100th career point with an assist on Locke’s second goal of the night to end the second period. The Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec native joins an elite group of players in the “Century Club,” including Grills, Harbec and Duggan. Guay is the second player to reach the mark this season, though she may not be the last as Domenico currently stands with 97 career points.

“I thought we gave a great effort in all three areas of the ice, with contributions coming from everyone,” said Saints’ head coach Paul Flanagan. “We back-checked tonight as hard as we have all season, and I think we reaped the benefits. I congratulate Annie on her accomplishment tonight, and we hope she has a few more points left to score as we head into the post-season.”

Guckian earned the win and improved to 19-8-1 on the season with a 14-save showing, with Weisz making two saves in her stead. Young dropped to 12-10-6 on the year despite making 23 stops including 12 in the second period.

The Saints, who appeared to shore up their penalty killing from their recent struggles, finished 3-of-6 with the extra skater to Princeton’s 0-of-4 mark. The home team finished with a 32-18 advantage in shots on goal.

St. Lawrence will complete the 2007-08 regular season on Saturday as they welcome Quinnipiac to Appleton Arena for a 4:00pm start time. The game will be the final regular season contest for six St. Lawrence seniors who will all be in action tomorrow, including Harbec, Grills, Guay, Guckian, Kerri Wallace and Sarah Callan.